Ryan Day: "All We Really Wanted Was an Opportunity to Go Play for the Championship"

Ryan Day appeared on FOX's Big Noon Kickoff on Saturday morning to talk about where the Ohio State program is right now - dealing with the disappointment of not playing Michigan on Saturday afternoon in the biggest game of the year, but also feeling grateful that the conference changed its rule and allowed Ohio State into the championship game.

Here's what Day had to say on Saturday morning.

"It's time to focus on Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship game."@OhioStateFB Head Coach @ryandaytime joins the #BigNoonKickoff crew to talk about not playing The Game this season and how they're looking ahead to the Big Ten Championship Game 🌰 pic.twitter.com/b54oHcdGo1
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 12, 2020

His reaction to people that have said the Buckeyes haven't played enough games to qualify for the College Football Playoff

“Everybody has their opinion, but we just focus on playing one game at a time. We have a very, very talented team. This team's done everything we've asked them to do right from the get-go. They've been through a lot of stuff. They've been through a point where they canceled the season on them, and they fought to get it back. They've had games cancelled, rivalry games cancelled, but they just keep coming back and they keep getting stronger. I think you saw the team last week, what we're capable of. We're still not really clean yet, but we're very, very talented, we have a lot of opportunity moving forward to show America how good we are.

“All we really wanted was an opportunity to go play for the championship and show everybody what we're made of. I know this team's hungry.”

On how Ohio State has kept its players engaged this year, especially considering what they've had taken away from them

“I think they've become hardened. I said it earlier in the week, I'm tired of giving the team bad news. The way that they responded this week after losing a rivalry game. You work The Game every day out of the year, and to have that taken away was not easy. But the way they responded this week, it was right on to the next game, right on to Northwestern, the championship game.

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"What we've done is just we've tried to really shrink things down so that we're not taking all their time, we're not beating them up with Zooms, but when we're on the field we're practicing hard and they're game reps, whether it's a individual period or a seven-on-seven or a team rep. They're all game reps. That's really what we have to do in order to get better.”

On what the Buckeyes are expecting from Northwestern next week in the Big Ten Championship Game

“They're very well-coached. Fitz has always done a great job of that. On defense, they really know their defense. The defensive coordinator and Fitz has been there for so long, they know how you're trying to attack them and they don't give up a lot of big plays. It's very hard to run the ball on them, and they keep it all in front of them. They force you to work down the field.

"On offense, I think Peyton Ramsey's given them a shot in the arm. They've controlled the football, they're smart, they really don't turn the ball over. So when you do that, you've got to really be on your game. They're not going to give you anything. You have to earn anything you have. So it's going to be a challenge that way.”

Day was asked if his defense could make the necessary adjustments on defense after Ohio State has had a couple of tough second halves this year

“I think we're making some progress. I think our front seven is playing as good as anybody in the country. We've given up some big plays, but when you look at our real good plays, they've been excellent. I think our linebackers are playing as good as anybody in the country and our front seven's played strong. I think Shaun Wade made some nice plays last week, and our back end's getting stronger. I think we've made some of those corrections.

"If we can just get rid of some of those big plays, I think we can play with anybody in the country, and that's really been the key. But when you don't have those non-conference games and you don't have some of those things, you don't know really where you're weak until you get into a game, and that's really what's happened. So we would be typically into October right now. But we're not. We're in the middle of December. And that's been the challenge. It's been just a strange year that way. But I think we've made some improvements and I think our best football's ahead of us on that side of the ball.”

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