The Ohio State football team knocked off the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a final score of 37-3 on Saturday in preparation for the Michigan football matchup next week. The Buckeyes honored their stars in the last home game of the season, but one of them, linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, was held out of the matchup just as a precaution.

The Buckeyes' reputation got a boost from former quarterback CJ Stroud recently as he took on a stereotype surrounding Ohio State football. Coach Ryan Day entered Urban Meyer territory with his win over the Gophers.

Day had tough news for star linebacker 

On Saturday night after the Ohio State football win, Coach Day addressed a situation that few saw coming. According to Day, his decision to hold out star linebacker Tommy Eichenberg was originally met with a great deal of resistance.

Eichenberg was held out so he could rest up for the game against Michigan football next week, leading to the “fist fight” comments from Day, who had to convince his star player of his motives.

Ohio State football's Eichenberg fought hard to play

“We'll get Tommy back for next week. Tommy was ready to play in this one, and I had to pull him back. And it was almost a fist fight. But I won,” Day said about his decision to hold him out.

“I'll be honest, it took some late-night texts last night. I mean, he wanted to play. And this is a guy who has put so much into this program. Coming back for Senior Day, for him not to be out there, was really hard for Tommy. Really hard. But I just explained to him, there's just too much on the line moving forward to risk any kind of setback, that we need him at his best. And he was, after some calming down, he was okay.

“But it was not easy for him to not play in this game. And that was my decision. He was ready to go. He pushed himself to get to a point. But he’ll have another great week of practice and be at 100 percent going into next week.”