Ohio State Buckeyes: Coach happy with response to surprise off day (so far)

“There’s a lot of anxiety for sure,” Day said Tuesday. “The waiting and all that is not fun, but you work through it.”

The undefeated, third-ranked Buckeyes were set to travel to Maryland last week to take on the 2-1 Terrapins, but their hosts canceled the game in light of eight players testing positive for coronavirus.

That happened Wednesday afternoon. The Buckeyes had already put in a hard day Tuesday — customarily their most intense practice day during game weeks — and were preparing to put in another when the news came down.

They shifted gears to prepare for Indiana, the surprise leaders of the Big Ten East so far this season, but had no one to face on Saturday so they held another practice and continued looking forward to their next opportunity to compete.

“The best way to handle this is to get back into your work and just keep chugging away,” Day said. "We did have a really good practice on Saturday I felt. We had a really good practice yesterday, so that’s been good. The response has been good. The pads have been clicking, and I think that’s all really positive momentum, but we’ve got to go play and put it on the field.

“So that’s the challenge, and we’ll just keep working towards Saturday.”