Ryan Day provides update on Marvin Harrison Jr., challenges Ohio State offense at halftime vs. Indiana

Ohio State coach Ryan Day found his team hanging on to a narrow 10-3 lead against Indiana heading into halftime Saturday. The Buckeyes had a scare near the end of the first half when star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. went down with an injury and briefly exited the game.

Fortunately, Harrison returned to the field a few plays later and appearing to be fine. Just in case there were any concern, however, Day cleared things up on the receiver’s status while speaking with CBS Sports sideline reporter Jenny Dell after halftime.

“He’s fine,” the coach said. “He went back in and he should be fine.”

With Harrison Jr. ready to go for the second half, the Ohio State offense will look to focus on cleaning up some of its early mistakes. The Buckeyes scored a touchdown on their opening drive but struggled to keep things going after that, throwing an interception and having to settle for a field goal just before the end of the first half.

Day commended his defense’s effort but stressed that the offense has to do a better job of converting in short-yardage situations. Ohio State ended the half just 1-of-6 (16.7%) on its third-down conversions and 1-of-2 on fourth down.

“I think we’re playing well on defense,” Day said. “We need to do a better job converting third-and-short on offense. Some things here and there. A couple of penalties threw us off. I like the way we’re coming off the ball, but we’ve gotta be able to convert on short yardage and keep drives going.”

Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord finished the first half 10-of-16 passing for 94 yards and an interception. The Buckeyes found some success running the football, recording 78 yards rushing as Miyan Williams has the lone touchdown of the game so far.

“We’re getting some decent movement running the ball but we’ve gotta be able to convert on short yardage,” Day said.

The Buckeyes offense was one of the most potent in the country last season to finish second with 44.2 points per game. However, with the loss of quarterback CJ Stroud to the NFL, there appears to be some growing pains early on for McCord in his first start.

The young quarterback will hope to put the first-half interception behind him as Ohio State aims to put away Indiana and start the season off with a win. The Buckeyes will also have the running back tandem of Williams and TreVeyon Henderson to lean on.