Ryan Day doesn’t need a reminder about what happened the last time Ohio State walked into Kinnick Stadium.
He got one anyway.
At Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago on Wednesday, Day was asked about the Buckeyes’ trip to Iowa on Oct. 3, and the 2017 game came right back into the conversation. Day, then a first-year co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ohio State, was on the sideline for a night that ended with Iowa rolling to a 55-24 win over the No. 3 Buckeyes.
“I’ve completely taken that out of my memory, at Iowa,” Day said. “Yeah, that was bad.”
That game has lingered for years because of what it meant at the time. Ohio State was in position to lock up a spot in the four-team College Football Playoff, and instead the Buckeyes left Kinnick with one of the most memorable losses in the building’s recent history.
Since then, Iowa and Ohio State have met only twice, both times in Columbus, and the Buckeyes won both of those games. This fall changes the setting completely. Day will return to Kinnick for the first time in nine years, and he made clear he still views it as one of the league’s toughest road environments.
“That’s one of the hardest places to play in in the conference, for sure,'“ Day said. “We’re going to have to bring it, and that’s just one of the tough places we’re going to have to play in this year.”
Ohio State is bringing back several important pieces from its shortened College Football Playoff run last season, including Heisman finalist quarterback Julian Sayin. In his second season as the starter, Sayin is set to guide the Buckeyes into matchups with Texas, Indiana, Oregon and Iowa.
“I know Iowa’s a tough place to play,” Sayin said. “It’s a tough environment, and they’re always a good program. They have a really good head coach, and it’s going to be a tough game for us.”
By now, enough time has passed that the only people around both programs who saw that 2017 game firsthand were the coaches. Even so, the memory still hangs around the matchup, and Day will be the one with the clearest recollection when Ohio State heads back to Iowa City.
He also said the Buckeyes need to get comfortable with games going deep into the fourth quarter, especially in the kind of road test Kinnick presents.
“We're going to be in those games, in the fourth quarter, maybe more than we have been in previous years,” Day said. “But I think the positive is, as long as you win in those games, you're going to get more and more comfortable winning games in the fourth quarter the way you should.”
For Day, the 2017 loss is still the kind of game he’d rather leave buried. But with the return trip to Kinnick on the schedule, it’s coming back into view whether he wants it to or not.
“I’m trying not to remember that game,” Day said. “But thanks for bringing it up.”
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