Scarlet Sunrise: With Wisconsin road game on tap, 'competitive stamina' especially vital for Buckeyes

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With Wisconsin road game on tap, ‘competitive stamina’ especially vital for Buckeyes

Before Ryan Day became the full-time Ohio State head coach, he experienced what it’s like for a lesser Big Ten team to knock the Buckeyes off the pedestal. Twice.

In 2017, Day’s first year as Buckeyes co-offensive coordinator, Iowa whacked Ohio State, 55-24, in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes won eight games that year, including only four in Big Ten competition.

The next season, a Purdue team that ended up winning just six games total, thumped Ohio State, 49-20, in West Lafayette.

Both of those defeats effectively removed the Buckeyes from College Football Playoff contention.

Day, who is 52-6 as a head coach, has avoided such losses since taking the program reins.

“Coach Day just preaches consistency,” second-year Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said Tuesday. “He breaks down the week for our players and what we’re doing every day, so they understand it. He’s got a great intensity to him. You know, that can motivate the players without bringing them down. So it’s just a complete program.”

Day explained that, as a coach, you learn things about your staff and your players every year, both in terms of what you did well and what you need to improve on.

Communication is key, Day pointed out Tuesday. There are things you pick up on midseason that must be properly relayed to the rest of the team, he explained without getting into detail.

“Because our goal, again, is to put [our players] in the best situation to be successful. And so that’s why we have to have a great week of practice to make sure we’re out in front of this and we’re playing our best football Saturday night.”

“This” is the first of two straight road trips for Ohio State. Coming off their second top-10 win — the latest being a dominant defensive performance versus then-No. 7 Penn State — the Buckeyes have to go on the road to play another one of those good not great Big Ten teams, Wisconsin.

The Badgers are 5-2 overall and 3-1 in league competition. Most importantly, though, they’re atop the Big Ten West standings.

Factor in how difficult it is to play in Camp Randall Stadium — plus that it’s a night game during Halloween Weekend — and you have a potential upset on hand. Ohio State is aware of that.

“We knew we had to go on the road this year and be ‘Road Warriors,'” Day said. “Notre Dame early on was going to be a really difficult environment. We knew this was going to be the same way.”

Day added: “They’re playing well, they’re a good football team. They’ve got a really good opportunity to win their side. And we can’t let last week affect this week. Championship teams bring it every week. They don’t have ups and downs and letdowns. So we’re not allowed to have a letdown. We got to bring it.”

It goes back to “competitive stamina,” a term Day has been using for years now. It entails not taking your foot off the gas midseason, even against lesser opponents, and it’s a requisite of championship teams.

Day reiterated that Ohio State is not allowed to have a bad day this week. A good week of practice is necessary, and so is a well-executed game in Madison.

The Buckeyes are No. 3 nationally and have two top-10 wins through seven games. But none of that matters with a loss at Wisconsin. Day knows that. His team knows that.

Tristan Gebbia, Lincoln Kienholz to both take reps with second team ahead of Wisconsin trip

Ohio State will have a new backup quarterback this week at Wisconsin.

Redshirt freshman Devin Brown is sidelined with an ankle injury. So that leaves the Buckeyes the option to roll with either seventh-year veteran Tristan Gebbia or true freshman Lincoln Kienholz in the QB2 position.

“We’ll go through the week and give those guys reps and see how that goes,” Day said, when asked outright Tuesday if Gebbia was now the backup.

“But I think you know where those guys are. One’s a more experienced guy, one is a younger guy that we think has a really bright future here. So both are at different spots in their careers, and we’ll kind of see how this week goes.”

For the full story, go here.

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Ryan Day, Jim Knowles decline to comment on alleged sign-stealing operation at Michigan

Unsurprisingly, both head coach Ryan Day and Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles declined to comment Tuesday on the alleged sign-stealing operation at Michigan.

“Anything regarding that right now, I’m just not going to comment on today,” Day said. “I’d rather just focus on Wisconsin, but I obviously appreciate that you got to ask your question. That’s just something I don’t want to get into right now.”

Knowles was asked for his thoughts on the matter and promptly declared he had been “instructed by the higher ups” not to speak on the topic.

“That’s the great thing about being a middle manager,” Knowles joked.

Need a refresher of what’s going on in Ann Arbor? We’ve got you covered here.

Counting down

Buckeyes vs. Wisconsin: 3 days
Buckeyes vs. Michigan: 31 days

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