Postgame Quotes vs. Penn State
11/1/2025 3:37:00 PM | Football
Nov. 1, 2025 – Ohio Stadium – Columbus, Ohio
Attendance: 105,517
Watch Ohio State Postgame Press Conference
Ryan Day, Ohio State head coach
On the team's response going into the second half…
"We came in at halftime, and we were up by three; you would have thought we were down by 21, but I thought we responded well. That's the thing; when you come out in the second half, you have to learn from the first half, but you can't dwell on it."
On Julian Sayin's calm disposition…
"That's something that's very hard to teach, when you can feel the rush and not have your eyes on it, your eyes can be down the field, you can anticipate what's happening and the ball comes out. I'd like to tell you that we coach that, but we don't. He has that feel and that's something that makes a quarterback special. He has that trait."
On the team's mentality coming into the game…
"How do you perceive a team that's lost a few games in a row and is going through some difficult times? These guys still have a lot of NFL players on the team, and we knew it was going to be a challenge. So again, it just went back to us and our preparation and how hard we play. For us, they were just the next team on the list that we have to execute against. That's a tribute to the coaches and a tribute to the players for continuing to believe in that and keep pushing."
On Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate…
"If there's two better wide receivers in the country, I'd like to see them, and they deserve to be up for a lot of awards too, as we're getting towards the end of the season."
Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State wide receiver
On catching Julian Sayin's tipped ball...
"I mean - see ball, get ball. The defender tipped the ball, and I didn't want Julian [Sayin] to throw an interception, so I just had to make a play."
On what he thinks of the receiver group...
"Best in the country. Nobody's better than us. The whole receiver group, we all got talent and we just go out there each and every weekend and put it all on the field."
On the ability to convert on deep balls...
"When we get the chance to and the right coverage, like Coach Day says, we got to take our shots and we got to hit them. We don't get too many of those and today we got a lot of them, so we got to take advantage of them."
Caleb Downs, Ohio State safety
On the interception after the potential targeting call...
"I was surprised they put the running back out of empty so I was thinking, either they're going to throw a screen to him or something else. Once I got my eyes back to the quarterback, he threw the ball up and then at that point - just go get it."
On the vibe of the locker room during halftime...
"I really just didn't feel the intensity that I felt like we needed. I went in there and just put out the fact that this is a game. These guys aren't going to come in here and lay down. We got to go and take it. We came out and did that at a high level in the second half - came out and scored. We got out there and then we got a chance on defense and got it three and out. We went out and executed."
On playing against Jim Knowles with him knowing Ohio State's defense...
"I don't really think he would know the defense, Coach [Patricia's] defense, but I think he'll know the personnel really well. That was something that we were going to have to work through - him telling them strengths, weaknesses and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, if we execute what we're supposed to execute, it doesn't really matter what he tells."
Terry Smith, Penn State interim head coach
On his team's performance...
"It was a game of two halves. I thought in the first half, we came out and we fought valiantly; we got the critical takeaway late in the second quarter, and the offense converted. We scored two touchdowns in the red zone against a team that's number one in the country in that area, then we came out in the second half, and the third quarter set the tone for them. They got 14 points, and we just never could respond. I'm super proud of our guys for fighting to the end. They didn't quit, but we have to learn to finish."
On the team's second half offense...
"We continue to struggle in the vertical pass game. There were some opportunities in the second quarter where we had some third and long situations, and we threw the ball in that intermediate range. Ethan ((Grunkemeyer) threw some nice balls and had some nice conversions. We didn't follow it up in the third or fourth quarter, and I have to get that fixed. It's something that I have to go in and talk about with the staff, and there's no exceptions. I have to get it fixed."
On his team's mental state at this point in the season...
"You know, we're in the middle of the storm and we just can't figure how to get out of it. The seniors are hurting. I feel awful for those guys to end their careers this way. It's very challenging. It's challenging for all of us, but we have to figure out how to keep fighting. We're going to keep chopping wood. The one positive of the game is these guys did not quit, and that's a tale to who they are as well. We just have to figure some other things out."
On redshirt freshman quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer...
"He made some big third down throws. He once again managed the offense in a hostile environment. I don't think we had any snap count violations. I thought he ran the offense and I thought he did what was expected of him. Ohio State is a talented team and they put pressure on him. I thought he got much better from game one to game two, and I continue to look forward to him just continuing to get better week by week."
