The Ohio State football team picked up a massive win on the road on Saturday against #3 Penn State. The Buckeyes were coming off of a couple rough games as they had previously lost to Oregon and then barely survived at home against Nebraska. Ohio State needed a win on Saturday badly, and they got it. Now, Ryan Day and his Buckeyes have shifted their focus over to Purdue.
Beating Penn State on the road was huge, but Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day knows that there is still a lot of work to be done. He quickly turned the page after the win.
“We're already on to Purdue, but great to see our guys finish out the game the way we did,” Day said, according to an article from Eleven Warriors. “… But this win only allows us an opportunity to reach our goals.”
When the game on Saturday got into the fourth quarter, the game was tight. The Buckeyes went down 10-0 early in the game, but they fought game and went into the fourth with the lead. They found a way to close it out in a tough environment.
“When you get to the fourth quarter, the bottom line is, you've got to go win the game,” Day said. “… To our guys' credit, they handled that the right way the last two weeks. And it doesn't matter what's happened up to that point … you have to go win the game.”
The Buckeyes showed a lot of improvement in multiple areas on Saturday, and that was good to see, but Day wants those improvements to continue into the Purdue game and beyond.
“There were some things coming out of the Oregon game … we felt like we had to get aligned faster,” Day added. “… The adjustments have been made, but they need to continue to be made. … You've got to be on your stuff, you've got to upgrade on a weekly basis, but also it comes down to fundamentals. … But humility is one week away, and we've got to make sure we show up against Purdue and play great football.”
One big area that Ohio State saw improvements in was the offensive line. The unit played its best game of the year, and the Buckeyes are a tough team to beat when the o-line plays like that.
“One of the things we really wanted to do was not have any penalties on the offensive line,” Day said. “No false starts, no holding calls, they did that. They stepped up in a big way. … It helped us throughout the game because they knew we could use multiple cadences.”
The elite play of the offensive line helped Ohio State big time in the running game. They have two elite RBs in TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, and both guys played well in all facets of the game.
“The running backs both played very well when the ball was not in their hands,” Ryan Day said. “… Then they also ran hard, ran really hard in the fourth quarter. … That's what we need. That's who we are and that's going to be our identity moving forward. … Precision will be very, very much at the forefront of what we do.”
Ryan Day discusses matchup with Purdue
Now, the Ohio State football team is preparing for Purdue, and it should be an easy win for the Buckeyes. The Boilermakers are currently 1-7 on the year, but Ryan Day knows every matchup presents challenges.
“I know they've played well the last few weeks and have played some good teams really, really tough,” Day said. “… This is a Big Ten opponent that's coming in here and humility is one week away. … We saw last week against Nebraska, they came in and played really tough … we've got to continue to build.”
Ohio State and Purdue will kick off at noon ET on Saturday from Ohio Stadium in Columbus, and the game will be airing on Fox. The Buckeyes are currently favored by 37.5 points.
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