2024-09-22 11:10:07
Sept. 21, 2024 – Ohio Stadium; Columbus, Ohio
Attendance: 103,871
Ryan Day, Ohio State head coach
On his approach to today’s game…
“We wanted to play fast today. We felt like that was the right approach and when you do that, you’re creating explosive plays that turn the ball over quick too.”
On kicker Austin Snyder replacing Jayden Fielding for the second half…
“We put Austin in there and thought he did a nice job. We will evaluate them, but either way we can’t have that. You get to the point where you want to let somebody play through it, but at another point, we have to make a change.”
On the team’s overall performance…
“The things we did well, we will continue to enhance and the things we didn’t do well, we have to grow from. They do some good things, and we aren’t going to take any win for granted; there is a lot of work that gets put into them. The guys are playing hard and we have to keep building on that.”
On his penalty…
“There was 21 seconds on the clock when we subbed in, and they were really slow getting in. When you make a sub around 21 seconds, you should be able to still run a play. We had to call time out and I went to the numbers; I didn’t curse, but I was raising my voice saying that at some point that has to be delay of game on defense. I guess I yelled too loud.”
On the Buckeyes’ running game…
“I think what you are seeing is an identity that’s slowly getting molded here where we are explosive on the perimeter. There’s some things that we can do better there, and coach better, but we are trying to stretch the field vertically. When you think back to when we had Justin Fields and J.T. Barrett, it was just a different running game, and I’ve started to see that come back a little bit.”
On the running backs…
“All three of them, I have to give credit. They all have special abilities; they play well off each other. They are unselfish, which is the biggest thing you can say, a bunch of guys that don’t care who gets the credit.”
On entering Big Ten play…
“We go against good players every day in practice, so it’s not like we don’t know what we look like against good players.”
On quarterback Will Howard’s performance…
“Will did some really good things, like the touchdown play to Jeremiah. It was a sight adjustment, where he had to see it, and so the execution on that was very high. The long pass to Carnell [Tate] was well done; he saw the adjustment that was made there and found the next read. I think he’s growing and getting more comfortable with the offense.”
On running back Quinshon Judkins…
“I appreciate how hard he plays; his pad level, he runs, he’s got vulnerability which you can see he gets behind his pads and runs physical. He’s got a great attitude. You can coach Quinshon hard, and he looks at you in the eye and almost appreciates the fact that you coach hard. It says a lot about him as a person and he’s running hard. I think he enjoys being part of this program and he’s been nothing but a great teammate so far.”
Jordan Hancock, Ohio State cornerback
On the team’s ability to make quick adjustments…
“We haven’t been hit with too much adversity in the season, but them going out there and scoring, we just had to take a chip on our shoulder that second drive and the drives after that. That’s what we did, we just had to go out there and make adjustments because we have some really good coaches, and they’re trying to put us in the best position for us to win.”
On defending air raid offense and getting it on film…
“It’s a huge positive right now in our defense, our scheme, and maybe our techniques on the outside. We know when we go to East Lansing, they’re going to be passing the ball a lot, so I’m happy we saw this team before we go up there.”
On how prepared the team is for Michigan State…
“We are really prepared. Coming off that bye week, we didn’t look over Marshall, but they [Michigan State] kind of run the same thing that Marshall does, air raid. Seeing this team right here will make us better for next week.”
On keeping up the intensity in Big Ten play…
“It starts with the offseason, with Coach Mick [Mariotti], he always says ‘second half mentality, fourth quarter mentality.’ That’s what we brought into the season right here, and we’ve shown that these first three games, that we’re ready for that in Big Ten games.”
Lathan Ransom, Ohio State safety
On the offense’s explosive start…
“The offense played great and they got established early. TreVeyon [Henderson] ran the ball very hard. You always love to see it. It gets everyone going and brings a lot of energy and it also opens up a lot of plays in the passing game.”
On being ready for the upcoming Big Ten games…
“I’m super excited. I can’t wait to play some of the Big Ten teams. Those games are always exciting, especially our first away game.”
On the younger players stepping up…
“I think the young guys stepped up really well; that’s what is special about our team. We always have dudes that are ready to play and a backup that’s just as ready.”
On adjusting to Marshall’s run game…
“When they get a light box and they check to the run, everyone’s fits have to be correct. We fixed what we needed and stopped it in the second half.”
Emeka Egbuka, Ohio State wide receiver
On the explosive offense…
“It’s really hard to stop our running game and hard to stop our passing attack. We have Quinshon Judkins and TreyVeon Henderson, probably the best duo that I’ve ever seen in college football. And we have the athletes that we do, on the outside. So, there’s threats everywhere. It’s hard to game plan for us.”
On emphasizing receiver/perimeter blocking…
“It was a really big emphasis that we had going into this year because blocking downfield is where you really find the explosive plays. If you watch in years past, plays that could’ve been touchdowns, are tackles that are made by safeties and cornerbacks. You know, it’s never going to be a defensive lineman chasing them 30 yards downfield for the most part. So that really falls on the responsibility of the wide receivers to get those jobs done.”
On the mentality of blocking as a receiver…
“I think it’s more of a mentality thing. Blocking is never really scheme. It can be partially technique on the outside, but for the most part, you have to want to block. You have to come off the ball every run play like it’s a pass play, to keep that threat of pass and run there at all times. It’s definitely a mentality thing. It’s something that we’ve been trying to hold and just have that going about us every single game.”
