Ryan Day was also knocked down by Smith after Ohio State’s 38-7 win over Michigan State, saying he “couldn’t believe” the pass was caught on the sideline.

Day, of course, had other takeaways from his team’s win, as he felt the Buckeyes responded with “calmness despite the noise” in a hostile environment. Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams could have played in an emergency and should be ready to play next week, according to Day.

• On Ohio State’s final two-minute drive before halftime: “We felt like if we could get a stop on that second down, we would call a timeout. … Just great plays. … Devin has improved tremendously.” .. but what an incredible catch. I couldn’t believe he caught it.

• On defense: “I thought we did a really good job of shutting them down, especially in the second half. … There are some things we need to watch and figure out in the film. … We were close” to quarterback on a few plays.

• Tyleik Williams was available in an emergency, Ryan Day said, but Ohio State wanted to give him another week of rest to get him back to full health.

• On his overall thoughts on Ohio State’s performance: “The turnover battle in this game was huge. … I found the atmosphere excellent from the start. … (Michigan State) came out and played really hard. …But I thought our guys responded well. … That’s something we’ve talked about, maintaining composure despite the noise.

• On Will Howard’s performance and interceptions: “There’s going to be some of those growing opportunities… but overall I thought he was solid. He was confident, he made some big throws.”

• On Jeremiah Smith: “I’m just impressed with the discipline and the hard work and the opportunity to step in at such a young age. … This is a special young man.”

• On Caleb Downs: “I thought Caleb played great tonight. … He was at his best tonight and made a big difference.”

• Day is still not happy with where his team is at. “We still have a long way to go. It was a good road win … but we’ll get back to work tomorrow and we know we have a very good Iowa team here next week.”