What Ryan Day said about Ohio State WR injuries, game against Michigan

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day held his weekly press conference Tuesday afternoon to preview the rivalry clash against the Michigan Wolverines. Here’s what Day said about injuries to wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, as well as Saturday’s matchup with the Maize and Blue.

On wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate

They’re doing everything that they can to play in the game. We’ll see how today goes, but they’re working really, really hard to get back on the field.

On if it’s easier said than done to play loose in big games

I think it comes down to your confidence in your preparation, and that’s what we have to focus on. It’s easy to start to get distracted. At the end of the day, the more prepared you are, then the more confident you go into games. That’s something that we’ve focused all season on. Prepared each week the same way, focused on the things that we have to make sure to master in order to win this game.

It’s important to go in with confidence, and a big part of that is how you prepare. It’s like when you go into a test, and you know what the answers are, you walk in like … That’s just the way it is in any game, and it includes this one.

On how much lessons from losing to Michigan last season have stuck with him

Every season is different, and every game is different. You use your past experiences to do everything you can to put your team in a position to be successful. That’s really what it comes down to. Every year, you learn, you grow. This is a different team. This is a different opponent, in terms of their personnel.

We’re going to do everything we can to win this game and focus on that, because what’s coming tomorrow or what’s coming on Saturday doesn’t matter. What matters is right now, having a great Tuesday.

But what’s happened in the past doesn’t matter, either. It doesn’t. You can learn from it, but let’s just have a great Tuesday and prepare the best we can to go win this game on Saturday. That’s what the focus has to be, and we can’t let anything else distract us.

Message to players on not letting emotions get the best of them

You have to play with emotion, but you can’t let it play with you. You have to learn to use it as nitrous, not as a primary fuel source. I think that’s where our guys have to continue to just focus on the process of how they prepare for games. They’re going to have enough emotion when they get into the game. We don’t need to incite any more of that during the week. They know how important this is.

They know that this is our No. 1 goal every year, to win this game, so that’ll be our focus.

You start to get over-emotional, then you can start getting distracted and get yourself out of whack and not do your job. So, let’s just focus on each individual guy and making sure that, at the end of the day, they graded out a champion and that their positions have graded out a champion.

What he’s seen from Michigan on film

Well, talent. Talent all over the field. It starts on offense with the quarterback. He’s a dangerous player. The running back, Marshall, is a very good player, as well. He runs down hill. He’s physical. The offensive line and tight ends are good. Marsh and McCulley are very good, as well. So, talent.

On defense, same thing. You see Moore and Barham off the edge — these guys are two of the best pass rushers in the country. And, certainly, on the back end, they’ve created a lot of turnovers.

Special teams is very good. 

What you’d expect in this type of a team — talent in all three phases, well-coached. So, yeah, we have to make sure we’re preparing at a high level this week and playing our best.

What he’s looking for from Ohio State QB Julian Sayin

To continue to do what he’s done and lead the team to a victory. That’s it, at the end of the day. What does that look like? It depends on how the game plays out. But he’s got to do his job, make great decisions and ultimately be the guy that leads the team to victory. That’s the No. 1 goal. The rest of it is gravy. He’s got to do as good a job as anybody in the building this week of getting out in front of it.

He’s got to communicate, handle the environment and what comes with it. He’s shown composure this year, but now he’s got to be at his best.

On if it’s fun to be the Ohio State head coach on this week

Like I say, fun is kicking ass, and that’s what we want to do on Saturday. So, we’re preparing to do that, and that’s it. There’s nothing funny about this at all, but the fun part is winning. We’ll save the fun for being in the locker room and celebrating after the game.

The preparation is what you love. You love the competitive part of this and everything that comes with it.

Our guys came in Sunday, came in here yesterday, got work on their own and even guys in the building today, they got a good bounce in their step, and they look forward to this week.

On if there will be anything different or extra shown to the Ohio State players this week

Certainly, you have to know your opponent, and you have to know what comes with it, but we’re also not going to overdo it. 

