Ohio State’s Ryan Day on what drives Buckeyes after back-to-back blowout wins

Is Ryan Day worried about losing some of that edge now that the Buckeyes are starting to be considered the favorite to win the whole thing?

Doesn’t sound like it.

“I mentioned to the team the other day it’s the same guys in the room as was there a month ago, and nothing that’s happened in the past, or really the noise that’s around the building, has anything to do with our preparation and our focus and our process, and that’s what we’ve been diving into,” the Ohio State head coach said during a press conference to review the Cotton Bowl on Friday.

While motivation might be easy to come by when a spot in the national championship game is on the line, typically a team can’t have too much.

After being bombarded with criticism for an inexplicable loss to Michigan, Ohio State had plenty heading into its matchup with Tennessee.

Knowing they had lost a 32-31 heartbreaker to Oregon earlier in the season also probably helped sharpen preparation for the Ducks, too, but Texas offers a clean slate in the Cotton Bowl next Friday night.

“We don’t need any extra motivation to win this game, but one thing that does motivate our team is an opportunity for the team to play for another week together,” Day said. “And this is a great group of guys that cares a lot about each other, have fun with each other. They love competing with each other. You can see the passion on the field when they get on the field.”

Day also acknowledged the newly expanded 12-team playoff presents more opportunities for growth during the season.

Teams used to be unable to overcome even one loss, let alone two, in previous college football season formats, but that is not the case.

“I think we’ve learned a lot about our team,” Day said. “I think we’ve grown a lot as a team, and we’re banking on this to be our best football of the season, but these guys, they care a lot about each other. And we’re just going to focus on the execution and making sure that we’re preparing ourselves as best as we possibly can to go play this game against these guys on Friday night. And that’s it. Nothing else matters.”