Ryan Day shares how Ohio State avoids buying into changed narrative surrounding Buckeyes

Ryan Day recognizes the narrative surrounding his Ohio State team has changed with two gigantic victories over Tennessee and Oregon to send the Buckeyes to the Semifinals of the College Football Playoff, but it hasn’t changed his mindset.

According to Day, Ohio State is preparing the same way it has over the past couple of months, as they try to achieve the ultimate goal of winning the national title this season. There’s been some bumps in the road, and Day realizes that, but his team’s standing as one of the final four remaining solidify his confidence in what he’s built.

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“I mentioned the team the other day, ‘Same guys in a room as was there a month ago.’ Nothing that’s happened in the past, or really the noise that’s around the building, has anything to do with our preparation and our focus and our process, and that’s what we’ve been diving into,” Day told the media. “We don’t need any extra motivation to win this game. But one thing that does motivate our team is an opportunity for the team to play for another week together. This is a great, great group of guys that cares a lot about each other. Have fun with each other. They love competing with each other. You can see the passion on the field when they get on the field. I think the way that this format is and the way the playoffs are set now, it allows us an opportunity to grow as a team, and to learn and to get better, and to peak late in the season.

“I think we’ve learned a lot about our team. I think we’ve grown a lot as a team, and, you know, we’re banking on this to be our best football of the season. These guys, you know, they care a lot about each other, and we’re just going to focus on the execution and making sure that, you know, we’re preparing ourselves as best as we possibly can to go play this game against these guys on Friday night, and that’s it. Nothing else matters. 

“I’ve said this before, nothing that’s happened previously is going to have any effect on what’s going on, other than learning from our experiences. So, we’ve got to do a good job of starting from scratch again. I think that’s one of the things that our guys need to understand, is that when you’re playing in playoffs, it’s almost like, you know, seasons within themselves during that week, and that, you know, you almost start from scratch.

“You can go through and you say, ‘Okay, here’s your opponent, here’s your process, here are the walkthroughs, here are the meetings, here are the practices. Here are all the things that come with preparing for a game like this to be a competitive excellence.’ So, we’ve got to do a great job this late in the season of being disciplined, to do a better job in Texas.”

All told, that’s a tremendous mindset from Day, as Ohio State has kept the main thing the main thing throughout their CFP run. Their loss to Michigan created a lot of noise, but the Buckeyes are still riding high and looking to cap off the 2024 campaign on top of the college football world.

While many may have overlooked Ohio State coming into the College Football Playoff, Ryan Day’s bunch as their attention now, and the sky is the limit for the Buckeyes over the next couple of weeks. There next game will come in the Cotton Bowl against Texas, which will be played on January 10th at 7:30 p.m. EST.