Ryan Day flips attention to Purdue: ‘I think they're a much better team than their record shows’

Ohio State is coming off its biggest win of the season so far, and arguably one of the most impressive wins of the Ryan Day era, but Day knows that win won’t matter if the Buckeyes face plant this week versus Big Ten bottom dweller Purdue.

Despite being peppered with an onslaught of questions dissecting Ohio State’s 20-13 road win over then-No. 3 Penn State, Day repeatedly brought up how one-win Purdue has his attention right now.

He notably pivoted to the Boilermakers when he was asked about the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season, which come out Tuesday night but won’t be on Day’s mind.

“Yeah, no. Just focused on Purdue,” he said. “That’s all that matters. Rankings right now, for us again, don’t mean anything because you got to keep winning. And, for us, every time we walk off the field, on a Sunday, no matter what happened the game before, that game is over with. It’s on to Purdue.”

Day continued: “I think Purdue, their record may not say it, but they’ve been playing good football. We’ve got to come in and play physical in this game, and we got to continue to build on what what happened last week.

“That’s what today is going to be all about in a Tuesday practice, because whatever the rankings are, they are. We’ve always said, the ones that matter are the ones at the end of the year.”

Ohio State rushed for 176 yards against Penn State in Happy Valley, and the Buckeyes did so with a new-look offensive line that featured Carson Hinzman — a 12-game starter at center in 2023 — at left guard and Donovan Jackson — a three-year starting left guard — at left tackle.

Penn State is fifth in the Big Ten in rushing defense with 103.38 yards per game allowed on the ground. Purdue, meanwhile, is dead last with an average of 203.25 rushing yards per game conceded this season.

Not much has gone right for the Boilermakers’ defense in the second year of Ryan Walters’ stay as head coach. Purdue is tied for 128th nationally, or sixth-to-last in the FBS, with 36.9 points per game allowed in 2024. The Boilermakers have recorded a Big Ten-low five takeaways. Plus, they’re second-to-last in the league in opponent third down conversion percentage (47.42%). What’s more, they’re tied for last in the Big Ten with Rutgers for having given up nine plays of 40-plus yards from scrimmage this season.

What Day highlighted Tuesday, however, is the Boilermakers’ offense. That unit, now coordinated by former Purdue analyst Jason Simmons after the firing of Graham Harrell in late September, has given Walters’ squad a fighting chance against then-No. 23 Illinois in Week 7 and against Northwestern in Week 10, both games Purdue ultimately lost in overtime.

Quarterbacks Hudson Card and Ryan Browne have shown Day something in that span, with the redshirt freshman Browne tossing three scores in a 50-49 defeat to the Fighting Illini and the veteran Card throwing for 267 yards and a score last week in a 26-20 loss to the Wildcats.

“I think Purdue’s offense is playing well,” Day said. “I think both quarterbacks are talented. They do a good job on offense. If our guys think that they’re just gonna go out there and play this Saturday, they’re wrong.

“I think they’re a much better team than their record shows. So we gotta have a great week of practice and keep growing. If anybody in this building here is thinking about last week, they’re distracted, and that can’t happen.”

Although Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium has been a house of horrors for Ohio State over the years, the Buckeyes haven’t lost to the Boilermakers at home since 1988.

It’s also important to note that Ohio State has yet to fall to an unranked opponent in Day’s six seasons as head coach.

He’s not thinking about that, of course.

He’s thinking about Purdue and how his team can build on last week’s top-five win in State College.

“We’ll find out today how we do it in our 2:30 team meeting, and how we do in practice, and where we go [against] Purdue,” Day said Tuesday. “That’s it.

“I mean, was it a good win? Yeah, it was good win. But it’s just allowed us an opportunity to go chase our goals. That’s all it’s done. We knew we had to go do that. And we knew when we looked at the schedule, going to Oregon, to Penn State we’re going to be two great road opportunities for us. We didn’t get the first one. We got the second one. So that was good but a lot of football ahead of us, and that game is behind us now.”