COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State is changing things up for its second regular season trip to the West Coast in two years.
Coach Ryan Day said the top-ranked Buckeyes planned to leave Thursday after practice to prepare for Washington.
That will allow the team to get settled before going through its normal Friday routine in the Pacific Northwest.
“We think that’s the best way to go,” said Day, who formed the plan with director of strength and conditioning Mickey Marotti and some other members of his staff.
A year ago, the Buckeyes left on Friday for an October showdown with No. 3 Oregon. The Ducks prevailed 32-31 in that one when No. 2 Ohio State was unable to stop the clock in time to attempt a potential game-winning field goal, but Day said that was not a consideration when making plans this year.
“I thought we were ready and we were playing fast,” Day said of the Oregon game. ”I don’t think there was anything sports science-wise that says us leaving the day before had any effect in the game.”
He felt the Buckeyes were focused and “locked in” for the Ducks.
“But that being said, we always want to get better, and we’ve done a lot of studying on this,” Day said. “We’ve talked to a lot of people in the NFL. We’ve talked to different other sports and how they travel multiple time zones, and we felt like this is the best way.”
They also consulted their run through the first 12-team College Football Playoff. That included trips to California for the Rose Bowl against Oregon, to the Dallas area to take on Texas in the Cotton Bowl and to Georgia for the National Championship Game against Notre Dame.
Preparation for those games was more like a long game week in the regular season than a traditional bowl, and Day liked how his team played in topping Oregon, Texas and the Fighting Irish all by double digits.
Players who were available said Wednesday night they were excited for the atmosphere at Husky Stadium.
“It’s gonna be fun, it’s gonna be a fun game,” cornerback Jermaine Mathews Jr. said. “I’m hearing a lot about the stadium. Never been. It’ll be my first time, so I’m just very excited to just get out there. We’re coming off a bye week, so just happy to be back on the field.”
Ohio State is 15-11-1 all time in the regular season in the Western time zone, including a 33-14 win at Washington in 2007.
Then, as now, the Buckeyes had a first-year starting quarterback making his first start on the road.
Todd Boeckman, who was a senior, had some rocky moments early but ended up completing 15 of 26 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns.
One of those was a 68-yarder to Brian Robiskie while another was a 36-yarder to Brian Hartline, who is now Ohio State’s offensive coordinator.
That means he is tasked with helping to prepare Julian Sayin, a redshirt freshman who threw for 347 yards and three touchdown passes two weeks ago against Ohio University, to try to keep his cool and run the offense in what is considered one of the louder venues in college football.
Sayin was not available for interviews this week, but his center, Carson Hinzman, said he felt playing in loud venues such as Beaver Stadium at Penn State and Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor would help the offensive line, which returns four players from the unit that started in the postseason.
“Obviously they’re 22-0 at home so it’s gonna be a really big challenge, but then again we’ve had a lot of experience playing in high-pressure situations and high-noise situations,” Hinzman said. “We’ve got a lot of veterans on our O-line. Not only that, but we’ve had almost two weeks to iron some of those things out, so the ability to trust and communicate, that us and the quarterbacks are on the same page as everyone else. Focusing on if we’re going on silent with the communication on what the count is, I think we’re set up for it.”
Day said he won’t take anything for granted as far as what his quarterback knows (or doesn’t know) about the experience going into the game.
“It’s almost like going back to the beginning, going back to basics, because anytime you go on the road, just everything is a little bit more difficult,” Day said. “Communication is more difficult, all of those things.
“So it’s not anything new, but at the same time, we have to, amidst the environment and the noise and the chaos, have poise and composure, and we can’t let the environment dictate how we play.”
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