Ryan Day Talks Notre Dame vs. Ohio State, Run Game, Quarterbacks

The lead up and the build up to Saturday’s Notre Dame – Ohio State football contest in Columbus continues. Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman held his weekly press conference Monday and Buckeye head coach Ryan Day followed suit Tuesday afternoon. Here are some thoughts on Saturday’s prime time game from Day.

What This Game Means For CFB

The Irish and Buckeyes have played twice in the Fiesta bowl since the turn of the century, but Saturday’s game will be the first regular-season meeting between the two Midwest programs since 1996.

"When you think about what an opportunity this is for Saturday night, just getting Notre Dame and Ohio State together, first game of the year, 100th year anniversary of The Shoe, all of the things combined,” Day began. "What a great opportunity, and that’s what college football is all about is bringing people back and making it special.

"This is about our players. I talked to them the other day about when you grow up and you’re seven, eight, nine, 10 years old, and you watch a game on TV on Saturday night and then you wake up the next morning on Sunday and you’re playing in the back yard, and all of a sudden you’re taking on the personality of the guys who you watched the night before," Day continued. "You could see a couple of them nod and I said ‘Well, that’s going to be you’. I try to remind guys that every year when we play in environments like this. That’s the opportunity that’s there. That’s why we’ve got to work so hard this week to be at competitive excellence on Saturday. (We are) working really hard to make sure that we’re prepared for this thing.”

More Notre Dame vs. Ohio State?

While Day appreciates the magnitude of this contest, he isn’t necessarily sold on seeing it happen more often going forward.

"I don’t really have many thoughts on that, no,” Day stated. “It’s certainly exciting to be a part of it. Not only is it in the 100th year of The Shoe, but just like you said, it’s a special matchup. Having Notre Dame, such a prestigious program in the midwest and then Ohio State getting together for a home and home (series) is exciting. We saw this on the schedule a couple years back and here we are.”

Run To Stop The Run

Freeman indicated at his Monday press conference that establishing the run game offensively and stopping the run defensively are two keys for Notre Dame's success. Day agrees on the importance of both tenets.

"Same thing,” Day said. "And that’s really where we all start is stopping the run and they do a good job running the football, so we’re going to have to do a great job of being assignment sound and playing with great fundamentals and doing a great job on third down to get off the field. But the same thing on offense, you have to establish the run. It’s very, very important and (it is) something we’ve been working very hard on.

"It’s a point of emphasis for every game that we play though,” he continued. "We have spent a lot of time on it, but not any more time than we have in the past. That's where the games are won and lost is up front. But, (we) have certainly spent a lot of time on it.”

On The Notre Dame Defense

Day shared some insights on the Irish defense.

“They are coached very, very well,” remarked Day. “(They) do a great job of mixing up the different styles of defense that they play and they have a new defensive coordinator. Certainly, Marcus has his fingerprints all over the defense, but now that you have Al Golden there, it’s a little bit of a different staff. I think (it is) probably just a little bit of the unknown, going into the game.”

On Tyler Buchner

Day didn’t have a lot to say about Notre Dame’s new starting quarterback. Perhaps, because there isn’t a lot of game film on him.

"(He is) very athletic, highly talented (and) highly recruited,” Day noted. "Very talented. Seeing his ability to throw, his ability to run. We’ve got to do a good job. We’re expecting a high level of play.”

Having Experience At QB

Notre Dame is in the exact situation Ohio State was in last year – playing a night game, on the road with a first year starting quarterback. CJ Stroud was that player, but he exploded for 44 touchdowns and just six interceptions as a sophomore last year. Day appreciates the experience the Heisman candidate brings into this season.

"It’s a different feel from last year,” Day said. "I mean, everything was new last year, so that’s different, but there are other challenges. There are other things that are new. But knowing we have somebody who’s been through the games before and been through the fire, that does help. And it isn’t about what can get me sleep, it’s just what can they handle in terms of putting in the game plan and things that we can, hopefully, make game time adjustments with, because there’s a rolodex of plays under his belt that we can go back to if we need to. Even just communicating what’s going on in game, for guys who have been in first games are important, because on both sides there’s going to be things we haven’t seen. So, we have to be able to make in-game adjustments quickly and having experience certainly helps in that area.”

Handling Being Heavy Favorites

Ohio State has been a two touchdown favorite in this game when the betting line was first announced. The line continues to move in the Buckeyes’ favor, but Day doesn’t see any signs of over confidence from his players.

"I think coming off of last year, there’s no big heads,” Day said. "This team is hungry. It has been hungry. It’s been gritty. We’ve got to go win this first game and they know that. So, there’s no big heads on this team right now. We’ve got a lot to prove.”

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