Ryan Day has more than a couple areas of concern as seventh-ranked Ohio State hosts Illinois to open Big Ten Conference play on Saturday.
Half of the players from that team are gone. Illinois is also 2-1. The Illini were one of the few teams to score two touchdowns against the Buckeyes during the regular season last year but still lost 34-16.
“Those things have got to get better fast, and I think it’s a combination of executing plays better but also looking at other things,” Day said.
So to think about the opportunities that presents, I think it’s fun to watch and be around,” said coach Bret Bielema, who is 1-6 against Ohio State from his time at Wisconsin and Illinois. Senior Ja’Kobi Jackson has four touchdowns and averages 7.1 yards per carry, while sophomore Bo Jackson is averaging 5.9 yards a carry with two scores. “Ohio State has familiarity. It’s a rematch game from a year ago. Day also wants to see more consistency out of his rushing game, which has been inconsistent so far. Bielema treated one of the team’s preseason scrimmages as a road game. He had the team go through a road weekend in a hotel, used the visitors locker room at Memorial Stadium and had the team on the visiting sideline. “I really do believe in life, you learn more from being in the moment than you can ever study for it. You just got to throw it in.
“We need some dudes who are running angry this week,” Day said. Anytime you can make people uncomfortable, I think you grow and that was a big part of it,” Bielema said.
Obviously our special teams coordinator that was here last year is over there.
