Ryan Day on new-look Big Ten: 'It’s going to be a battle week in and week out'

The college football offseason has been headlined by change from head coaching changes, to conference changes, and the format of the postseason. Change that the Big Ten Conference has been at the epicenter of with the addition of USC, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington to their league, expanding their national footprint in an unprecedented way.

Ohio State has been a staple in the Big Ten for over a century, around for numerous changes the conference has seen over the years. And ahead of the most transformative season of the league in recent history, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day spoke about the imminent changes.

“I think the first thing is the teams that have been in the Big Ten have gotten stronger year in and year out, I think that the recruiting is still at an all time high,” Day said Tuesday on ESPN’s Get Up. “Every time you’re getting a win in the Big Ten, it’s a win that matters.”

“The physicality of the Big Ten is as strong as it’s ever been and now you add in for teams from out west that have great backgrounds. They’ve done very, very well and we’re excited to add them into the conference. I think that now when you look at the 18 teams that are in the Big Ten, it’s going to be a battle week in and week out.”

In recent history, Ohio State and rival Michigan have dominated the conference, with one of the two programs taking home the Big Ten East Division Title followed by a conference championship in the last seven seasons.

But the Big Ten’s new teams also join the conference under a new format. As divisions will no longer exist and the two teams with the best record in the league will face off in the conference title game. A crucial change that despite being significant won’t alter the way the Buckeyes go about business.

“It doesn’t change how we approach things, but it does change the dynamic of the season for sure,” Day said. “We’re not going to change how we do things, certainly with the playoffs and with the change here. But it is going to look different when you look at how the season is gonna play out, how the postseason is going to play out. That is going to be different.”

“But it isn’t going to change how we do things, we’re going to take every game as it comes, just like everybody else across the country. We’re going to have a break preseason and we’re going to try to win every game we play. But we also know, as I think every coach in America is trying to figure out, what that looks like as we head into December, January for our team as we’re gonna be playing more games than we ever had before,” Day concluded.

The road to a Big Ten Championship will be more challenging than ever before for Ohio State and the other teams in the conference, and the journey to a national championship will also involve an unprecedented amount of games played with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.

But through all the change, the Buckeyes are still the favorite to win the conference, as Day enters the season with high expectations once again with one of the most talented rosters in the country.