Ryan Day gives initial impressions of Georgia ahead of CFP semifinal

Ohio State squeaked their way into the College Football Playoffs, jumping ahead one spot from the week prior to No. 4 and securing a date with top-ranked Georgia in the CFP semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Buckeyes’ head coach Kirby Smart spoke about his initial thoughts on the Bulldogs Sunday.

“Like Kirby said, we always look at Georgia and how they do things in the offseason, sometimes during the season,” Day said. “So to say that we’re knee-deep in a game plan, I can’t tell you that, we watch them from afar and they have very very good players and a good scheme.”

The Peach Bowl is weeks away, but it was hard for Day or anyone not to notice the dominance of the defending National Champions this season, as they’ve had one of the nation’s top defensive and offensive units all year.

“Certainly on offense Stetson (Bennett) does a great job in all areas, got a lot of respect for the way he plays, certainly they put a lot of stress on you with multiple tight ends and a really good offensive line and skill players on the outside. And then on defense excellent scheme and really good players across the board,” Day said.

The tight ends Day was referring to include Brock Bowers and Darnell Washington, who are arguably the best tight end tandem in the nation combining for 78 catches, 1,143 yards, and eight touchdown grabs this season.

With their semifinal matchup many weeks away Ohio State may not be deep into their scouting and game plan for the Bulldogs, but they will still be using their time wisely and focusing on other areas to improve upon.

“So we’re not that far into it, but at the same time the focus has got to be here in the next couple of weeks of working on fundamentals but start getting going with the game plan and put all that stuff together because they challenge you in all three phases” Day said. “During this time it’s going to be great to get guys healthy, we really have been fighting that a little bit, but we’ve also developed dome depth in certain areas too which is important. So I think if we can push forward and get to just about 100% here in terms of our health, that gives us the best chance on the 31st.”

This will be the Buckeyes’ third College Football appearance under Day, as they’ll look to dethrone the defending National Champions in their home state of Georgia at the end of the month.