Ryan Day Sees Talented Purdue Squad With Good Coaching And Scheme

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day took part in his weekly radio show prior to heading off to West Lafayette for Saturday’s matchup at Purdue. He previewed the Buckeyes’ upcoming opponent, talked about quarterback Kyle McCord’s develop, the running game’s struggles, the weather, and much more. The highlights of everything that was said can be found below.

Back in the day in college football when you went to road games, players used to have to write papers about where they went. They don’t do that now, but they do inform players about some unique things about each state they go to.
Purdue QB Hudson Card is a guy that OSU recruited. The more he plays, the better he gets. He keeps the plays alive.
Hudson Card was Garrett Wilson’s quarterback in high school.
Defensively, Purdue head coach Ryan Walters does some unique things. Ohio State really hasn’t played anybody like this. You try to come up with some things to fit that, but it doesn’t always fit well with what you do. So you still have to stay true to who you are.
“We’re still gonna look to run the football. That’s not going to change.” Especially on the road in October in the Big Ten.
How often do they get into max protect? “We’ll mix it up based on what kind of pressure they’re bringing and what the matchups are.” There’s always a give and a take throughout all of it. It’s the game within the game. You prepare for tendencies as best you can.
TreVeyon Henderson is much better than he was last year “for sure.”
Kyle McCord’s best play last week was in the fourth quarter with the back-to-back TDs to Marvin Harrison. There was confidence, the feet were moving, and the ball came out with pace.
Lathan Ransom and Josh Proctor are going to be critical if the team is going to make the push they want to the rest of the season. They made a huge difference last week.
Is Sonny Styles really 230 pounds? It depends on who you ask. He’s a great athlete, got on the field early last year when he should’ve been in high school. The experience he got last year was huge. They knew they could move him around, but they want to play him at one position (nickel/Sam) because it’s a position where you can ask him to do a lot — blitz, cover, defend the run. He has the versatility to defend tight ends and receivers.
When teams go after Davison Igbinosun, you can see his aggressiveness and his grittiness.
The outside running game is all based on leverage. The college hashes are a lot further to the sidelines than the NFL. If you’ve got Marvin Harrison out to the field and he has a safety and a cornerback over him, then that takes a defender out of the boundary, which gives them a better opportunity to run to the boundary.
Day would like to have the hash marks be the same as the NFL. The boundary is so crowded with the college hashes.
What do you look for when you self scout? You look for everything. Good teams have tendencies. If you don’t, then you’re probably not very good. You look at formations, alignments, what’s been efficient for you. You also try to identify what the other side is preparing for.
They have challenged the defensive linemen throughout the summer and fall that they need to be in the kind of shape that keeps them on the field more. That allows them to get into the flow of the game and recognize tendencies from the offense.
When you walk into a test and you’re nervous, it’s because you’re not prepared. That’s why you prepare all week long. The games let you know how the preparation went.
Fall break has begun at Ohio State. They players will still be in for an easy day. They want the team to be rested and ready for Purdue. They’ll be on the grass field today because Purdue has a grass field. They’re also preparing for some possible rain.
Purdue has talent offensively. When you’re in year one, you’re trying to get everybody on the same page. They’re going to try to run the football and take shots down the field. They have good coaches and a good scheme. Any time you’re going on the road in October, you’ve got to play really well.
If they need to get Kyle McCord involved with the running game to help things along, they’ll do that.
At what point do you tell the assistant coaches to go home and take the night off? They work a lot of hours, but it makes no sense to be there until 1 am every night. When you don’t get any rest, you make bad decisions. “I’m kind of talking to myself when I say that…”
He tells every verbal commit that “your life is about to change forever.” You now have a bullseye on your chest “because everybody wants what we have.”