Ohio State (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) has already clinched a berth to the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis on Dec. 6, but it has one last regular-season game against the Michigan Wolverines (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten) before heading into postseason play.
Buckeyes' head coach Ryan Day met with media Tuesday and fielded question after question about U-M. Day talked about the matchup with the Wolverines, and what it will be like to be the head coach in this rivalry for the first time.
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Buckeyes Head Coach Ryan Day On The Michigan-Ohio State Rivalry
Both Day and U-M head coach Jim Harbaugh have said this week that their respective programs prepare all year long for playing each other. Day says OSU starts preparing its players for the game even before they step on campus as students.
"In recruiting, we talk to them right from the get-go," Day said about the U-M rivalry. "It’s one of the reasons why some people go to school here, for the rivalry because we make such a big deal of it. When you walk in the building, it’s all over the place and we talk about it all the time. We talk about it in recruiting and all different areas, whether it’s strength and conditioning or football or any of the other areas. It’s something that you just ingrain. The more these guys are in the program, the more they get it. The majority of our guys are from the area, so they get it.
"We take a lot of pride in recruiting the state of Ohio. We put their recruiting list on the board and compare our guys to theirs just about every day, every week. … That’s just a part of how you live this rivalry is you compare yourselves every day against them. We take a lot of pride in the fact that we recruit Ohio at a high level, and we’re very competitive. They do a good job, too. They have good recruiters and, obviously, a wonderful program. It’s always a big challenge."
That's right. There's a board on the wall in the Ohio State coaches' office that compares the Buckeyes and the Wolverines, and how they're each doing on the recruiting trail.
"It’s been there since I got here," Day said. "It just gives you some awareness of where we’re at and the battles that we’re in for certain guys. We rank our people, and we want to know exactly who those guys are because we’re going to be playing them. That’s what’s really important.
"Sometimes, in recruiting, you don’t worry about the guys you don’t get, you worry about the guys you do get,. But when you’re going against the team up north, you know you’re going to be playing against them, so it does matter who you don’t get. We just look at that very carefully."
Day says preparing every day of every year for U-M makes it easier for when the game week actually comes.
"If you’re working on it all year, then you’re prepared," Day said. "Whether you work on it in the spring, in the preseason, you have certain periods that you set aside just to work on the team up north. You talk to your guys about what it means, and so they understand coming into the game what to expect. It’s always on the schedule that way. We have the countdown and everything like that. I think everybody understands the importance of it.
"When you’re talking about the game itself, it goes back to the fundamentals and taking care of the football, executing the game plan, giving the players a good game plan that they can execute."
In the past, Day has made it clear that he looks at replacing Urban Meyer (who was 7-0 against U-M) as the Buckeyes' head coach as an opportunity, not as pressure.
"I’m trying to do the best I can to make it like every week, but we all know it’s not," he said. "We do a little extra here, a little extra there, to make sure we’re covering every little scenario we can, making sure we let the guys have a great plan. If you start to overdo things, you can get a little jammed up, and that’s why we do all the work ahead of time.
"That’s why we live it 365 [days a year], so when you get here, to the week, you don’t have to come up with an unbelievable speech on a Tuesday. The guys know what it is, and you can put the focus more on giving them a good plan, making sure things are tight and spending your focus on making sure the guys are prepared."
Day has been around the rivalry since joining the Ohio State staff prior to the 2017 season, but said he can't pinpoint a single moment that reiterated the importance of the annual matchup with U-M.
"I don’t think it was just one moment," Day said. "There’s a lot of moments because it’s every day. There’s a lot of moments. The most memorable for me is that when they talk about throwing out the records and that anything can happen in this game is what happened to [former quarterback] JT [Barrett].
"Just as we’re about to kickoff the game [in 2017], I hear JT’s hurt and can’t go in the game. I was like, 'Okay, here we go. We’re in the rivalry game.’ We had to adjust there and then he played in the first half, and then Dwayne [Haskins] had to come in and go win the game.
"… For me, seeing what this means to the people of Ohio and the Buckeye nation, that’s where it really hits home to me, and it strikes in my heart, strongly. I just see that this is everything.
