Michigan football came away with its fourth straight victory in The Game with a 13-10 defeat of Ohio State in Columbus on Saturday afternoon.
Here is what Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day said to reporter afterwards in his postgame press conference.
On Ohio State's offensive plan/performance
I think we struggled to run the ball in this game. We know we've talked about this many times. We have to run the ball, especially in this game. It was a little windy out, and in The Game you've got to be able to run it and we weren't able to do that. We tried a couple different schemes, couldn't quite get into a rhythm on that. And that ultimately, along with the turnovers and missed field goals was the difference in the game.
On what he said to the team and their confidence going into the playoff
You know, (we've) got a locker room full of guys who were just devastated. And I thought they played with great emotion. I thought the defense played their tails off. And I thought everybody played hard. Just the overall execution wasn't good enough, especially on offense. Well, on offense. And we just we couldn't control the game in the run game. Just weren't efficient enough. And our overall execution wasn't good enough in a game like this. And so that's really what I'm thinking about right now. And the guys in that locker room.
How to pick up the pieces and contemplate losing to Michigan four straight times
I mean, I'm just fresh off the game right now and obviously extremely disappointed and angry that we didn't execute well enough. So, you know, I'm not there right now, just fresh off the game. But as you know, this is not easy to accept. And, obviously have to take the ownership. You know, I'm the one ultimately that makes the final decisions on things. And, I felt like we were in a really good place coming into this game. I felt like we were prepared to play well in this game. And I think you could see maybe some of the stuff that happened in the offensive line and shuffling things around ended up really coming to a head today. Some of those guys will have to look at the film and figure it out. But we just couldn't seem to get through to the second level on some runs and led to some frustration. And then, again, I thought guys were into it, even all the way to the end. It was a great play by Jack (Sawyer) on the goal line, just unbelievable effort right there to give the offense a chance. But, you know, go three and out and it was fourth and one in our red zone. I just felt like at that point you had to punt it, because if you don't get it there, the game's probably really in the balance. So, yeah, I don't know much more to say about it.
On the up-tempo drive to end the first half and why OSU didn't use tempo more often
I mean, the tempo a little bit on some things. And some of it worked and some of it didn't. That drive, it worked. And it was a two-minute drive. And I thought it was well executed. But that was just 100% throw on that drive there. I think maybe it was a run or two. But you got to stay on it. You got to get first downs when you're doing that. If you don't get first downs, then it's hard to continue to play with tempo. (4:12) So, there were times we tried to move it a little bit faster. You can see we didn't huddle as much today. We tried to get, you know, more plays. We thought that gave us an opportunity.
On whether the Michigan game is a mental hurdle at this point
I think each game is a little bit different and unique to what you said. But the results are the results. And, as hard as that is to say, we came up short here again today. And not easy to swallow at all.
On QB Will Howard coming back into the game after getting injured in the first half
I just go based off of what our doctors say. And he came out for a second and then they said he was available and he was OK to go back in the game. And I checked with him and he said he was in good shape and (I) didn't recognize anything just in terms of just the interaction that led to anything other than for him to go play.
On what he felt was off for Ohio State today
Well, I feel like the interception in the red area, that was he floated a little bit and it was a little bit behind him. Didn't have a lot of zip on it, kind of died. I know he's trying to make a play on the third down in the red zone and probably could have just thrown that away and would have had a field goal opportunity there. So, there's a fine line of trying to make plays and win the game, but also, being smart enough to take care of the ball. And so that's the balance of playing quarterback. And I think we all know that. Will gave everything he possibly had today.
On the too many men on the field penalty late in the game
Yeah, there was miscommunication in terms of the grouping based on what they had in the game. And, they were fast to run off the sideline and we weren't given a ton of time to be able to match the personnel. And so in that moment, as it was getting loud, there was miscommunication in terms of what was in the game. And because it was moving so fast, there was a little bit of panic going on. Typically when a group runs on the field you get a little bit of time to make sure you make that substitution, and that time was very, very fast. And so, we had to quickly respond to that. And we didn't well enough and we panicked and it cost us.
On what his defense did well and why Michigan was able to move the ball the last two drives
They had a couple of runs in there. They escaped on one of the couple of scrambles that kept them on schedule. I thought the defense kept fighting their tails off, kept competing though. And, when you're not getting as much momentum on offense, it can kind of wear on your defense a little bit. And I think that's probably more than anything what happened. But I thought they continued to fight the entire game.
On the pressure he faces and what he foresees for the program and himself
I mean, everybody wants to win this game in the worst way, and nobody wants to win it more than we do. And it's our number one goal every year. And so when you don't do that, there's disappointment and frustration. (8:38) And so, I don't blame anybody for being upset (and the fans booing). I'm upset more than anybody. (8:44) And those players are too and the coaches and everybody that goes at it. So, I mean, that's what we know we're getting ourselves into here.
On third quarter redzone execution and not pushing the ball to the endzone
When a defense is playing softer and kind of backing up like they did in this game, you have to be able to take the underneath stuff or run the football. And that's really what happened. And there were times we tried to push the ball into the end zone, but ultimately, you can't just force that. (9:38) You've got to be smart in what you're doing because they can put a cloud over him (Smith) like they did and put two guys on him. So, you know, there's opportunities to do that. We did that. But also, like you've got to execute in other areas. And that's what we always talk about in balance. And when you don't have balance, you can't run and throw the ball when you need to. And this is what happens.
On the missed opportunities and if he talked to Chip Kelly about throwing more
I guess when we ended up throwing in the end of the game 33 times out of, I don't know how many plays we had, 59. So there were more passes than runs. But you can't just abandon the run. You have to be able to control the ball because as we know, when you throw the ball and it was windy today and, we didn't have a ton of time back there in terms of protection. So we tried to be smart about that. I thought again, we had a good plan in the pass game going in but ultimately it wasn't good enough to execute it. But yeah, I mean, those are all things you talk about and make sure you're doing the best you can. No, I mean, you know, the turnovers, the rushing yards, and then again, you miss opportunities like those two field goals. Yeah, I mean, it's going to cost you a game like this. Every yard matters. Every point matters. And it didn't get done.
On the postgame skirmish and what he saw/knows about it
Yeah, I don't know all the details of it, but I know that these guys are looking to put a flag on our field and our guys weren't going to let that happen. I'll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field. And certainly, we're embarrassed with the fact that we lost the game. But, there's some prideful guys on this team that weren't just going to let that happen.
On the disappointment of the loss and regrouping for the playoff
We're fresh off the game. And so I don't really have the answer to that. Yeah, I mean, we're very disappointed in it. Never thought this would happen right here. And we're expecting to win this game and then go play in the Big Ten Championship game and neither of those things happened. We don't know what's going on now. This is just too soon to try to figure out what's next. But once we have more information in about a week, we'll figure that part of it out. I'll bring them together here pretty soon and talk to them. But there's a lot of guys who are crushed right now.
On the message to the team
There's not much great, nothing you can say at this point. You've got to take the ownership of it. And that's hard. Ultimately, it starts with me. And there's no words right now that can address any of that because of what they put into the program. And these are great guys who give unbelievable effort. And ultimately we just didn't execute well enough in this game. And again, it starts with me and goes from there.
