I dropped a note in the A-Deck thread yesterday about some things I was hearing from sources close to the players about their mentality coming into the game. You can read those HERE, but I also got some other similar-type of feedback from another source, and wanted to share/compile here:
The team feels really confident entering this game. They feel their mental and physical preparation for this one is as good, if not better, than it has been all year, and there is nothing more they could have done to prepped to win this one.
The rest between the B1GCG and this game has been much-needed, as they had a brutal three-game stretch with Penn State, Michigan, and Wisconsin in back-to-back-to-back weeks and were definitely dinged up.
The confidence comes at the line of scrimmage. Ohio State feels they have the talent edge on both sides of the line and they will win this game by winning up front. They think they will be able to have a ton of success in the run game on offense (beating Clemson in the pass once they over-commit), and on defense be able to limit Etienne and get after Lawrence enough to slow Clemson's excellent attack down.
Day and the staff have hammered the "lack of respect" narrative and it is resonating. The team feels incredibly disrespected and that nobody is giving them a chance to even be in this game, let alone win it. The secondary has been playing clips from ESPN on loop that say the Clemson receivers will torch them, for example.
Overall the guys are fired up and ready to roll tomorrow. Everyone is super jacked up and can't wait to get out and execute their game plan.
