The 2024 season sprinkled some fairy dust on Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks fans. After all, not every program get lucky enough to witness a rematch. This time, Dan Lanning’s boys will be facing off against Ryan Day’s squad for the second time in a single season. Well, we know what happened last time. Oregon snatched away the victory from Ohio State by just one point, JUST ONE POINT!

Now that’s what made the Buckeyes fam even more desperate to land a blow to Lanning’s army. Atleast that’s what Day’s phenom believes. They are all armed up with the prop for ‘elusive’ Oregon’s weapon as he drops a two-word message. 

Ryan Day’s phenom spills secrets about their vision for redemption

Maybe the wound still nudges Day and Co. on how they came up just one point short, falling 32-31 to Oregon back on October 12 in Eugene. The God of Luck seemed to have turned his face away from the Buckeyes on the fateful day. Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith got penalized for an offensive pass interference in the last 30 seconds. On top of that, Will Howard slid to the ground a second earlier. If these two blunders had not been committed, Ohio State would have easily kicked a game-winning field goal. So, we can’t deny how the Buckeyes defense put up their worst feat by far in this season against the Ducks. Now, first things first, they will have to limit big plays. Lanning’s Ducks had eight plays of 25-plus yards, out of which six were part of the scoring drives. But this time Ohio State defensive lineman Jaylahn “JT” Tuimoloau has some good news.

During the press conference before the Rose Bowl, he was asked about the mentality of the Buckeyes defense before facing off against the Ducks for the second time. “Hungry and thankful,” Tuimoloau sounded all confident. He continued, “We know how the last time went..we had a chip on our shoulder. We were riding high before that game and we took that loss and we came back had to make a couple changes.”

Well, you must remember how Lanning’s defensive tackle Derrick Harmon stripped the pigskin out of Quinshon Judkins’ hands at the Buckeyes’ 28-yard line. So against Oregon, Ohio State can’t afford to lose the turnover battles. Plus day’s pass defense struggled as the Ducks’ six big plats came through the air including a 69-yard pass to Evan Stewart and a 48-yard touchdown pass to Tez Johnson. It’s time for some litmus test of improvements.  

Ryan Day’s boys did their homework on Oregon

As per the stats, Day’s program has not allowed more than 17 points or 273 yards in any game. But on October 12, Ohio State allowed 32 points on 496 yards of offense. But this time, Tuimoloau and Co. have already done some homework on Lanning’s biggest weapon, their quarterback Dillon Gabriel. The Buckeyes DL stated, “Dillon’s obviously a really elusive guy. What makes him so tough to play against, he’s very wise. I mean, he’s been in the game and he knows what to do.”

But Day has nothing much to worry about. After all, he has weapons like Tuimoloau on his roster who became the highest-graded Buckeyes against Tennessee Volunteers. The senior from Washington carries an impressive resume with a team-high grade of 89.4 in pass rushing with two sacks. Plus, Tuimoloau came up with seven total quarterback pressures against Nico Iamaleava. Already, Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has some high aspirations about the player.

“JT does everything. You couldn’t ask for a better player in terms of the combination of skills that he hasboth in the run game, the pass game and in making outstanding plays. So he does it all and he does it with a very consistent demeanor,” the coach gave JT Tuimoloau a big shoutout. So, Dan Lanning better take notes from the pre-Rose Bowl Ohio State press conference and stay away from Ryan Day’s boys.