Ohio State HC Day on QB Howard’s turnovers: ‘It can’t happen’

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day knows the Buckeyes were fortunate to escape Happy Valley last weekend with a win over No. 3 Penn State.

It was a close one, coming down to the fourth quarter, and while Ohio State ultimately won, 20-13, Day was not happy with super senior Will Howard and his two turnovers earlier in the game.

OSU’s quarterback threw an interception on the Buckeyes first drive of the game, which turned into a pick-six for Penn State cornerback Zion Tracy. Later in the first half, Howard had an opportunity for a rushing touchdown on 1st-and-10 from the Penn State 13.

Howard turned the corner and was heading toward the pile on when the ball was knocked out of his hands and it went through the back of the endzone, meaning it became Penn State’s ball on a touchback.

Those two turnovers were unacceptable to Day.

“Well, it can’t happen. It can’t happen, you know,” Day told the media on Tuesday afternoon (h/t On3). “We’ve got to take care of the football.”

While Day did say he understood that Howard got fooled a bit by the coverage on the interception, he made no excuses for Howard’s fumble.

“You know, the first play? You know, he got fooled a little bit in terms of what he saw. So, unfortunately, sometimes like that, those things will happen,” said Day. “But, yeah, we can’t fumble the ball inside the 10-yard line. Just can’t do it.”