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Ohio State’s head coach doesn’t care how the Buckeyes win at Washington, just that they do.
Coaches say that all the time, of course, but this is sort of a weird week in multiple ways for Ohio State football:
The Buckeyes are coming off an early open week.
They are starting Big Ten play.
They are going on the road for the first time.
They are also ranked No. 1 in the country.
They haven’t played this team in six years, and they haven’t been to this venue in almost 20.
There’s a lot going on here, but really all that matters is they take care of business.
Don’t take my word for it, ask Ryan Day.
“I think if you start worrying too much about quote-unquote style points, you can get yourself in a bad situation fast. The No. 1 goal is to win the game, period. I mean, there's no other sport that anything matters other than winning, but college football used to have style points, and they still do have style points. And that's something that you have to be careful on.”
That is interesting because we have seen over the last few years times when the way the Buckeyes won had no impact on their playoff position but did cause a lot of consternation in the fanbase.
And why was that?
Well, fans are demanding, but also there for a few years it became national championship or bust. Not that it was stated implicitly like last year, but that was the feeling when the team was always on the doorstep but couldn’t quite get in. That meant any day they did not look like the best team in the country felt like one that was foreshadowing doom.
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Now, of course, they have another trophy there in the case, so is the feeling different?
I wouldn’t say this program is on any sort of honeymoon, and the team is certainly not content to live off the past, but perhaps the fanbase is more comfortable with living and letting live between now and November since we know perfection is no longer necessary to win it all.
“That being said, we have a certain level of execution. We want to play a certain way. And when that's met, we know it's met. When we're playing to our standard, we know what that looks like.
“So we hold ourselves to our standard, not our opponents. And so whether it's practice or a game, it doesn't matter who we're playing. It's about how we play. And then we grad ourselves on that, trying to identify what the issues are regardless of the opponent. And then we go from there.”
That is actually something we usually hear before a game against a clearly inferior opponent, but maybe this is just the way of the world now.
“So whatever the scoreboard says is one thing. What we think and where we are is another thing. The scoreboard really is important to win the game, but ultimately we're judging ourselves based on a certain set of criteria that we judge ourselves at. And if we're grading out a champion, grading over 80%, and we're the hardest-playing team in the country, then we have a chance to win every game. And that's really what it has to be. But we all know the number one goal is to win the game, period. And this game in particular is going to be an absolute battle.”
Again, this is interesting because you’ll probably even see fans fighting with each other online about whether or not they should be happy with any sort of win, but the coach is out here giving license to the perfectionists in the peanut gallery to nitpick as much as he apparently plans to when the game is over…
What will you be looking for this weekend?
We’ll get into it with “This Week in Ohio State Football” on Friday, but the offensive line will need to step up to keep too much from falling on the young quarterback, and the style of offense could be a challenge for the new-look defense and its coordinator from the NFL.
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If you want to see more of what he had to say, check out my YouTube channel, and for more great sportswriting, check out my buddy Matt Brown’s newsletter that focuses on the business of college sports.
