Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes were able to get the win against Nebraska last Saturday, but it was in less than impressive fashion. The Buckeyes had to stop a potential game-winning drive from the Cornhuskers with under a minute left to hold on for the 21-17 victory.

If there was one positive for the Buckeyes on Saturday it was the defense held Nebraska to only 273 yards and 17 points. The defensive performance was even more impressive when taking into account that safety Lathan Ransom missed the game with an injury.

Day talked about Ransom’s injury at his Tuesday morning press conference and provided what is a positive update on his player. Another positive from the game is how Jordan Hancock filled in for Ransom with a star performance, and Day acknowledged his efforts.

“We’re excited to get a full week of practice out of Lathan,” Day said. “So we’ll see again how the week goes with him. But good to know we built some depth back there with Jordan Hancock to move into another position going into last week’s game with really just a week of preparation. I thought was excellent and we do have some flexibility moving him around.

“Now, we’ll go into this game with Lathan coming back kind of figure out what it looks like going into it.”

The Ohio State defense struggled in the loss at Oregon in Week 7, but this has been the most consistent unit for the Buckeyes this season. Getting one of their leaders back, while building depth with Hancock filling in last week is only going to boost the defense moving forward.

The Buckeyes will need a big time defensive performance this weekend, as they travel to Happy Valley to take on No. 2 Penn State.