Why Ohio State's Ryan Day Is Ignoring Illinois' Film vs. Indiana: 'Throw It Out'

Illinois, if it puts four full quarters together, can beat any team in the country. But if it strings together four quarters of its worst football, it may have one of the lowest floors in the entire FBS.

On that Sept. 20 night in Bloomington, Indiana, an entirely different Illinois team showed up to take on the Hoosiers. The final score – 63-10 – told the story of the game, but even two weeks later, there aren’t many answers as to how the Illini got beat in the manner they did. 

Ryan Day is throwing away the Illinois-Indiana film

So, what is Ohio State head coach Ryan Day to do with Illinois’ game against Indiana? If you ask him, the answer is simple: absolutely nothing.

“Pitch the game. Throw it out,” said Day when discussing Illinois on Monday. "It’s not who they are. I can’t quite explain that game.

“I know Nebraska had the same thing that happened last year, and then came in and played us all the way to the fourth quarter,” said Day, referencing the Cornhuskers' 56-7 loss at Indiana in 2024 – which came just a week before Nebraska went into Columbus and took a lead over the Buckeyes into the fourth quarter. (Ohio State went on to win that game 21-17.)

“So throw that film out," Day said again of Illinois-Indiana. "Don’t even barely look at it, because, to me, that’s not who we are playing. Whatever it was in that game, it’s an outlier.

“So we’re going to look at the games that were played prior, what they did last year, what they’ve done the last two games. Brett [Bielema is] one of the better coaches in the country, and he’s a resilient guy, and they’re a resilient team. So I think it says a lot about them to rebound the way they did, get a win against USC and then go play the way they did last week. So we all know that going through a tough loss can bring a bunch of people together. I think they’ve done that, and so we know we’re going to get their best shot here on Saturday.”

Day himself knows that huge losses can rally teams together, inspiring them in ways that no win can. Last year, Ohio State welcomed an at-the-time 6-5 Michigan team in the midst of its worst season in years to Columbus for both teams’ regular-season finale.

The Wolverines memorably stunned the Buckeyes 13-10, knocking Ohio State out of the Big Ten title game. What followed was Day and his Buckeyes rattling off four straight wins in the College Football Playoff and winning the national championship.

Five games into 2025, Ohio State is the No. 1 team in the country, riding a nine-game winning streak that dates back to the rebound from the Michigan defeat. 

Can Illinois use the Indiana loss as a similar turning point? Will the Illini parlay that gut-wrenching defeat into a third straight victory and a true statement win over the nation’s top-ranked squad? We’ll find out on Saturday.