Ohio State Buckeyes: Peach Bowl coaches offer final assessments before CFP semifinal

“We’re still hopeful to get Ladd and Warren back,” Smart said.

Williams is coming off an ankle injury but more recently missed two days of practice with an illness.

The coaches also commented on a number of issues surrounding college football, including the schedule in December that has them balancing playoff preparation, recruiting and other roster management.

“There’s nobody that’s going to weep and cry for the teams that are playing in the playoff because they’re playing in the playoff,” said Smart, whose team won the national championship last season. “There’s nobody that feels sorry for us. We get advertisement galore on ESPN. We get opportunities like this. Our kids get to play in front of the largest viewership.

“The value you get in that in terms of recruiting or transfer portal, if that’s what you choose to do, then you get plenty of time to do that. Everybody has time demands that plays in bowl games. And if you’re not playing in a bowl game, you’ve probably got other problems that you’re concerned with, too.”

Day agreed.

“The best recruiting is winning,” Ohio State’s fourth-year coach said. “So I think that’s one of the best things about being in this situation is you get all the exposure for recruits and their families to see. You come to Georgia, you come to Ohio State to go play in the CFP. Well, here we are.”

While there have been many calls to change the recruiting calendar to try to alleviate some of the December time crunch, Day cautioned against doing anything too soon.

“I think when you make decisions on changing things or moving things, the ripple effects don’t get recognized for at least a couple years down the road,” Day said. “So early signing day, portal, NIL, all these types of things, you don’t see them shake out for a couple years down the road. So I always caution about changing again and keep continually making all these changes because it just disrupts how things are being done.”