Dec. 31 -- LOS ANGELES -- Despite season-ending injuries to two starting offensive linemen, Ryan Day says Ohio State is as healthy as it has been all season heading into its College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Oregon on Wednesday at the Rose Bowl.
"I feel like all things considered we're as healthy and strong and fresh as we've been all season. Right now we're battle tested and we've built depth," the OSU coach said on Tuesday at a press conference he shared with Oregon coach Dan Lanning.
"When we put the roster together we knew this was going to be the case. That we'd have to be strong and powerful late in the season. Although we've had some injuries at certain positions I feel like right now we're playing as fast and as violent as we've played all season," he said.
Ohio State has played without starting left tackle Josh Simmons since mid-October when he suffered a torn ACL in Oregon's 32-31 win over the Buckeyes. Center Seth McLaughlin suffered a torn Achilles tendon in practice the week of OSU's next-to-last regular season game against Indiana.
Day described OSU's attitude going into its rematch with No. 1 seeded Oregon (13-0) as similar to how it approached its 42-17 win over Tennessee in a first-round College Football Playoff game.
"It's very similar. We're hungry, focused. Every opportunity to get on the field is an opportunity to prove people right and prove people wrong. That's just the approach of our team. We were excited to get back on the field and we're excited about this game as well.
"There's a lot of football ahead of us. If we want to move on we have to win this game right here," he said.
Some other thoughts from Day:
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS A FOCUS: Oregon had eight offensive plays which went for 25 yards or more the first time the two teams played. Obviously, Ohio State does not want to see that happen this time.
"That was a huge part of the game. I thought (offensive coordinator) Bruce Stein and everybody on their staff did a great job of scheming up some plays to attack us. Route running and throwing and catching all goes in it together and I thought they did a great job of creating X plays (explosive plays), which is a huge factor in winning and losing games," Day said.
"Coming out of that game we worked hard to make adjustments in those areas. We know we're going to see a lot of the same type of things. I'm sure it's not going to be the same exact style but they're still going to have those same ways to attack us. We're going to have to do a great job of getting lined up, do a great job of communicating and then post-snap we have to run to the football," he said.
Lanning agreed that explosive plays could play a big role this time, too.
"The team that has the least explosives against their defense and creates the most explosives on their offense probably will have the most success," he said.
HOWARD A WINNER: "We saw a winner in Will. We saw a leader, someone who had won a lot of games at Kansas State. We felt like if he came in and understood how we do things on offense and surround him with the supporting cast that we have that we had an opportunity to go make a run at this thing. As the season has gone on we've seen him grow week in and week out but ultimately it's going to come down to his leadership in this game," Day said.
ROSE BOWL SENSORY OVERLOAD: "When you're at the Rose Bowl you're on sensory overload. The grass is greener, the sky is bluer. The sun is yellower. It's a beautiful setting but when the foot hits the ball it's time to go play. Everything is ratcheted up, the intensity just gets ratcheted up. The atmosphere in that stadium tomorrow will be special," he said.