Ohio State head coach Ryan Day walks onto the field ahead of Ohio State’s game against Rutgers Nov. 7. Ohio State won 49-27. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Following a surprise cancellation of its matchup against Maryland, Ohio State is working back into its routine with its first true test approaching Saturday.
The Buckeyes’ season was knocked off course Nov. 11 when Maryland announced that eight players had tested positive for COVID-19 and their matchup was canceled. Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said that although the team was upset to miss out on a game, they quickly bounced back and began preparation for No. 9 Indiana.
“At first, they were disappointed, they were angry and then we just went to work and kept going,” Day said Tuesday in a press conference. “They handled it very maturely and they focused on their work and having good practice.”
Junior defensive end Tyler Friday said that although he was initially hurt by the cancellation, he tried to find the positives in the situation.
“You just gotta roll with the punches and try to turn it into a positive,” Friday said. “I got more time to get my legs under me, get my body right, to get a better understanding for the Indiana game plan. Things like that, so you kinda took it, learned from it, and carried it onto the next day.”
The Ohio State-Maryland game was one of eight games in the Power Five conferences to be canceled or postponed, but it was the only one in the Big Ten to be canceled last week.
The cancelation put both teams behind the rest of the Big Ten East in terms of games played, placing Ohio State behind Indiana despite both teams boasting undefeated records.
With the Buckeyes and Hoosiers battling for the division’s top spot Saturday, Day said the cancellation put Ohio State behind Indiana in multiple areas.
“I think the hard part is that Indiana had an opportunity to play and now they’ve played for four straight weeks, so they’ve got a little bit of a rhythm going,” Day said. “When you miss out on preseason, you miss out on the spring, it certainly hurts when you’re not playing games.”
While the lost game derailed Ohio State’s momentum heading into its first top 10 matchup of the season, the Buckeyes made an attempt to stay on track despite missing out on game experience.
Day said he and the coaching staff tried their best to replicate a game and stay within their routine through a hard practice on Saturday.
“We tried to do the best we can here, in house, to replicate games,” Day said. “Everything we did in practice was game rep. We tried to replicate it the best we could, so yeah, it’s been a challenge but that’s been this season and we’re just trying to take it one day at a time.”
Day pointed to the fact that they had limited exposure to the virus as one of the few positives of missing out on the game as the Buckeyes were slated to travel to College Park, Maryland, for the game.
The cancellation also gave Ohio State a few extra days to gameplan for Indiana, which senior offensive tackle Thayer Munford and Friday said they took advantage of.
With the Buckeyes biggest game of the season on the horizon, Day said that the extra time caused by the cancellation created some anxiety for him.
“There’s a lot of anxiety for sure and the waiting and all that is not easy,” Day said. “It is what it is, so we just gotta work through it. The best way to handle it is to just get back into your work and just keep swinging away.”
Although the Buckeyes had a drastic change to their schedule last week, Day said the team is moving on without any difficulties.
“We did have a really good practice on Saturday, I felt we had a really good practice yesterday so that’s been good,” Day said. “The response has been good, the pads have been clicking and I think that’s all really positive.”
