Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Pregame Quote, 12/03/2023

SCOTTIE RODGERS: Welcome to the 88th Cotton Bowl Classic Selection Day News Conference featuring the head coaches of this year’s participating teams, Ryan Day of the No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes and Eliah Drinkwitz of the No. 9 Missouri Tigers.

I’m Scottie Rodgers, Director of Communications for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, and I’ll be your faceless moderator for today’s media session.

Each coach will appear separately with Coach Day now, and Coach Drinkwitz at approximately 4:35. Coach Day will begin with an opening statement, and then we will go to questions. Please use the raise-hand function to indicate you want to ask a question. When you are called on for your question, please state your name and affiliation before you ask a question.

Coach Day, please start us off with an opening statement.

THE OHIO STATE HEAD COACH RYAN DAY: Thank you. Wanted to let everybody know that we have a tremendous amount of respect for the Cotton Bowl. We were there in ’17. Had an opportunity to recognize the Cotton Bowl as one of the most hospitable bowls. We really — kind of a gold standard on hospitality: the way that they set up the events during the week, the way our families were treated. The City of Dallas was great. And, certainly, the venue, AT&T Stadium, was tremendous. So we’re certainly looking forward to returning to the Cotton Bowl.

Great opponent in Missouri. Coach [Eliah] Drinkwitz does a great job. Always had a tremendous amount of respect for him. Looking forward to competing against them this week.

And, yeah, our guys will be excited to finish the season off on the right note and have a great week down in Dallas (Arlington).

Q. Hey, Ryan. Quick glance at Missouri. You can, obviously, see what they’ve done this year in the passing game. With a lot of uncertainty still ahead for you as far as who is actually going to still be part of your defense, I suppose, just because of opt-outs and things, what do you think of that challenge and what it’s being able to tell you about younger players, this next wave that you have coming out of that game?

COACH DAY: Yeah, any time you get to a point like this in the season you’re playing against an opponent that has the type of record and resume that Missouri has, you’re going to get challenged.

Great opportunity for our defense to go against a very good opponent, like you said. There may be opportunities for guys to step in, not unique to the season.

But, yeah, it will be a really good week — or a good month of preparation and practice for some of our younger guys to get out there but also possibly get in the game. We’ve seen that in the past. Certainly in the Rose Bowl where some of the younger guys were able to get into the game and that propelled them into the offseason and into the winter program.

Q. The offensive line was obviously a question going into the season. It made some progress. Were you overall content with the progress that it made this season? And how much does that unit need to still improve?

COACH DAY: Well, I think coming out of the last game, I mean, there were some things that we thought we could have done better. There were some good things. There was a really good drive in there where I thought we ran the ball well, efficiently right down the field. But there were a couple breakdowns in protection in the last drive that cost us.

I think when you look at the progress from where it was early in the season to where it ended up, there was definitely progress made. But it wasn’t good enough for us to win the last game. So we need to identify what those things are and get them even better than they are. And so a great opportunity this month to do that.

Q. Coach, from [Andy] Katzenmoyer to James Laurinaitis to Tommy Eichenberg, how much of a joy is it to watch such a consistent linebacker be able to make so many plays and be able to play with a consistently high level for you?

COACH DAY: Yeah, Tommy really took the next step here this year. Really helped himself, I think, coming back for senior year.

I think a lot of it had to do with his ability to diagnose plays, get the defense into checks, tie the front-end to the back-end and then just to show up and play really hard.

And I think Tommy is one of the best linebackers in the country and has an opportunity to really play himself, even in this last game, into one of the top drafted linebackers coming out this year in the draft.

But as a captain, he’s been a great leader for us and his production speaks for itself.

Q. Coach, obviously, the College Football Playoff committee has a difficult task every single season in deciding who the right fit is. We know it’s expanding for the future. What can you say about the Cotton Bowl Classic and the importance of this game, as well as maybe your hopes for how the future of the playoff is handled?

COACH DAY: Yeah, the Cotton Bowl has been a big part of the bowl season and college football for a long time. And the tradition and the pageantry of the bowl goes back many years. So we have been able to experience that, at least I have in ’17. So it’s always an honor to be part of such a great bowl and some of the great players and coaches that have come before. So that’s always a part of this time of year.

