Ohio State head coach Ryan Day will take part in his weekly radio show this afternoon beginning shortly after 12:00 pm. We will have live updates from Day throughout the hour, so refresh for the latest as Day answers numerous questions about his football team. Following the radio show, Day will then speak with reporters for his weekly Lightning Round session. Those highlights will be found below as well.
Lightning Round
+ He’ll decide who is calling plays on defense today.
+ The defense has had good energy this week. “Gotta come back today…” and have another good practice, but they’ll find out on Saturday. “A little bit of friction is good.”
+ Every situation is different in terms of calling plays. They have to figure out what is best for this team. “We can’t worry about feelings.” They have to give this team the best situation to be successful.
+ Stretching the field horizontally is good, but you also have to be able to run the ball at the line of scrimmage between the tackles. Bubble screens were big in 2018 and they’re doing that some this year. That’s part of the running game, but they still have to be able to pound it inside.
+ They have talked about changing some coaching from the sideline up to the press box. That will likely happen.
+ Bryson Shaw and Marcus Hooker are at free safety. They are looking at Ryan Watts as well at safety. Kourt Williams too “because this is going to have to be a long-term fix.”
+ “I didn’t see guys not getting lined up.” “I did see a little bit of hesitancy at times. And just not getting the job done.”
+ The key with coaching positions in-game will be putting them in the best position to identify what is happening during the game and then filtering it to the field as best as possible. That’s what they’re working on all week.
+ Nobody cares whether you’re young or not. We can’t have patience. We have urgency. Guys are getting some valuable experience. Experience that they didn’t get last year. But along hte way we can’t be losing games. Gotta get it figured out.
Radio Show
+ Which is his preferred kickoff time? They all have different pluses and minuses. “I prefer the noon game.” They begin the hydration for games 48 hours out.
+ This week is about getting back to fundamentals. Gotta finish drives and stop the run. Be aggressive on both sides of the ball. Get some TFLs on defense as well.
+ Long-snapper is a thankless job but consistency is key.
+ Jesse Mirco has stepped in and done a good job playing in front of crowds that are larger than he’s experienced before. You can tell he’s been kicking the ball his whole life with Australian rules football. “I don’t quite understand how it works, but he’s good at it.”
+ Tulsa has some talented running backs. They play a Baylor style of offense, so they have tempo and switch it up. They also have a QB who can run it enough. Receiver Keylon Stokes does a lot of different things for the team. Good athletes in this conference.
+ The pass protection was very good last week. The running backs did well in that area too.
+ When you play against a 4-down front or 3-down front there are two different styles of run defense, so you have to call the plays to the proper gaps.
+ The offensive line can have issues early in a season because they’re used to facing one kind of defensive front and then the games begin and they experience different looks that can take some time to adjust to.
+ There will be an adjustment in this game based on what they’re seeing from Tulsa’s defense, which can blitz a couple of guys or drop eight.
+ Asked if they can now put more on CJ Stroud’s plate, Day said they actually need to take more off of his plate right now. They need the run to step up and make things easier for Stroud right now.
+ The QB run needs to be some part of the game. It wasn’t a lot with Justin Fields and it won’t be a lot with CJ Stroud, but it needs to be available. And it is.
+ It’s always a process with young quarterbacks to learn when to tuck and run or throw the ball away. CJ Stroud lowered his shoulder late to pick up yards and you like to see that when it’s needed. Other times he took unnecessary hits and should’ve thrown the ball away.
+ Tulsa had a bunch of guys out for the first game so they weren’t full strength. They played Oklahoma State well and had the game won. They have played for conference championships. This is a good football team. Have to establish the run and stop the run. Get back to the fundamentals and play tough and physical. Tulsa DC Joe Gillespie runs a 3-3-5. They are good with it. They run to the ball. They have a lot of linebacker/safety bodies, so you have to identify what they do to attack you. They bring pressure and change the looks at how they do it.
+ It’s encouraging to see the way CJ Stroud has been competing. They put too much on him in that game but he is responding well.
+ The idea is when you have strength at all positions like with Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, nobody can be doubled and that creates opportunities for other players.
+ On Jaxon Smith-Njigba: “That’s what he can do.”
+ Chris Olave is playing well and practicing well. They need him to continue to lead the guys outside.
+ Denzel Burke is a true freshman and he competes. The investment is going to pay off. There will be some mistakes, but he will learn and get better. Establishing guys in certain spots creates consistency. They are still figuring those things out on defense.
+ Some of the young guys up front have flashed, but they need more consistency. Once you see they can do it a little bit, you have to hold them to higher standards because you know they can do it and they know they can do it. It gives the players an idea of what they need to do better during the week. More film to watch equals more information to learn from.
+ Offense and defense feed off of each other “for sure.” When something is off, it affects both sides of the ball.
+ “We use tempo, we always have, as a weapon for us.” That led to a TD for OSU but also led to some false starts.
+ You have to take a hard look when you’re giving up that many points. They’ve done that this week, whether it’s personnel, coaching, or scheme. They are asking tough questions.
+ Injuries are tough but that’s part of this thing and that’s why you have depth. That’s also why getting mental reps during practice. You always have to be paying attention because your number could be called. There are only two speeds — game speed and walk-through speed. Walk throughs may not be physically tough, but they should be mentally challenging. You have to overexaggerate your technique and make sure you’re executing at a high, high level.
+ Josh Proctor was really poised to have a great year. He made a tackle and had a guy come in and land on his leg. It’s going to be a long road to get back. Hopefully he will be back next year.
+ When you lose a game you find out about people. In life things don’t always go the way you plan, so you have to find that leadership. Not point fingers but find that accountability needed to get better.
+ “Coach, can you explain what targeting is?” The tricky thing is there was a Big Ten crew in the first game and then a Pac 12 crew for the second game. So it’s hard to have continuity with what targeting is. “It’s not easy.” The goal is to keep the players safe. “It is inconsistent at times.” “I know what they’re trying to do is the right thing.” If it’s close, replay is almost always looking at it. If you give them 20-30 seconds to look at it, they will. If they need more time, they’ll take it.
+ They will continue to remain aggressive on fourth down.
+ There were a bunch of yards but they didn’t establish the run like they wanted to. They never controlled the game.
+ Disappointed in the offense at the end of the game when they couldn’t score and take the lead. The defense got the ball back twice and they couldn’t do enough with it.
+ Everybody’s tired of hearing how young the guys on defense are, but it’s true. There are still things in there that need to get cleaned up and fixed.
+ Tweaking and identifying the issues is the key to making adjustments.
+ Practices were good and productive this week. You prepare during the week, you compete in the game, and then you learn from your performance.
+ After a loss you want to get back on the field and get the taste out of your mouth.
