Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Pregame Quote, 01/08/2025

Q. With the two wins so far in the playoffs, a lot of people outside the program obviously excited about it. For you guys inside, is there a sense of “we haven’t done anything yet”?

WR EMEKA EGBUKA: Absolutely. I have been here for four years, and I have absolutely no hardware to show for it. That’s really on the forefront of our minds.

We’re glad we were able to give Buckeye Nation a couple of good wins, but we are nowhere near done.

Q. What can you say about Ryan Day’s tone in the playoffs? He’s gotten a lot more intense in the little bits we have heard at practice. Have you seen a shift at his focus and even how he’s acting toward you guys?

WR EMEKA EGBUKA: That’s kind of what the playoffs are. Every time you step out from the tunnel in a playoff game, you can cut the atmosphere in half with a knife. It just gets more intense, so you have to rise to the occasion, and you have to step up at that moment, and Coach Day has done that at a very high level.

Q. Do you think that the loss to Michigan I know that’s nothing anyone wants to talk about anymore. Do you think that helped you rally behind him (Ryan Day) and all the scrutiny he faced?

WR EMEKA EGBUKA: I think there’s multiple ways you can respond to adversity in life. And that adversity brought us closer as an entire group.

So, the ship runs behind Coach Day, but the leaders were able to rally behind each other as well. We were all able to lift each other up in that moment, and we’ve gotten stronger because of it.

Q. How close do you think this team is compared to the other ones have been on, close knit?

WR EMEKA EGBUKA: This is one of the tighter groups I have been a part of. I think it’s because our senior class is deep. We have four years in the books together. So there’s so many stories, so many laughs, hard times as well. And we developed nothing short of a family.

So, I think that the culture that we accumulated over these last four years has permeated throughout the rest of the team. I think that the freshman have taken on our identity. There’s nobody on this team I don’t consider my brother.

Q. What does it take to win this game? Anything different? Or business as usual?

WR EMEKA EGBUKA: Nope, nothing different. It’s going to take execution, toughness, being smart, turnover battle. All the things that win you a football game is what’s going to win us this football game. The only thing that changes is the opponent.

Q. What stands out by Texas’ secondary?

WR EMEKA EGBUKA: I think that they are a very good unit. I think that they are very athletic, very smart. They tackle well. They do everything the right way is.