Getting into next year, I think there’s a lot of time to process all that, what that’s going to be like. It is going to be a big change, a lot going on next year with conference realignment and now the expanded playoffs. Will be different. It will definitely be different than it was this year. So we’ll cross those bridges when we get there and figure out how those changes are.

But it is certainly interesting to think about how this would be different if we were in the 12-team playoff now. But that’s not the case, so we’ll deal with that when we get there next year.

Q. Hi, Coach. Just wondering what your first impressions are of Missouri. And also, what are the differences that SEC teams usually present?

COACH DAY: I haven’t dove into the film. Just getting the announcement here in the last couple hours. So we’ll do that soon. But I know Eli (Eliah Drinkwitz) does a great job in all three phases. He’s always done a great job on offense. Defensive coordinator (Blake Baker) has done a great job as well and their scheme and what they’re doing.

And then they play a tough schedule, like you said, in the SEC. They have got to bring it every week and have some really good wins this year, against Tennessee and Kentucky and South Carolina. So we know they’re a very good team. Any time you’re playing that type of schedule and winning like they are, both offensively and defensively, statistically they are ranked very, very high. But that’s what you expect when you get into a bowl game like this. It will be a great challenge for us.

Q. Congratulations on making to it Dallas (Arlington) for the Cotton Bowl. What do these 15 or 20 practices mean for you guys to get yourself ready for this bowl game? And, secondly, what does it mean for the Buckeyes to come to North Texas, because you guys got a lot of good alumni people there?

COACH DAY: Yeah, it’s always been great, even since I’ve been at Ohio State. We played in the Cotton Bowl and then turn around the next year and played against TCU there. And Ohio State travels very, very well. So I guess this will be the third time that I’ve been there. I know that national championship game was there. And so great area for Ohio State. So excited about that part of it.

And, yeah, bowl practice is a great opportunity. It’s three phases for us. We have our fundamental phase. We have our game-plan phase. And then we actually have our practices down at the site. So we’ll work on those three phases and look to develop our fundamentals with the young guys and really enhance and allow our older guys to make sure they stay sharp.

SCOTTIE RODGERS: Coach, before we go to that last question, can you just talk about how important it is for your team to finish this season on a strong note here in a game against a team that is a quality opponent in Missouri?

COACH DAY: Yeah, well, the first thing is any time you’re on field, it matters how you play. And when it’s the last game of the year and it’s a bowl game, it matters even more. And we want to make sure that we’re finishing the season the right way, the way that we should.

And again, a great opponent, a great venue. So we’re going to do work over the next month to make sure we’re prepared to play our best football this season.

Q. Yes, Coach, just talk about your preparation for this upcoming bowl game. I know you haven’t had time to look at the team or anything yet, but just talk about just some basic things.

COACH DAY: Yeah, so any time you’re getting ready for a bowl, like I said, there’s finals and different things that come into play. Coaches are on the road recruiting. So there’s a little bit of a balance in the time.

But our guys get an opportunity to get a little bit of rest here. And then we jump right into it coming up where we’re working on our fundamentals. And that’s good on good, getting young guys a bunch of work, not really into the game plan. Get some practices under our belt there.

And then the next phase there is the game-plan phase. And then we start practicing down at the site. So we really, like I said before, break it up into three different sections and allow our guys to compete but also get our game plan in when we get closer to traveling.

Q. Obviously a couple key games this season that you’ve had to deal with missing a few key players on the offensive end. Obviously, with it being a bowl game, are you expecting some players to maybe sit out this one? And if so, what is the mindset there to kind of play a good game of football, even if you’re going to miss some guys?

COACH DAY: I expect everybody to play. We’ve had to play depth this year, and that’s a great opportunity for guys to step up. And that’s what this bowl practice is going to be about, is trying to get young guys a bunch of reps. And they got to utilize every rep that we possibly give them.

But no, I think our guys will be ready to roll, I guess it’s the 29th. Yeah, so we’ll be ready to roll at that point.

SCOTTIE RODGERS: Coach, thanks for joining us today. We really appreciate it. And we’ll see you here in North Texas.

COACH DAY: Okay, guys. Thanks so much. Take care.