Yeah, there will be a lot of things shown this week. The motivation is already there, and we need to make sure we stay focused.

On how prepared the Ohio State defense is

When you watched the way we played this season, it’s been in preparation for this time of year and this game. You go off of what you’ve seen, and it’s important that we put a good plan together, that these guys can play fast on the field and understand situational football and try to take away what they do best and just play great defense.

In a game like this, field position becomes critical. Everything becomes critical.

I know that these guys are already in here working really hard on the game plan, and we need to have a great Tuesday practice. That gives everybody confidence, when you have a defense that’s playing well.

On the biggest challenge of this rivalry as a coach and personally

I just think it’s probably just making sure that you’re keeping everybody locked in and focused on doing their job. I know, boy, that sounds very basic and bizarre, but there’s obviously a lot that comes with this. This game means a lot to a lot of people — nobody more than the people in this building.

I think that’s where you have to make sure you’re compartmentalizing all of that and doing what you need to do to make sure that you’re ready to go play in the game and put your guys in situations to be successful. And then just getting rid of all of the distractions and getting with your guys and getting ready to go play a game.

That’s really it. I think the rest of it is what you do all season long. I don’t think you all of the sudden get yourself up and ready to play in this game. It’s a preparation week after week after week after week to be at our best for this one right here.

And so, here we go. All of the foundation has been set. It’s time to go put it to work.

On if paranoia is ramped up this week, considering Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler were always worried about spies from the other school

Umm. I mean, I guess this week what you try to do is you just try to bring everybody a little bit closer, a little bit tighter. That’s just kind of what happens when you’re playing this week. We’ll do the same thing when we head up there. It’s kind of the way it is, I guess maybe because of Thanksgiving week and stuff like that, we all just get a little bit closer and batten down all the hatches.

What lessons Day has learned from his first time as the head coach in this rivalry in 2019 to now

Each year is probably a different story, when you start it from beginning to end and what transpired during that game. I think for me, it’s just continually stepping back and looking, alright, so how did we get ourselves to that point during the season, and then how do we perform during the game?

Clearly, the last four years haven’t been good enough. We’ve lost the game. So, you have to be critical and figure out what needs to be better.

There are certain things schematically. There are certain things during the season that you feel like you have to prepare for to be ready and have things ready to go for this game. And then there’s also just the mindset going into the game that you have to make sure you’re ready for.

On how much Ohio State looks forward to the game against Michigan all season

I think that goes back to what we talked about, the whole idea of chopping wood and carrying water, knowing that you just can’t like hustle to the Saturday after Thanksgiving. You’ve got to play through the year, and there’s a lot that goes with it, and there’s a building process and foundation. We’re finally here, so this is the best part of it. We’ve been waiting a long time to get back to this week.

On how WR Brandon Inniss said Day has had a different look in his eye since the loss to Michigan last season, and how that game changed the coach

I don’t know. We’re all a sum of our experiences. You learn from things and you grow from things, and you just try to do everything you can to put your guys in a situation to be successful, and that’s it. We’re going to rely on our experiences going into this week. I can’t really say.

We all grow, we do things well, we have our failures. But you have to grow from them, and that’s it.

This team right here is a different team. They have a great look in their eye. I think that’s the most important thing here, and so that’s the focus.

What has happened in the past really has nothing to do with what’s going on right now. What goes on today is the most important thing, and I know it sounds like a cliche again, and to say it over and over again, but that has to be it.

And then we have to go do it in the game, and that’s it. We have to field kicks, we have to make our kicks, we have to take care of the football. All of the things that we work on, because if we don’t, we put ourselves at risk. So, that’s it. Everyone has got to do their job and make sure that we’re prepared to go.

On trusting a freshman in RB Bo Jackson against Michigan

Yeah, we need Bo to play well. We need Bo to be at his best, like everybody else. You just go off what you’ve seen all year. We all know what this game means, but we also have to make sure they understand it’s football. You have to trust what you’ve done leading up to this point. It’s why we’ve worked so hard in preparation.

These are the types of games where legends are born, so these guys understand that.