Ad Disclosure
Ohio State is coming off a bye-week after blasting Maryland 66-17 before taking some time off. This week, the Buckeyes head to Bloomington to take on Indiana before hosting No. 7 Penn State at the end of the month.
The Hoosiers already have twice as many losses this season as they did during their 2020 run, and it was just last November that Indiana posted 35 points against the Buckeyes during a second-half comeback, only to fall 42-35.
While Indiana hasn’t had the year they had hoped, last weekend against Michigan State they managed to hold a red-hot Spartans offense to just one touchdown, and were a failed two-point conversion from tying the game at 17 in the final period.
So the Buckeyes will need to be ready for a Hoosiers team with something to prove.
OSU head coach Ryan Day met with the media on Monday, and expects to see an Indiana team that is much better than their record shows.
Here is some of what Day had to say.
Day said Indiana's defense is similar to last year's even with a new coordinator. Expect a lot of blitzes.
— Bill Rabinowitz 🗞 (@brdispatch) October 19, 2021
Day said Quinn Ewers isn't yet ready to play. "We'll continue to work with him." Said he'll be more ready closer to bowl practice time and then into the spring.
— Bill Rabinowitz 🗞 (@brdispatch) October 19, 2021
Ryan Day says Steele Chambers has been a "pleasant surprise" and expects his role to continue to increase this season.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) October 19, 2021
Day says "it's gonna be a little while" before Quinn Ewers is ready to play for Ohio State. Says he has to get "more accustomed to the day-to-day grind."
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) October 19, 2021
"I think we're in a lot better place than we were at the beginning of the season." Day says the Buckeyes have to take things one game at a time the rest of the way.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) October 19, 2021
On C.J. Stroud and the Heisman Trophy: "When someone gives criticism or praise, you have to treat it the same way … you can't ride that rollercoaster."
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) October 19, 2021
Ryan Day on Indiana, whose four losses have all come against teams currently ranked in the top 11: “I think this team is much better than their record indicates.”
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) October 19, 2021
Ryan Day was asked how he knew Dawand Jones loved football. Jones played basketball primarily in high school. Day smiled and said, "He told me and I believed him."
— Bill Rabinowitz 🗞 (@brdispatch) October 19, 2021
Ryan Day says he expects Haskell Garrett and Cameron Brown back this week.
— Bill Landis (@BillLandis25) October 19, 2021
Ryan Day on Dawand Jones: “Sometimes I say he's a skill player in a big man's body.” He says Jones loves playing, but the challenge for him has been the day-to-day grind. “If he continues to embrace that grind, the ceiling's really, really high.”
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) October 19, 2021
Scott Schultz covers Michigan State Football, along with Breaking News for B1G Football & Basketball for Saturday Tradition. He also serves as an Automotive News Editor & Writer, and Softball Writer elsewhere on the web. Follow him on Twitter @SRSchultz.