Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes will return to action this week after a bye week.

The bye week came at a good time. In their last outing, Ohio State suffered a heartbreaking loss on the road to the Oregon Ducks. It’s a loss that should make the team even more motivated than ever.

That said, Day spoke out with a bold quote about the loss to Oregon. He’s clearly motivated and he hates that the Buckeyes came up short.

He also revealed that Ohio State had sent the final play of the game to the NCAA. Day felt like there was a second left on the clock and both he and wide receiver Brandon Iniss called a timeout as soon as Will Howard was down the second time.

‘We sent it. They said there was no more time,” Day said. “Brandon (Iniss) called a timeout. I was standing next to the referee who called a timeout. You can see it on the coach’s copy. They said time was up. … It’s my job as a head coach to make sure that if you get in that situation again, we win the game. Believe me, nobody works harder and nobody came out of that game feeling worse than me. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that is good.

It’s clear he’s still angry that his team fell just a little short. But he has accepted the loss and is now ready to move on.

This week the Buckeyes will bounce back strong with a matchup against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Ohio State takes on Nebraska and then moves on to another big road game.

After this week’s game, the Buckeyes will hit the road to take on the currently No. 3 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. That’s a game that Day and company must find a way to win.

They are far from in trouble when it comes to their elimination from the College Football Playoff race. However, if they had a resume that included losses to both Oregon and Penn State, that could make things interesting. If Ohio State wins, there’s no doubt they would get in.

That said, fans should buckle up for the long run of the season. There are a lot of big games coming up, but it all starts this weekend against the Cornhuskers.

The Buckeyes are still frustrated by their loss to the Ducks, but they are motivated to get back to winning ways and can learn a lot from the unfortunate loss.