Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Ryan Day had nothing but the best things to say about his defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, after a spectacular debut, ceding seven points to the Texas Longhorns.
During a Tuesday press conference, Day lauded his character and claimed the Week 1 win at the "Shoe" was a "good start."
"I've known Matt for a while. I know the type of person he is. He's a great man; he's a great husband, great father. He really, early on, built relationships and trust within the building in a short period of time with the staff," Day said about Patricia on Tuesday's edition of "The Herd." "[Co-defensive coordinator] Tim Walton, [pass game coordinator] Matt Guerrieri, [associate head coach] Larry Johnson, [linebackers coach] James Laurinaitis and the players deserve a ton of the credit, but that being said, Matt put it all together. It's only a start. We got a long way to go, but certainly, for a first game of the year with an inexperienced group going on the field, it was a good start."
As the Columbus Dispatch's Brian Hedger pointed out, Patricia's defense got its end of the gameplan right in the 14-7 slog.
"It wasn't pretty by the modern standards of college football, but No. 3 Ohio State's gritty 14-7 toppling of the No. 1 ranked Texas Longhorns in a pageantry-filled opener Aug. 30 at Ohio Stadium was something for purists to savor," Hedger wrote.
"Woody Hayes would've loved this one.
"Anyway, there wasn't a lot of offense, and that was A-OK by Ohio State. That's largely how the Buckeyes' coaching staff drew up its game plan against the Longhorns. Gritty and tough, like overcooked steak, was the point."
Patricia and Brian Hartline were warned that they need to earn their salary. They certainly earned a portion of it by knocking off the No. 1 team in the country in impressive fashion -- neutralizing Arch Manning singlehandedly with Caleb Downs and scoring on the ground and through the air.