Ryan Day's prediction for how Illinois will attack Ohio State could spell trouble in major road test

The Ohio State Buckeyes aren't going to bank on this Illinois Fighting Illini team laying down as they did against Indiana a few weeks ago. The top-ranked Buckeyes can see the 63-10 blowout that completely took the nation by surprise, but head coach Ryan Day doesn't see Illinois as that level of a team. Things got out of hand, and it's the right thing to expect them to bounce back with more focus at home.

Our experts agree that Ohio State will win this game by two or more scores, but Day went even further than that when describing the battle for the Illibuck Trophy. Even with nine straight wins in this series, they haven't faced off since 2017. Brett Bielema will be selling his 17th-ranked Illini that this is a season-defining moment.

Here's what Day said about this matchup.

Ryan Day is prepared for Illinois' best efforts against Buckeyes

"To me, this is like a top-10 matchup," Day said. "I know that they had that game against Indiana, but throw that game out because it was just one of those days. When you look at what they've done, who they've beaten, what Bret (Bielema) has done since he's been at Illinois, this is a very, very good team. This is a bigger challenge going on the road."