Ohio State coach Ryan Day is now one win away from a national title, just weeks after it seemed the program was in long-term trouble.
Now, after three-straight playoff wins, the Buckeyes will face Notre Dame in the national title game on Jan. 20.
“I first want to give Coach Sark and his team and his staff a lot of credit. That’s a very good team … He’s got an unbelievable reputation in the coaching community.”
On the Jack Sawyer touchdown run back: “Just symbolizes not only his career, but this team in general.”
On what Will Howard and other senior leaders have meant: “When you look at the guys we have in our program, you see guys who are tough. You see guys who are resilient. You see guys that care about each other. You see guys that love being Buckeyes. Both guys here (Sawyer and Howard) have two different stories. (Howard) loves his teammates. He’s made an impact on our team, he’s made an impact on me. There’s times I’m coming to work, and this guy picks me up. He has an amazing approach on life. They’ve done a great job with him.”
On what Jack Sawyer has meant to him as a coach since he got to Ohio State: ”We can argue about who loves being a Buckeye more, but (Sawyer) is somebody who grew up in Columbus … To see him get the moment he has today? He’s become like family to me.”
More on the Sawyer play: “I couldn’t be prouder. I couldn’t be prouder. I love stories of guys who go through difficult times, stay loyal, and defend the people they love the most. I love that in life. I love guys that go through difficult times and stay strong.”
”We’ve gotta finish this thing. And they know it. Because there’s so many great stories to be told.”
Day on the TreVeyon Henderson 75-yard touchdown, he joked that the team would stop running screen drills because they almost never run screens in games. Then they ran one tonight, and, well, it went 75 yards for a game-changing touchdown.
On the team’s loss in the Cotton Bowl last year, and how things have changed: ”It’s not finished. But we did just walk in here and say the same thing: What a difference a year makes. But we’re not done yet.”
Day said he felt like the team was stopping themselves on the penalties, and that was the issue for them on offense throughout the game. “I felt like we had a good rhythm, we were making some nice plays.” But Texas was able to keep some things in front of them throughout the game.
