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Ryan Day reveals why Ohio State must change gameplan in rematch vs. Oregon

Barkley-Truaxby: Barkley Truax12/27/24BarkleyTruax
Ryan Day
Ryan Day (Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Ohio State‘s convincing 42-17 win over Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff set the stage for a blockbuster rematch between the Buckeyes and the undefeated, top-seeded Oregon Ducks.

The Buckeyes have known this rematch was looming in the quarterfinals since the CFP bracket was set, but weren’t able to look past the Vols until the final whistle.

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Now set to face a fresh Oregon squad coming off a Big Ten Championship win over Penn State and a first-round bye, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day explained why this Ducks squad isn’t the same one they lost to earlier this year — and either are they.

“It’s not like we played them just a couple weeks ago,” Day said. “This was midseason, and there’s been a lot of football played since then. Like I said, I feel we’ve evolved. They’ve evolved. Different teams. So there are certainly things that you want to look at that happened in that game but also, as time’s moved on, how they’ve changed, how we’ve changed and how does that fit as we put together the game plan.

“But ultimately, we want to make sure that we’re putting together a great game plan so our guys can play fast, they understand what we’re trying to get done in terms of attacking in all three phases, and they can play with emotion and physicality.”

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During the regular season, the clock literally ran out on Ohio State and left Eugene with a heartbreaking 32-31 loss. The Ducks are still undefeated heading into Saturday after edging past the Buckeyes in October.

“We’ve made adjustments coming off that game, and we worked hard to make sure that we’re putting our guys in the best position to be successful,” he continued. “We’ll do that again against these guys this week and go compete our tails off.”

The rematch between the Buckeyes and Ducks is set for 5 p.m. ET on New Year’s Day and will air live on ESPN.