What Ohio State coach Ryan Day said about Penn State ahead of Saturday night’s matchup
It doesn’t matter to Ohio State coach Ryan Day that his No. 3 Buckeyes beat Nebraska by 35 points last weekend, or that No. 18 Penn State fell to underdog Indiana in overtime. Day — in his second full season as head coach — is taking the Nittany Lions seriously.
“I think they look excellent on all three phases,” Day said of Penn State during a Zoom conference call Tuesday afternoon. “I think they look well-coached. I think they have good talent. So this is going to be a difficult game, and (I have) a lot of respect for James (Franklin) and his coaching staff over the years. You’ve gotta earn wins against these guys.”
Last season, Day’s group beat Penn State 28-17 in a contest in which it rattled off 21 unanswered points after the opening kickoff.
Ohio State travels to Beaver Stadium on Saturday for a Week 2 matchup that kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Here’s a look at everything Day said about Penn State on Tuesday afternoon during a Zoom conference call:
(On the impact of Penn State not having a traditional White Out atmosphere at Beaver Stadium)
“Well, I think that’s a really great environment. It’s loud; it’s hard to communicate. So, it’ll be different. It was different here last week. And so that part is strange. But it’s the same for each team, week in and week out. We’re all dealing with the same set of rules. So, it’s just how do we handle it better than our opponent? That’s just kinda the focus. But it certainly will be different.”
(On how he feels about the way his team defended the QB run against Nebraska, especially coming into this week having to prepare for PSU QB Sean Clifford)
“I thought it was solid, overall. It was one or two (plays) where they squirted out. On the long run by (Nebraska quarterback) Adrian (Martinez), the defensive tackle just didn’t run the stunt the right way. If he goes left instead of right, I think the play’s kinda dead. But that’s what team defense is. And most of the things I’m talking about, whether it’s in pass protection, whether it’s in the run game, whether it’s a stunt here or there, all it takes is one play, (and) against a team like Penn State, you lose the game.
“So, we’ve gotta clean all those things up this week and that’s where I think the difference of the consequence of practice and the consequence of a game have to be felt. Overall, I thought the guys did understand that and embrace it. But we’ve got a lot of things on film to show that all it takes is one guy on one play in all three phases and we can lose the game. So, to answer your question about (defending) the quarterback run, I think it was good, but we’re working at it a lot more this week.”
(On Penn State’s depth at LB and RB without Micah Parsons and Journey Brown)
“Those are two very, very good players. And it’s very unfortunate that America and the Big Ten aren’t able to see those guys play. Hate to see that. That’s not good for our conference. And so any time you have good players like that, certainly it’s felt. But it’s like anything else — you’ve gotta rally and move on, which they are doing and they have really good players. They recruited well, so there’s other guys that are playing. But certainly you don’t easily replace good players like that.”
(On matching up against PSU TE Pat Freiermuth and what problems he causes for OSU’s LB group)
“Excellent player. A mismatch — and really can be a mismatch in both areas: the run game and pass game. Very competitive. Good ball skills. And so, he can be a mismatch for sure.”