"I know that the Ohio State football team means everything to the people of Ohio. It runs deep in their blood. It’s who they are, it’s their identity, it’s their pride. To be the Ohio State head football coach, that’s an unbelievable responsibility."
Day Previews Michigan
Day was the offensive coordinator a year ago when the Buckeyes put up 62 points on the U-M defense. Since then, the Wolverines and Don Brown have made adjustments. Day says that they expect to see a different look this year.
"This is a whole new year," Day pointed out. "We look at the film a little bit to see what they did. But they’re going to make adjustments on all that stuff. They’re very well-coached. We don’t really look at that much, at all. We’re really looking at this year and what we do, what they’re doing. Their personnel is different now and what they're doing is significantly different.
"They’ve gone to a lot more zone and they mix it up. Coach Brown does a great job of that. He’s always had a lot of different coverages and a lot of different looks. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of them on Saturday.
"Nobody gives more different looks than Don Brown. I know he takes a lot of pride in that. … What he does a great job of is he puts his guys in positions to be successful. Some of those things last year may have seemed like man when they were zone. He changes it up, he does a good job, and I know he’ll do a great job this weekend."
Brown and Day have worked together in the past and have a good relationship.
"He actually coached against me when I played, then coached my brother at UMass and then we coached together at Boston College," Day said of Brown. "Now, we get an opportunity to coach against each other in a huge rivalry game, which makes it hard. But I have nothing but respect for his background and what he’s done defensively over the years. He’s one of the best guys in the business."
The U-M offense has ascended in recent weeks and has put up 38 points or more in each of the last four games.
"I’ve thought that since halftime of the Penn State game, they’ve really played good football," Day said of the U-M offense. "[Quarterback Shea] Patterson is throwing the ball well and the receivers are good — [Nico] Collins, [Donovan] Peoples-Jones. I think the tight ends are good. The offensive line did a really good job against Notre Dame.
"They’ve got a good scheme; they’ve got a lot of really good coaches there. They’ve kind of found a rhythm in the second half of the season here, so it’ll probably be our biggest challenge again. As we’ve gone on in the season, I think we’ve been challenged more and more. This will be the most talented group we’ve seen by far.
"They’re sound and they do a good job. I think, at the end of the day, it comes down to players and I don’t think they’re going to do anything that’s going to be anything that we probably haven’t seen, but maybe they will. I think, at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to execution and guys winning their one-on-one battles."
Day has noticed how well Patterson is playing at the moment, after the signal-caller has thrown for 750 yards and nine touchdowns in his last two outings.
"I do see him being more confident and I see a group that feels like they’ve found an identity," Day said. "They’ve got really good receivers, and those receivers are talented. The offensive line is giving them time. I don’t know what made it all click, but it seems like it’s going well right now for them."
U-M is the most talented team OSU will play all season, Day reiterated.
"They have the ability to be as good as anyone in the country when they’re playing well," he said. "I think they’re playing their best football now and we’ll get their best shot on Saturday."
Day On Greg Mattison and Al Washington
OSU poached former U-M assistants Greg Mattison and Al Washington in the offseason. Mattison was the Wolverines' defensive line coach for the last eight seasons, while Washington spent last year coaching the U-M linebackers before joining Day's staff at OSU. Mattison is now the co-defensive coordinator for OSU and Washington coaches the linebackers.
Day was asked if he will lean on the two former U-M assistants for insight on their rival and what he thinks their emotions will be heading into the game.
"Here and there, but they’re busy getting their side ready to go," he said. "I’m sure there’s a range of emotions, and when they get on the bus and head up there, there will be even more.
"It’s just one of those things that’s part of the job. You work through it and they’ll be really professional about it. They know a lot is riding on this game and they want to do great for their players and for their families and everything like that, but I’m sure there’s a lot of emotions for them."
When asked if one of the reasons why he hired Mattison and Washington was because he could take them away from his top rival, Day said no.
"The major attraction is that I knew both of them really well," Day said. "One of them [Washington], I was a coach when he played and then I coached with him. The other one [Mattison], I coached with and have a tremendous amount of respect for."
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