“I think the foundation hasn’t been built yet,” Day said. “We talked about the preseason and how that foundation was being laid. We’re still building that up and trying to figure out how the preseason translated to game one. Again, there’s some assumptions that were made like, ‘Yeah, this guy’s ready. This guy isn’t.’ Or maybe this guy’s a little bit better than we thought he was. Or this technique is not near where it needs to be.”
Here are five things to know about the game that kicks off at 7:30 p.m. in Ohio Stadium:
1. Western Michigan shouldn’t be intimidated.
The Broncos just played in one of college football’s most intimidating environments last week at Wisconsin.
That could give them at least a head start in dealing with the size of Ohio Stadium, but head coach Lance Taylor said they need to keep their wits for all 60 minutes after giving up 15 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to lose 28-14.
“We can’t get emotionally hijacked in the game in critical situations,” Taylor told reporters this week. “I thought in the fourth quarter we allowed our emotions to dictate our responses. We can’t allow that to happen, so we need some more emotional maturity. So we need to take a step forward there, and then just finishing, that killer instinct and mentality to go finish and win a game in the fourth quarter. Because really when you look at that game for three and a half quarters, we played really well.”
2. WMU is not short on experience.
The Broncos returned eight starters on offense, including MAC Freshman of the Year Jalen Buckley at running back and quarterback Hayden Wolff, while the offensive line is all seniors.
They also have eight starters back on defense, including defensive end Corey Walker, who had 8.5 tackles for loss last season, and linebackers Donald Willis and Jacob Wahlberg, who each hat 6.5 stops in the backfield.
The latter unit prevented Wisconsin from making explosive plays, but the Badgers ran 82 plays and had the ball for more than 35 minutes.
“I think it is good for us to see them play another Big Ten opponent, just to compare what we’re seeing,” Day said. “So that was good, and I thought they played well in that game. They were strong, and they have a good team.”
3. Ohio State special teams might need to be on alert.
Day fired special teams coordinator Parker Fleming in the offseason and replaced him with a by-committee approach.
That appeared to work well for the first game as the Buckeyes had no major gaffes and averaged 15 yards per punt return.
Western Michigan gave them something extra to work on this week by executing a fake field goal in which kicker Palmer Domschke took a pitch from the holder and ran 26 yards for a first down inside the Wisconsin 10 that led to WMU’s second touchdown of the night.
4. The Buckeyes want to push the ground game.
TreVeyon Henderson carried eight times for 65 yards for Ohio State against Akron last week while Quinshon Judkins had 13 carries for 55 yards.
“Forty-three and 40 would be better, but I don’t think we’re going to get that many snaps in a game,” offensive coordinator Chip Kelly said when it came to desired number of carries.
He was being somewhat facetious, but the rushing attack figures to be under the microscope for much of the season both because that is traditionally how it goes at Ohio State and the Buckeyes struggled to run the ball for much of last year.
“Hopefully we run the ball a little bit more, and those numbers are up for both of those guys,” Kelly said.
5. Day is emphasizing the need to make the most of every rep.
The coach began his press conference Tuesday talking about celebrating the win over Akron and those who graded out as champions, but his tone got more serious when he was asked about wanting his team to meet certain metrics every week with an eye on the College Football Playoff selection process.
“Well, when you look at what the CFP looks at in terms of your ranking now, I think every little bit is going to matter,” Day said. “So whether you’re a top four team or five, six, seven, or eight, you want to do everything you can to put yourself in the best position possible moving forward.
“So there’s things that come into play there, and there’s going to be a lot more discussion around 1-12 than maybe there was 1-4 when there was only four teams that made it. Now when you’re talking about 1-12, there’s a lot more conversation, and I think certainly we control our own destiny in terms of every game that we play, and we’re going to do that, but I just want to make sure that guys know that when they’re going in towards the end of the game, every rep matters. Why? ‘Well, here’s an example of why.’
“And so that’s the way we’re going to approach every game.”
SATURDAY’S GAME
Western Michigan at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m., Big Ten Network, 1410
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