Coaches Talk: Day discusses Indiana ahead of Top 10 meeting
It took one question Tuesday afternoon for Ohio State football coach Ryan Day to talk about a slight advantage the Indiana Hoosiers may have coming into Saturday's Top Ten matchup between the ninth ranked Hoosiers and third ranked Buckeyes in Columbus.
The advantage is the result of Indiana traveling to and knocking off Michigan State 24-0 last week, while Ohio State's game against Maryland was canceled due to Covid-19 ramifications within the Maryland program.
"The hard part is Indiana had an opportunity to play, and now they've played for four straight weeks and they have a little bit of a rhythm now and we didn't. When you miss out on preseason and the spring, it certainly hurts when you're not playing games. We tried to do the best we could in-house to replicate games and do it the best we could. It's been a challenge," Day told the media.
Day followed that up by telling the media the only positives by not playing were no injuries and limited exposure due to not traveling to Maryland.
Perhaps Ohio State didn't get to fine tune rhythm, but the last time out, the Buckeyes took care of business against Rutgers by a score of 49-27.
In that game, quarterback Justin Fields accounted for three touchdown passes in the first half before ending the game 24-of-28 for 314 yards and five touchdowns. Wide receiver Garrett Wilson had 104 yards and a touchdown.
Day said there is plenty he respects and is impressed with when it comes to the Hoosiers.
The veteran coach singled out the play of Indiana quarterback Michael Penix, who is playing "mistake free," according to Day.
"He's making a lot of plays, keeps them on schedule, made some really big time throws in tight spots and he's fearless. Give him a lot of credit. Right now, he's playing almost perfectly and that is a big challenge for us. He has a lot of great weapons around him, they've done a great job protecting him and his receivers make big plays. Add all that up and that's why you have a 4-0 team coming in here," Day said.
While it has been an odd year within the Big Ten with the struggles of traditional powers Michigan and Penn State, both of whom Indiana lost, Day said the rise of Indiana has more to do with them and the job Tom Allen has done than any team maybe having a down season.
"Indiana deserves credit. Tom deserves credit for the way they are playing right now. They are playing very well, and they deserve the credit more than anything else," Day said.
In addition, Day said he can tell the Hoosiers have updated their personnel and the schemes are improved.
"They've upgraded their personnel. They've done a great job recruiting them and developing them. On offense, they do a great job spreading you out and do a really good job of running it and being physical inside. On defense, they are very aggressive, hard to tell where they are coming from, dial up different blitzes and it's hard to figure out where they are coming from. Special teams, their returner has done a great job and then coaching. They are playing with great energy. Mix all those things together and you get a team playing at a high level, hasn't made a whole lot of mistakes," Day said.
A season ago, both teams played each other close at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, as Ohio State held a slim 7-3 lead before exploding in the second quarter, scoring 23 points to take a 30-10 lead into the locker room. The Buckeyes would pile on 21 more points in the third quarter.
Against Indiana last year, Fields was the spark plug for the offense, going 14 of 24 for 199 yards while starting the scoring with a 3-yard TD run.
They ran 31 times for 42 yards, the offensive line allowed five sacks, Damon Arnette intercepted then-quarterback Peyton Ramsey for a 96 yard interception touchdown and Indiana's defense was torched for 528 yards -- 314 of it on the ground, including a 40-yard TD run by Master Teague, who rushed 10 times for 106 yards.
After the game, Indiana head coach Tom Allen mentioned it was a "rough day for the Hoosiers."
"Very disappointed with how we performed. But I stand before you, take responsibility for how our team takes the field and plays each and every week, and it wasn't good enough," Allen said.
Day said Indiana expected to be in the position the Hoosiers are in.
"Whether someone is 4-0 or 0-4, we have to win every game here. Every game is big, but when Indiana is playing the way they are, it's a little bit different because it's a major challenge for us. The way they've been winning, our margin for error gets smaller. They played well, shut out Michigan State and we have to be ready to go from the get go and be ready to play four quarters," Day said.
And while some outside of Bloomington may be surprised with Indiana and what they've accomplished, Day is not, admitting that he could see the Hoosiers building for Saturday's opportunity for some time.
"I'm not that surprised," Day said. "They have a really good scheme on both sides of the ball, They do a good job coaching, they've upgraded their personnel and in 2020 anything can happen so you just don't know. You could see them getting better last year. Last year's game was, maybe an outlier for them. They got stronger and Penix didn't play. You add all those things up and here we are."
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