Ohio State’s Ryan Day looks ahead to Penn State: 5 things to know

“Let’s make it as loud as we possibly can.”

Here are five takeaways from Day’s weekly press conference:

1. Day hopes to have all his injured players available.

Ohio State beat Purdue on Saturday without running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Miyan Williams or wide receiver Emeka Egbuka. Another running back, Chip Trayanum, and cornerback Denzel Burke also left the game before the 41-7 victory was complete.

“I’m not gonna get into all those guys, but hopeful that we’ll have all those guys back for Saturday,” Day said.

Egbuka noticeably suffered a leg injury against Maryland, but Day said it should not keep him out long term. Trayanum appeared to suffer a head injury in the first quarter at Purdue, but the nature of the injuries to Henderson, Williams and Burke are unknown.

2. Dallan Hayden next man up

Just a few days after Day said the coaches were looking at redshirting Hayden, the sophomore running back was pressed into duty because of Trayanum’s injury.

He responded with 75 yards on 11 carries, but it remains to be seen how much he might play Saturday or the rest of the season because the status of the other backs is uncertain.

Hayden could play in two more games without losing his redshirt, but Day said the desire to save that year of eligibility would not prevent the staff from using him this week.

3. Boisterous crowd

Not surprisingly, the head coach hopes the crowd is a factor after the ball is kicked off at noon.

“In particular, their offense,” Day said. “You know, when we’re really loud in the stadium anytime that their offense has the ball, it makes it very difficult to operate. The communication, the snap count, you know, all of those things. And so the louder we can be — it doesn’t matter whether it’s third down, red zone, short yardage, you know, if they’re operating and they’re on the field, the louder we can be the more hostile that we can be: advantage Buckeyes.”

4. Buckeyes facing Ohio native at QB

A 6-foot-5, 242-pound sophomore from Medina, Ohio, Allar took the reins of the Penn State offense with great expectations this season.

That’s because he was a five-star recruit in high school and has displayed all the physical tools to play the position at a high level. He’s completed 118 of 181 attempts for 1,254 yards and 12 touchdowns with no interceptions this season.

Day and his staff were aware of Allar three years ago, but their quarterback situation got complicated when Texas native Quinn Ewers, who was the top-rated player in the class of 2022, opted to graduate early and enroll at Ohio State just ahead of the 2020 season instead.

That meant Ohio State needed a signal-caller for 2022 even before Ewers ultimately decided to transfer that December anyway.

5. How good are the Buckeyes?

“You probably could say that about a lot of teams right now across the country maybe,” Day said. “So I don’t know. I don’t know if I have a good feel for who we are as a team, but now it’s time to go play again in a matchup game, a top five matchup again.

“And I think we certainly have learned a little bit about the quarterback. We’ve learned a little bit about some of the guys who we didn’t know early in the season, but our guys have the pen to go write the script of what the season’s gonna look like, and that’s really what matters.

“A big part is going to be what happens on Saturday.”

SATURDAY’S GAME

Penn State at Ohio State, Noon, Fox, 1410