Brendan Gulick reports from AT&T Stadium on the latest the Cotton Bowl news, including reactions from the preview press conference.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Well, hey, everybody, and welcome to Dallas, Texas.
00:13 This is the Buckeye Report.
00:14 Part of our coverage, Buckeyes now on the SI Media Group
00:17 with Fan Nation.
00:18 Brendan Gulick, and we are just about 24 hours away
00:21 from the Cotton Bowl.
00:23 The Missouri Tigers and the Ohio State Buckeyes
00:25 are just about ready with their final preparations.
00:27 Both teams will have one more practice today,
00:29 but most of the pomp and circumstance of the week
00:33 leading up to the bowl game is behind us,
00:36 including the press conference that we just wrapped up,
00:38 where Eli Drinkwitz and Ryan Day had a chance
00:41 to visit with the media.
00:43 And I'll tell you what, it was actually kind of a lot of fun.
00:48 These particular press conferences
00:50 don't usually bring forth any great revelations
00:55 of new information.
00:58 But it's pretty clear these two coaches like each other.
01:00 And back when Ohio State was invited
01:03 to play in this game a few weeks ago,
01:05 he had referenced the fact that he knows Coach Drinkwitz.
01:07 Just two young guys when they were kind of coming up
01:10 through the ranks in the coaching circles
01:11 had crossed paths and had some mutual respect,
01:14 and genuinely got the impression that they enjoyed their time
01:18 together in front of the camera.
01:20 And it seems like they're certainly colleagues
01:23 when there's no cameras rolling either.
01:25 So it was fun because there seemed
01:27 to be some good-natured fun between those two guys.
01:30 And that isn't always the case.
01:32 So that part was cool.
01:33 In terms of what we learned from that press conference,
01:36 we probably aren't going to find out
01:38 whether or not Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tommy Eikenberg
01:40 and a few others are playing in this game
01:42 until they take the field.
01:43 I'm hard-pressed to believe that Marvin Harrison Jr. is going
01:46 to play, given that he has not been seen in pads
01:50 here this week at practice.
01:52 But Ryan Day made it pretty clear
01:53 he doesn't want to be the one to put that stuff out there
01:56 publicly.
01:56 He said, look, when guys decide not to play in games,
01:59 that's a personal decision that they make
02:01 and their families make.
02:02 And he doesn't feel it's his place
02:04 to go out there and be the one to put it out on blast.
02:08 So he chooses to keep quiet about that.
02:11 And that's fine.
02:12 Certainly understand that.
02:13 But it doesn't answer the question
02:15 that everybody around Buckeye Nation wants to know.
02:17 And that is whether or not Marvin
02:18 is going to be on the field on Saturday.
02:20 That said, it certainly seems like just about everybody
02:24 is going to play in this game.
02:26 There really haven't been very many public opt-outs.
02:30 And so that part's cool, right?
02:31 Because if you're an Ohio State fan,
02:32 you want to see your team out there at full strength.
02:35 And certainly that includes the guys
02:36 that are coming as much as it is the guys that got you
02:39 to this point this year.
02:41 We've heard several players talk about the pride
02:43 with trying to finish the season that they started.
02:48 I know that gets lost a lot in this college football
02:51 playoff or bust era.
02:53 But it's nice to know that there are those kinds of guys
02:56 whether they're juniors or seniors that want to go out
02:59 and play in this game.
03:01 Thought it was pretty cool that Coach Drinkwitz pointed out
03:04 that every year that Ryan Day has been the head
03:07 coach at Ohio State, they have at least played
03:10 in a New Year's 6 game.
03:11 And obviously, that includes a couple of trips to the playoff.
03:14 And he said, that's probably the most impressive thing I've ever
03:17 heard out of a head coach.
03:19 There is a ton of respect for the Buckeyes
03:22 from Missouri's perspective.
03:23 And they've got a really good team.
03:25 He said, Ohio State is built like an SEC team.
03:28 From top to bottom on their roster,
03:29 he goes from the line of scrimmage,
03:31 they're built like an SEC team.
03:32 They'll get your face defensively,
03:34 just like we see in the SEC.
03:36 They are physical.
03:37 They're fast.
03:38 They've got athletic playmakers all over the field.
03:40 And trying to scout that team is a nightmare.
03:43 I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but those
03:45 were essentially his words when talking about this Buckeye
03:48 team.
03:49 And he knows he's got a big challenge coming up
03:51 tomorrow night.
03:53 Ryan Day is looking forward to being here.
03:54 I think the disappointment of not making the college football
03:58 playoff by this point has probably
04:00 surpassed or at least softened a little bit.
04:03 And you just try to take opportunities
04:05 that are in front of you and go make the most of them.
04:08 And this can be something that his program can build on.
04:12 The Buckeyes have enjoyed some first class hospitality
04:14 this week for sure.
04:16 And they're looking forward to a chance to play here.
04:18 And truly one of the great cathedrals
04:20 in all of football in the United States,
04:22 and frankly maybe the greatest stadium in the country.
04:25 The only other thing that I really took away from the press
04:28 conference, both coaches were asked some questions
04:31 around not this game so much, but the recruiting calendar
04:36 and the challenges that exist, especially
04:40 in the month of December with trying to figure out
04:43 how to recruit and keep players on your team
04:47 and potentially prevent them from jumping in the portal,
04:51 but also handle National Signing Day
04:53 and get ready for a game of this magnitude.
04:56 And Eli said, next year it's pretty much
04:59 going to be impossible to do that while preparing
05:02 for a 12 team playoff where there's
05:04 going to be obviously eight more teams that get
05:07 into a competitive playoff.
05:09 And so there certainly needs to be some reform
05:11 in the offseason here.
05:13 A few coaches have talked about that at length, probably
05:16 none more than Chip Kelly.
05:17 And his name was brought up in this press conference today.
05:20 Both of these coaches are pretty well aware of the challenges
05:24 that they're facing this time of year
05:26 and that things need to get a lot smoother moving forward
05:30 if things are going to continue to build for these two
05:35 programs that legitimately feel like they've got chances
05:38 to go out and win national titles.
05:39 That might sound weird to Ohio State fans
05:41 if you're thinking about Missouri football
05:43 because perhaps Missouri hasn't been a true blue blood,
05:46 but that's a really, really good team the Buckeyes are going
05:49 to play on Friday night.
05:51 And they are not taking this opportunity lightly.
05:54 Missouri is terrific, and it's going
05:56 to certainly be one of the tougher teams they've
05:58 seen all year long.
05:59 So for two coaches that feel like they're
06:02 trying to build something special
06:04 and recognizing the challenging climate they're in,
06:07 they didn't want to dive too deep into their thoughts
06:10 around it, but essentially alluded to the fact
06:12 that, gosh, things have got to change because it's
06:15 going to be pretty much impossible next year
06:17 if you find yourself in a similar spot
06:19 where you're trying to make the playoff
06:20 and having to deal with all the other challenges that
06:22 come on the calendar.
06:23 In the meantime, if you want to watch that press conference,
06:25 it's available for us over on our YouTube channel
06:28 over at Buckeyes Now, so you can check it out there.
06:30 We'll have more coverage for you coming
06:31 throughout the course of the week,
06:32 BuckeyesNow.com, and certainly looking forward
06:35 to game day tomorrow.
06:36 I'm Brendan Gulick from AT&T Stadium in Arlington,
06:39 Jerry's World, going to be the home of the Buckeyes tomorrow.
06:42 Can't wait for that one to kick off tomorrow night,
06:44 the 88th Cotton Bowl coming your way soon.
06:47 [BLANK_AUDIO]