Ryan Day Previews Maryland, Talks Buckeyes Following Open Week

COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day met with reporters for his weekly media session on Tuesday. He previewed Saturday’s upcoming matchup between the Buckeyes and Maryland, and also answered a number of questions about the off week and where his team stands currently. The highlights of everything that was said can be found below.

His philosophy on QB sneaks? That’s usually the first thing opponents take away, then you go from there. It’s part of their package. They did it with Justin Fields. “We’ve practiced it. Everyone has a quarterback sneak in.” They’re really working hard on short yardage.
On third-and-one, third-and-two, they want to be north of 80%. Third-and-three, a little lower.
When it comes to short yardage, you look at matchups, angles, what defenses are showing you, but sometimes you just have to get bigger than the other guy, stronger than the other guys. In big games, a lot of games will come down to those short-yardage situations.
It’s been incredibly frustrating with the short-yardage failures. Just have to keep working at it.
Kyle McCord continues to grow. Got great experience, but now that Notre Dame game is over. They have addressed the mistakes from that game and others, so you build on what has been good. It’s a long process for getting a quarterback to being his most complete self. The offense has to be better as a whole to help on that as well.
When do you see the next step happen for a quarterback after they become the starter? It’s not an accomplishment to get a job, it’s just an opportunity. He’s had a couple of games as a starter, which is good, but it’s just an opportunity. “The rest is yet to be written.”
The leadership needs to step forward now and build the identity. It is starting to show up.
There is no complacency during an open week. The guys got some time off, but “it’s going to be a heck of a run here these next couple of months.”
Marvin Harrison, Jr. will be full-go this week.
“I was told as a quarterback that once you come home with an A in algebra, you’re expected to come home with an A all the time.” — Day on Kyle McCord leading a team on a final drive for a win and playing well building McCord’s confidence.
The challenge of Maryland’s offense? Taulia Tagovailoa has played a lot of football and made a ton of plays. They have to do a great job of recognizing how Maryland is attacking them. The secondary is going to get tested this week. They need to get pressure on the quarterback for sure.
He watched some college football this week. The product on the field right now is as good as it’s ever been.
There is a different level of confidence from the defense and in the defense around the WHAC. When you go good against good like they do, it builds confidence, and you’re seeing it on the field.
Maryland’s defense is sound. Strong up front. Athletic in the back end. The secondary is playing well. The linebackers are experienced and playing faster. They’re sound and don’t give up a lot of big plays. They create turnovers.
On getting pressure on Taulia Tagovailoa, it’s a challenge for the defensive line this week. Maryland protects the quarterback very well.
There are times when Marvin Harrison is being double teamed. You can’t do that all the time, but the defense is always aware where he is “for sure.”
They took a step in the right direction in putting more on Kyle McCord’s plate, but they’re still building and growing. “We’re still a work in progress.”
They always want more in the run game. All the runs count, but they do want to be more efficient in the running game.
There has been progress made with the offensive line, but they always want to get better. “We all have to play better. We have to coach better. You have to upgrade every week. This has to be Ohio State 5.0.”
Are you comfortable with where the team is right now? “We’re 4-0…” but there’s a bunch of areas where they can get better. They want to be more efficient in all phases. The goal was to be 4-0 and they are.
On his postgame comments on Lou Holtz? “I don’t really want to get into too much of that today.” But he’s very proud of the fact that they are 2-0 against Notre Dame the last two years. Proud of the showing. The response that he’s gotten “has been remarkable” from the team and the people around the state.
NIL has had an impact on recruiting. If anybody says it hasn’t, they’re wrong. But that’s not going to change what Ohio State is doing. “We always want to find the right fit here.”
How did they address allowing long touchdowns last season? They talked about the pluses and minuses on what they did last year and how they did it. You also look at who you have coming back, and what you want the defense to look like at the beginning of the season and the end of the season.
Jim Knowles will always be aggressive. “We’re not going to be bend but don’t break.” “I know he’s got a whole bunch of blitzes lined up down the road for when the right time comes.”
The offense has to be better in the first quarter because they’re not getting as many snaps as they used to.
Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau are becoming warriors. They have to carry the water up front. He was proud of how many snaps they played against Notre Dame. The more depth, the better, but there’s a fine line there.
Why not have a bend-don’t-break defense? Because they always want to be aggressive. But the give and take is that they don’t want to give up big plays. They don’t want an unaggressive mentality on defense.
On speaking out in defense of his team, sometimes you have to bite your tongue a lot, but there are also times when you have to defend your guys. There are times when you have to stand up for what you believe in.
Are you content with the amount of pressure from the pass rush? “I thought we went against two really good tackles a couple of weeks ago.” “We were close.” This week gives them another opportunity to see where the pass rush is.
On kicking the extra point against Notre Dame, there was a second left, so he did it. If there was an untimed down, he would have just taken a knee.
He doesn’t have Peacock but got Paramount + for Yellowstone.
Does the team have a “kick in its step” following the ND game? Yeah, a lot of guys gained a lot of confidence from that game.
Having a tough game against Maryland last year will definitely keep this team’s attention.