Ryan Day assesses Ohio State's finish in 34-16 win over Illinois

Ohio State coach Ryan Day was satisfied with the win over Illinois but wished the finish was a little better. The No. 1 Buckeyes beat the No. 17 Fighting Illini 34-16 on the road Saturday.

The Buckeyes scored in each quarter and had dominating defense. Although Day wanted a little more in the end from the offense and defense.

Still, the Buckeyes are now 6-0 on the season and will be No. 1 come Sunday afternoon once again. Halfway through the year, Day and Ohio State look like they could repeat as national champions.

“I thought we came in early and had really good energy match the intensity of the environment,” Day told FOX’s Jenny Taft. “I thought we played well early on, and then I just, I wish we could finish the game a little bit stronger. We kind of took our foot off the pedal, so I got to take a deep breath right now. But there was a lot of really good moments, a lot of big stands down there by our defense. A lot to grow upon and build upon.”

Julian Sayin was 19-of-27 passing for 166 yards and two touchdowns. CJ Donaldson had 44 yards on the ground and two scores as well. The defense forced three turnovers, including two fumbles of Illinois.

Day is ready to throw this one in the bin and get ready for the Wisconsin Badgers. Like he said, it wasn’t the strongest finish in his mind, but they’ll enjoy another win on the road.

“I think you just got to keep getting better,” Day said. “I thought we played physical in the game. They have a great team and a really good quarterback, so I thought defensively we played hard and found ourselves with some long drives, eating up a lot of clock. I thought we really did do a good job finishing down in the red area, got physical. All that was good. We’ll keep looking at what we gotta get better at. But as you know, we just got to keep getting better week after week. So we’ll get back, enjoy this a little while, and it’s on to Wisconsin.”