Coach Ryan Day did not directly answer a question about whether or not any starters had to be left home because of positive COVID-19 tests or contact tracing.
“There’s a protocol to come back, and a lot of those guys are back in the protocol and they’ve gotten stronger as the week’s gone on, but you don’t just jump back onto the field after being out for an extended period of time so they’re getting stronger as the week’s gone on,” he told pool reporter Maria Taylor of ESPN. “The plane is a little more full than it was a week ago.”
After landing, the Buckeyes planned to go to the SuperDome for a walk-through then spend the night at their hotel.
Sugar Bowl 2021 still has a very 2020 wrinkle for Ohio State and Clemson https://t.co/P9k7rn64gH
— Marcus Hartman (@marcushartman) December 31, 2020
At 8 p.m. Friday night, they will look to advance in the College Football Playoff and get revenge over a Tigers team that beat them in this round of the CFP last year.
“They worked so hard to get back to a spot where they really wanted to be when they left in this game last year, and it was a strange journey to get here,” Day said. “You never would have thought it would have taken this road to get here, but how often do you have another chance like this in a year?
“So they’re gonna work really hard tonight, have great preparation and wake up tomorrow and have a ramp-up to game time. We’re not playing at noon so it’s a long ramp-up. It’s gonna be a lot of emotion, but at the end of the day it’s going to come down to who executes better.”
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