Ohio State football: 5 takeaways from Ryan Day’s weekly press conference

Here are five takeaways from the coach’s weekly press conference:

1. Miyan Williams’ injury is not serious.

Since replacing Urban Meyer as head coach of the Buckeyes three years ago, Day has tried to avoid answering questions about injuries during the week in favor of listing who is in and who is out on game day.

He said Tuesday he might have deviated from that plan too much lately and wanted to take a step back if so, but he did acknowledge two situations.

Williams, a sophomore running back who got his arm caught in the first down chains Saturday at Penn State, suffered an injury Day termed “not serious,” but the coach would not say when he will be able to see game action again.

In the meantime, he is looking at true freshman Dallan Hayden and converted linebacker Chip Trayanum to back up TreVeyon Henderson at running back.

Day said Trayanum, a junior from Akron who spent two seasons at running back at Arizona State but transferred to OSU with eyes on playing defense, has fully transitioned back to offense.

2. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is still expected back sometime.

The other injury situation Day touched on is one that has been a weekly question for the coach since the star receiver was injured in the season-opener at Notre Dame.

He did not accompany the team to Penn State after aggravating the injury a week earlier against Iowa.

Receivers coach Brian Hartline said the junior has been beating himself up about not being able to play, but his spirits have improved.

3. Day does not plan to watch the College Football Playoff rankings release.

America gets to find out for the first time this year how the current CFP committee views the teams in contention for the final four Tuesday night when the rankings are revealed on ESPN at 7 p.m., but Ohio State’s coach said he will be otherwise occupied.

“I will not watch it,” he said. “I’ll be at practice, and if I’m not a practice, I’ll be watching the film getting ready for Northwestern. Do I think we deserve to be the top four? Absolutely. Do I think it matters all that much right now? No. All that matters is beating Northwestern.”

4. J.T. Tuimoloau’s amazing performance at Penn State was not entirely surprising to the Buckeyes.

Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said the sophomore defensive end, who received numerous weekly awards after stuffing the stat sheet Saturday, has showed off his freaky athleticism in practice against his teammates.

That includes plays similar to his interceptions of Sean Clifford when he looked more like a linebacker than a lineman reacting to a pass thrown in front of him.

“We actually saw him do that a couple of times in practice, so I don’t think any of us were surprised, but it’s good to see him get those plays and then get the acknowledgement that he deserves,” Knowles said.

Tuimoloau returned one interception for a touchdown and deflected a pass the led to pick for teammate Zach Harrison. He also had two sacks, forced and recovered a fumble.

5. Day expects his team to be dialed in this week despite a step down in competition.

A week after facing its best opponent so far, Ohio State looks to be getting ready for its worst (at least in Big Ten play).

Northwestern is 1-7, a loser of seven in a row and just gave up more than 30 points to a moribund Iowa offense, but Day won’t let the Buckeyes deviate from their focus on the big picture as the last month of the regular season begins.

“Our goals are still our goals, and if we don’t maximize every single minute of the day this week, then it doesn’t matter,” Day said. “And listen, it’s a Big Ten matchup. It’s on the road. You know, Fitz does an unbelievable job. I know maybe they don’t have the record that they want to, but we’ve got to go play football, and we want to play at a high level. That’s the goal here. So again, really shouldn’t matter who we’re playing against and the competitive stamina is exactly what we talked about at the beginning of the season. We’ll continue to reiterate that this week.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Ohio State at Northwestern, Noon, ABC, 1410