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Ohio State is coming off a scare against 3-7 Nebraska last weekend only winning the game by 9 points 26-17.
Purdue comes to Columbus this week and has already notched wins against No. 2 Iowa and No. 3 Michigan State at the time of playing.
Head coach Ryan Day spoke to the media today ahead of playing the Boilermakers.
Day talks about Freshman QB Quinn Ewers picking up the offense.
Ryan Day says Quinn Ewers is starting to pick up the offense and has made significant improvement.
Says Ewers is getting more comfortable and has been impressed with his progress since the bye week.
— Dustin Schutte (@SchutteCFB) November 9, 2021
Day raves about Special Teams and how important it is to his players.
Ryan Day lauds special teams play at Ohio State this season. Says guys take pride in wanting to make a contribution.
Says they’re professional, very sharp. Would be impressed to see this group in walk-through
— Dustin Schutte (@SchutteCFB) November 9, 2021
Day takes the one game at a time approach when talking about the College Football Playoff poll that is set to come out later tonight.
Ryan Day says it doesn’t matter when Ohio State is ranked in the College Football Playoff Poll.
“If we don’t win this game, it doesn’t matter anyway. Our focus has to be on Purdue. If we win, we move on.”
— Dustin Schutte (@SchutteCFB) November 9, 2021
Day spoke to the media about Purdue’s front 7.
Ryan Day on Purdue: “It starts with their defense. The front 7 — Karlaftis is one of the best defensive ends in the country.”
Continues to compliment Jeff Brohm for offensive play-calling, having weapons on offense.
— Dustin Schutte (@SchutteCFB) November 9, 2021
Day talked to reporters about multi-sport athletes.
Day says he “loves multi-sport guys,” and that he “almost jumped through the phone” at a coach that told his son he needed to decide on one sport to play when he was in fifth grade.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) November 9, 2021
Day talked about his QB running game.
Day on Stroud running the ball: “When the time is right and you need to do it, you need to do it. But at the same time, putting our guys at risk in a long season is not something we do here.”
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) November 9, 2021
Day said minimizing the risk of injury is a major reason he doesn’t use the QB run as much as some teams do.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) November 9, 2021
On C.J. Stroud not running the ball as much as some think he should: “It’s hard to tell somebody what to do in those situations … you have to trust your instincts.” Day says Stroud has extended plays at times with his legs this season.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) November 9, 2021
Day talked about his K Noah Ruggles, P Jesse Mirco and LS Bradley Robinson.
Day on whether he says anything to K Noah Ruggles before he goes in: “No, I stay away from him. From the jump, he’s come in and been nothing but professional.” Said same for P Jesse Mirco and LS Bradley Robinson.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) November 9, 2021
Day talked about the weirdness of the CFP poll can be and trying to win a beauty contest.
Ryan Day: “The No. 1 goal is to win. College football may be the only sport where it matters sometimes how you win. We can’t get caught up in that, because that’s how you lose.
“If we have to apologize for only beating Nebraska by nine points on the road, life’s pretty good.”
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) November 9, 2021
Day spoke to the media about penalties and negative plays.
Day said penalties and negative plays are the biggest problems the offense has endured lately.
— Bill Rabinowitz (@brdispatch) November 9, 2021
Day talked about LB Teradja Mitchell and DT Haskell Garrett dealing with injuries.
Ryan Day says Teradja Mitchell and Haskell Garrett have been playing through injuries. “Hopefully we can get them healthy here moving forward.”
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) November 9, 2021
Day talks about the RB by committee approach.
Day says he’d like to see the carries split up a bit more between the Ohio State running backs. TreVeyon Henderson has handled the lion’s share of the attempts in the past two games.
— Griffin Strom (@GriffinStrom3) November 9, 2021
Ohio State hosts Purdue at 3:30 ET on ABC.