What we learned from Ohio State football press conference as Indiana approaches

Ohio State’s last and next opponents did not face the Buckeyes with momentum.

Northwestern had lost seven in a row before giving Ohio State a test in the wind tunnel that was Ryan Field before falling 21-7 on Saturday. This week’s opponent, Indiana, has dropped six straight after starting the season with three wins, including one over Illinois in the opener.

No. 2 Ohio State (9-0) is a 40-point favorite over the Hoosiers, who have not beaten the Buckeyes since 1988.

On Tuesday, OSU coach Ryan Day and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles spoke at the team’s weekly press conference.

Here are the highlights:

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Dissecting the run-game problems

Ohio State ran for 207 yards in 35 carries against Northwestern after failing to crack 100 against either Iowa (66) or Penn State (98) the previous two weeks. But those numbers were deceiving. Ohio State struggled to open holes most of the game and was stuffed in several short-yardage situations.

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Day said Saturday that Northwestern stacking the line of scrimmage played a large role in OSU’s run issues.

But he acknowledged Tuesday that the short-yardage problems need to be corrected.

“Of all the things that I was disappointed with on Saturday, running the football short yardage was the one that was high on the list,” Day said. “You know they're all going to be in there, and we've got to convert in those situations.”

Day said there were multiple causes for the failures.

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“We didn't quite get the movement we wanted to, and we didn't quite enter the blocks the right way,” he said. “You'll see a couple of them where we just were not flush on the blocks. And then there's one scheme that we probably could have done a better job with.

“But overall, they were down in there, and we weren't getting enough movement. We’ve got to get our pads down lower. We’ve got to fit those blocks a little bit better.”

Day also placed some of the blame on himself for not making better play calls.

“It's not just one person that made the mistake because there were multiple ones we didn't convert on,” he said.

On one failed third-and-1, running back Miyan Williams appeared to have an opening if he cut back.

“I’m not going to give him a (overall) 100% grade, no,” Day said. “But I can't just sit here and say it was his fault, either. It's a little bit of everybody, and that's not a good sign. It was kind of one guy here, one guy there (at fault).”

Prepping for unique conditions

As last week progressed and the weather forecast for Evanston continued to look dire, Day watched video of NFL games played in similar conditions. He reviewed the 2008 game between host Buffalo and New England played in 55 mph winds. Day studied a Browns-Raiders game two years played in 35 mph winds in Cleveland.

“I just tried to figure out, ‘OK, if this happens like this, what do we do?' ” Day said.

It was mostly a fruitless exercise.

“Didn't have a lot of answers,” Day said. “There wasn’t a lot going on in those games.”

A total of 35 points were scored in those two NFL games.

Knowles had experience coaching in high winds. He was at Duke when the Blue Devils hosted Boston College in October 2015 in the aftermath of Hurricane Joaquin.

“You can't really prepare for it,” Knowles said. “You’ve just got to hunker down and fight. You’ve got to do what you need to do to win the game.”

Ryan Day has respect for struggling Indiana

The momentum that Indiana appeared to be building 2020 season has gone into reverse. The Hoosiers were 6-2 that COVID-shortened season and went to the Outback Bowl. Since then, they’ve won one Big Ten game – this year’s opener against Illinois.

Ohio State might not have much to fear from the Hoosiers, but Day said he has much respect for IU coach Tom Allen.

“You guys know how much of a competitor he is, and certainly he has his hands all over the defense," Day said. "They’re going to come in here and fight and play really, really hard. They always have.

“That’s a program with a lot of pride. He has a lot of pride. It’s a noon kick and we’ve got to come out and play a little better early in the game. That’s going to be a focus this week.”

Mum's the word on Ohio State injuries

Day said last week that he would revert to the policy adopted last year of not addressing injuries until releasing a status report on Saturdays. He stuck to that on Tuesday when asked about running back TreVeyon Henderson. The sophomore missed the Northwestern game with what the broadcast crew said was a foot injury sustained late against Penn State.

“No update this morning,” Day said.

Cornerback Jordan Hancock, whose hamstring injury kept him out of the first six games, also did not play against Northwestern. But Knowles said that as a precaution. Because Hancock’s injury was a significant one, Ohio State did not want him playing on a sloppy field.

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football has run game issues before Indiana game