Ryan Day describes his impression of Illinois QB Luke Altmyer

Illinois senior quarterback Luke Altmyer has been nearly flawless this season. The veteran arm boasts 1,573 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and no interceptions in six games this year.

Altmyer has led the Illini to a 5-1 record with solid wins over Duke and No. 21 USC. It will, however, take a Herculean effort from Altmyer and his offense this weekend to score at least 10 points against No. 1 Ohio State. No team, in the Buckeyes’ first five games, has accomplished that feat yet.

Ahead of the Top 25 conference matchup, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day spoke highly of Altmyer’s ability to make good decisions and hurt you with his feet. He did so following Wednesday night’s practice.

“The Big Ten right now has some great quarterbacks, and he’s exactly one of them,” Day said. “Like you said, he’s one of the top guys in the conference. Not only does he make good decisions and gets the ball out quick, but he’s accurate and knows exactly how to attack a defense in terms of the plan that Bret (Bielema) and his staff puts together. RPOs, quick game, play action pass. He also can hurt you with his feet because he has good quickness.”

Ryan Day says Altmyer ‘presents some different challenges’

“But like I said, there’s experienced guys who have seen it before and there’s a lot they can recall,” Day continued. “He’s won some big games before and he’s a really good quarterback so that’s a big challenge for us. We’ve gone against some good quarterbacks this year, but he presents some different challenges. So we need to finish off the week with our preparation.”

Ohio State‘s defense has bottled up opposing quarterbacks in a big way this season. Through five games, the Buckeyes are allowing just 124.4 passing yards per game to opposing QBs. Altmyer could become the first quarterback to eclipse 200 passing yards against that defense this weekend. He’s reached that mark in back-to-back games against USC and Purdue.

The Buckeyes have won nine consecutive games against the Illini by an average of 24.4 points per game. Illinois‘ last win in the series came in 2007, when quarterback Isiah Williams passed for 140 yards and four touchdowns. Bret Bielema and his staff will need a performance like that from Altmyer if Illinois has a chance to win its second game against a ranked opponent this season.

Kickoff between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 17 Illinois this Saturday is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on FOX.