On having over 100 yards receiving…
“Obviously, it’s fun to be able to perform at a very high level, but I never really tried to hang my hat on statistics. If I had zero catches, but I still ran all the right routes and did all the right things, it doesn’t make me any less of a player. I could have gone for 300 yards today, but that’s just because the ball came my way. I try to do what I can with the opportunities that I presented.”
On catching his first touchdown of the year…
“I’m just going to do my job to the best of my ability. If the ball comes my way, it does, but at the end of the day, there’s a responsibility deeper than just statistics. We’re trying to make a legendary run this year.”
Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State running back
On his 86-yard touchdown run…
“It definitely felt pretty good. I turned around to see if I had a flag on the play, but after that I was super excited about it.”
On the culture at Ohio State…
“I think it’s the brotherhood; everybody has put blood, sweat and tears into this program. Everybody has woken up at five in the morning to get in the building and trained. It’s because you want it for the person beside you; just knowing that I can trust that guy, he’s got me, and he’s going to go out there and make a play.”
On what he feels when he gets the ball in his hands…
“I think the mindset of me and my teammates as a whole is to play with bad intentions. I think that’s my mindset when I get the ball, I’m going to do my job and try to score.”
On getting a win…
“I enjoy every single win. Like what Coach Day says, it’s hard to get a win in any football game, so we enjoy the win, come back tomorrow and see how we can improve in the next game.”
Will Howard, Ohio State quarterback
On how attitudes can shift when the run game is doing effective…
“You saw the offensive line rocking off the ball; they were getting up to that second level very fast with the way that their front was set up. I think our guards got good movement and those guys were getting up to the second level well. Our running backs were doing an unbelievable job of reading things. When the run game is clicking, it makes my job easy.”
On Coach Chip Kelly’s play calling now three games into the season…
“I think we’re clicking. We’re on the same page on a lot of things and the way that we see coverages and the way that we see just the pictures, we’re on the same page on a lot of stuff. I really think we are starting to click.”
On the diversity of Kelly’s play calling…
“You never know what you are going to get with Coach Kelly, he’ll do just about anything, and I think that’s the cool part about it. It keeps defenses on their toes.”
On having a number of different standouts on offense …
“I think it’s huge. I mean, people respecting everything, and not just the receivers, tight ends too, those guys make the plays too, it’s the run game, me getting my legs going, all these different things present challenges for defenses. The more ways we can attack them, and the more people we can get involved, the harder it’s going to be.”
On what it is like to have versatile receivers…
“That’s the mentality of that room. Those dudes are dudes, and it’s not just about getting catches, it’s not just about scoring touchdowns; it’s about executing every single play. I think Coach Hartline does a really good job of coaching those guys up and getting them right. I’ve never seen a more selfless group of receivers, and a more selfless, talented group of receivers. All of them are unbelievably talented. They all want to genuinely see each other succeed.”
On how he would describe how Quinshon Judkins runs…
“He’s different. Man, he’s different. He’s built differently. He’s a different beast – he’s physical, he’s fast. I mean, you saw it on that breakaway run. There’s not much that that guy can’t do. And on top of that, he’s one of my favorite people on the team and I love that dude. I would do anything for him. The place that he’s making it, it’s a compound of all the work he’s put in since he’s been here and I’m excited for him because he’s only scratching the surface of what he’s capable of, and he’s already doing some pretty damn good things.”
On his relationship with center Seth McLaughlin and how he makes his job easier…
“Me and Seth are super tight, he’s one of my best friends on the team, and we spend a lot of time together. He is a guy I fully trust in anything. If he makes a call, I’m like ‘Oh yeah, he probably sees something I don’t see.’ We can bounce ideas off each other. We have that relationship where we both trust each other and we know that we’re both trying to get on the same page, and we’re on the same page most of the time. He’s been really good for me to have coming into all of this being a first-year guy in the system. Having a guy like him, I think both of us can kind of lean back on our experiences – we have both have played a ton of football up to this point. I think that’s helped us. We bonded over that, and it’s also helped us out in the field.”
Charles Huff, Marshall head coach
On missed tackles by Marshall…
“We talked about it all week. You miss tackles with these guys, it’s a touchdown, so we have to continue to clean that up.”
On Ohio State’s ability to break tackles…
“You can’t miss tackles, you know. Some of those were broken tackles, and that’s one of the good things that good players do.”You can come with perfect fundamentals and perfect form, and if they break a tackle because they’re stronger, well, that happened today.”
On Ohio State living up to its potential…
“Offensively, absolutely. Defensively, they smother you, and they kind of just lean on you and weigh you down a bit, and that’s what happened to us today. They kind of just laid on us long enough to wear us down. Offensively, I mean 2019 LSU, 2021 Alabama – they’re probably in that realm. I mean they’re really good, like really good.”
On his biscuit comments in the week…
“Hopefully it didn’t take anyone back by my comments. I don’t think anyone’s leaving for biscuits… one of the players said on the way off, ‘You got any biscuits?'”
On playing at Ohio State …
“Hats off to the Ohio State administration. They did a phenomenal job. [We] felt welcome and they did a really good job, [were] very professional, very polite, and everything.”
