Ryan Day on Ohio State players' mindset towards Michigan: 'They can't wait'

Make no mistake, Ryan Day and Ohio State are ready for “The Game” against Michigan next week, now that they’re 11-0 on the season. Following a 42-9 win over Rutgers, the Buckeyes can turn full attention to “that team up north” as they travel to Ann Arbor one week from today.

Losers of four straight in the rivalry, Ohio State can clinch a spot in the Big Ten title game and an undefeated regular season with a win over the Wolverines. As of now, Michigan is 8-2 on the season and set for a late Saturday afternoon showdown with Maryland. Barring an upset, a ton will be on the line next week.

So as Saturday’s win over the Scarlet Knights settled in during the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, Ohio State shifted focus. Day and crew are fired up.

“Guys played hard, and we stayed focused,” Day told FOX’s Jenny Taft postgame. “And there’s going to be some things that we want to clean up as always, but now we know where the focus goes to next week, and the focus has been clean all year in terms of making sure that we focus on each day at a time, and maximizing each day and then showing up on Saturday. And so now we got to be at our best this week.”

The Buckeyes led just 14-3 at the half. But they started taking advantage of mismatches against Rutgers’ defense to outscore them 28-6 in the second half. Now, Day and the Buckeyes are all about the Wolverines.

“Guys are already talking about on the sideline, and everybody’s already locked in and fired up,” Day said. “It’s gonna be a hell of a week. They can’t wait for the week, we’re playing for hardware now.”

Day saw some good performances on Saturday from QB Julian Sayin, who didn’t have to do much, but stepped up in the second half. He finished 13-of-19 passing for 157 yards and two touchdowns. But it was Bo Jackson getting it done on the ground and overcoming a first quarter fumble.

The young buck had 110 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 5.8 yards per carry. James Peoples and CJ Donaldson each had a touchdown as well.

Despite winning the national title last year and Day getting the monkey off his back, Ohio State knows how painful it was to watch Michigan win in Columbus last year. If Michigan made it five straight in 2025, we don’t want to know what would happen at Ohio State in terms of the criticism.

But it all goes down next week in Ann Arbor. Day and the Buckeyes will make the trip up north for a 12:00 p.m. ET kickoff on FOX.