Ohio State Buckeyes: 5 takeaways from Ryan Day’s Nebraska preview press conference

Here are five takeaways from the video conference:

1. Day is not ready to call the Big Ten’s testing regimen for COVID-19 a success.

That won’t come until the season is over, and Day again reiterated he is stressing daily the importance of maintaining protocols designed to not only limit the spread of the coronavirus but prevent anyone on the team from testing positive.

“To look at it like it’s been a success right now would be premature because we still have two more months of it,” Day said. “And that’s the way we have to look at it. This is not a week-to-week thing. It’s all the way until January because we might be good for two or three weeks, four weeks, five weeks and then all of a sudden we stub our toe and have an outbreak and then we’re gonna lose games. We can’t afford to do that, so it’s an ongoing deal.”

The stakes are higher now because a positive test that is confirmed will result in a player being sidelined for at least 21 days, and Day said if a heart condition is detected, the player will be out at least six weeks.

2. The Buckeyes are dealing with not having film for the Cornhuskers as best they can.

While that is not a unique situation for a seasonopener, it is different from the typical conference opener since those usually come after each team has played at least a couple of games.

Nebraska has a new offensive coordinator — Matt Lubick — but the same quarterback — Adrian Martinez — as the last two times the Buckeyes have faced the Huskers. Beyond that, Nebraska head coach Scott Frost’s influence on the offense is heavy, and he like Day picked up some aspects of his attack as an assistant for Chip Kelly.

“I’m sure they’ve changed different things just like we have, but it’s it’s just one of those things where you just do the best you can to adapt in the game,” Day said. "That’s why you practice so much, so you have contingency plans based on what you have.

“At the end of the day it’s going to come down to tackling, blocking, ball security and all the things that matter in a game and just following the plan to win.”

3. Day is no longer talking about the national championship.

The chance to be considered for the College Football Playoff was among the reasons Ohio State pushed for the Big Ten season to begin in October rather than Thanksgiving weekend or later.

Day has acknowledged seeing this team as having that type of potential but said he is shutting down that talk for now.

“The thing that I talked to the team about two and a half weeks ago was that now there is no conversation about any kind of national championship or championship conversation,” Day said. "It’s all about beating Nebraska. Because if we start focusing on things like (the CFP), whether we start talking about things like that, compare ourselves to other teams, all that’s going to do is just distract us from playing the game on Saturday.

“We’ve got a good opponent coming in here, and if we don’t take care of business on Saturday none of that really is going to matter.”

4. Day feels decent about his team’s depth but wants to see how it plays out in games.

“I feel like it’s been so long since we played a game,” said Day, whose Buckeyes lost in the CFP semifinals on Dec. 28. “Sometimes you don’t know, and you’re trying to figure out what kind of team you have. Sometimes you practice against each other and you have a certain opinion of guys or sides of the ball or scheme that you have and then you’re right but there’s other times where you’re not.”

5. Nicholas Petit-Frere and Harry Miller will join the starting offensive line.

Petit-Frère beat out Paris Johnson Jr. and Dawand Jones at right tackle, though Day said he expects all to have a chance to play and the competition to start will continue into the season.

Miller was long considered the heir apparent to right guard Jonah Jackson, who stepped into the lineup last season after transferring from Rutgers.

The 2019 Ohio State offensive line was among the best in the country in terms of run-blocking, and position coach Greg Studrawa confirmed it could be even better this year with the addition of Miller and Petit-Frere, who were both five-star prospects coming out of high school.

Studrawa also expressed more confidence than usual in his second team, which consists of Matt Jones and Enoch Vimahi at guard, Josh Wypler at center and Jones and Johnson at the tackles.

Miller and Petit-Frere join returning starters Josh Myers, Wyatt Davis and Thayer Munford on the first team line.