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Ryan Day believes Nebraska, Adrian Martinez ‘the best’ Ohio State has seen this season

Dave Holcomb

By Dave Holcomb

Published:

Ohio State coach Ryan Day was highly complimentary of Cincinnati and Indiana before facing those teams in Weeks 2 and 3, respectively. He’s doing the same this week and taking his praise of the Buckeyes’ next opponent, Nebraska, to another level.

During his Tuesday press conference, Day called the Cornhuskers “by far the best team” Ohio State has played this season and added that quarterback Adrian Martinez is “by far the best quarterback” they’ve seen in 2019.

Talent-wise that’s probably true, but Nebraska has lost the same amount of games as Indiana and Cincinnati, and those two teams’ only defeat this season came against Ohio State. The Cornhuskers enter this weekend with a 3-1 mark, having lost to Colorado on the road in Week 2. Nebraska defeated South Alabama, Northern Illinois and Illinois.

Martinez started slowly, but he’s played very well the last two weeks. He has thrown for 1,052 yards and rushed for 234 yards while accounting for 10 touchdowns with two interceptions this year. The last two games against Northern Illinois and Illinois, Martinez averaged more than 9.5 yards per pass and threw five touchdowns with zero interceptions.

Day didn’t call Nebraska “its own worst enemy,” but he seemed to imply it with another comment meant to be complimentary towards the Cornhuskers. Nebraska edged Illinois 42-38, but Day said without the Cornhuskers turnovers, it wouldn’t have been that close.

Despite no picks from Martinez, Nebraska finished its last game minus-3 in turnover differential. The Cornhuskers are minus-1 in the turnover battle this season.

Ohio State is 6-1 all time and has won four straight against Nebraska.

Dave Holcomb