Huddle Postgame: Ryan Day, CJ Stroud Talk Big Win Over Badgers

COLUMBUS — Following Ohio State’s emphatic 52-21 win over Wisconsin, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day met with reporters to discuss his team’s dominant performance. Following day, quarterback CJ Stroud also took to the podium to discuss high never-going-to-be-perfect night. The highlights of everything that was said can be found below.

Ryan Day

• Thoughts on the corners? Not expecting them to be long-term injuries, but not having them out there was a concern. Jyaire Brown and JK Johnson practiced well and the coaches told them that the team was confident in them. Proud of them in their first career starts.
• How do you get two RBs going? It’s a mentality of knowing that this is a long season, but the key is accepting that this is what is best for the team. TreVeyon Henderson’s energy before the game was off the charts. He ran really hard. “Hats off to the offensive line.”
• “I thought that the balance was solid.” For OSU to control the time of possession the way they did was impressive. Even the field goal drive was good because it gave them a four-score lead and ate up the clock. The tempo and the mix of run and pass is what they’re looking at.
• He didn’t like the pass interference call on Jyaire Brown and he wanted Brown to know he had his back. “I hope he felt like his head coach was backing him up in that moment.”
• CJ Stroud having an “off night?” He was really good in a lot of spots. To throw five touchdowns is very good, and he had more out there, but the protection broke down a couple of times. Day took the blame for the end of the half turnover. He said they should have just run the ball a few times and accepted the boos as they left the field.
• Some nights you can really get into a play calling rhythm like tonight.
• This team has now shown what they can do, but now they have to do it every week. That’s the big challenge of college football. As good as this feels, they can’t spend too much time patting themselves on the back tonight.
• Why do Henderson and Williams work so well together? “I don’t know,” but the O-line and TEs have been working well together and the RBs have a great approach. The WRs are also blocking on the perimeter. Julian Fleming was very physical today. Emeka Egbuka took a shot from a defender and came right back out and caught a touchdown.
• The defense did a great job of gang tackling. Day made the call to take the starters out and that led to the 75-yard touchdown.
• They decided to shut Jaxon Smith-Njigba down for this game and get him going on Tuesday in practice so he can play next weekend.
• He really started to see an acceleration of Miyan Williams skill level and toughness in preseason camp. He and TreVeyon Henderson have different styles, but there’s enough to go around for them both.
• That was a tough hit that Cade Stover suffered but he’s a tough player. He deserves all of the attention he is getting.
• Tanner McCalister had a huge interception that let them go up 14-0. He’s played a lot of football. He has maturity and confidence, especially with the young guys at corner. Day talked to Ronnie Hickman about being poised and calm for the younger guys.

CJ Stroud

• They distributed the ball pretty well in the first half. They are building chemistry with the receivers and tight ends.
• What’s it like having these two RBs? “Both of them have been great.” They do well in pass protection but “they’re toting the rock pretty well.” This was a big-time challenge for the OSU running game and the Buckeyes responded to that challenge.
• He’ll look back at the TDs he missed. You need to enjoy the win because you work so hard to win, but he’s never going to be perfect. The interception was on him, not Day. He got irritated after that play and couldn’t get out of his head for a while after that.
• When you can go over 250 yards passing and running it’s a great thing. But he needs to hand the ball off with more disciplined and not get bored. The offense got rolling and this is one of the best offenses in the country.
• Cade Stover is a Swiss Army knife. He can run and block and catch. He owed him a touchdown from last week, but he still also missed him again tonight, but he still got two touchdowns.
• How does he feel like he’s playing right now? It’s not his place to judge. He’ll see what the coaches say.

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