\n Penn State’s record doesn’t matter much to Ohio State. Especially to its team captains. <\/p>\n
\n\tEven reeling off four straight losses, the Nittany Lions are viewed by the Buckeyes\u00a0as a talented squad with real threats. Veterans of the team like Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs, who spoke to the media alongside fellow captains Austin Siereveld and Brandon Inniss on Wednesday, also know that the month of November is when college football truly starts heating up. And this Saturday just happens to be the first day of November.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t“You got to play your best football in November,” Styles said.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tInniss, meanwhile, was the latest Buckeye to talk up the greatness of Julian Sayin, predicting that the Ohio State quarterback is \u201cdefinitely gonna win\u201d the Heisman Trophy.\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey say all these other quarterbacks are up there with him, but he’s different. He’s the best, and they’ll see,\u201d Inniss said of Sayin.\n<\/p>\n
\n\tPenn State’s rushing attack, featuring running backs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, was also a major talking point for Styles and Downs, while Siereveld spoke\u00a0about Ohio State’s issues running the football in recent weeks and touched on the right guard competition between Tegra Tshabola and Joshua Padilla.\n<\/p>\n
\tWR Brandon Inniss<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cAccuracy, his awareness. He\u2019s very smart. He can throw any ball on the field. \u2026 I haven\u2019t seen other quarterbacks manage a pocket like he has, stand in there and take a shot and throw a dot over the middle. \u2026 Who else is throwing 80% (completion percentage) in the country?\u201d\u2013 Brandon Inniss on why he thinks Julian Sayin is the best quarterback in college football\n<\/p>\n
\t\tInniss said Julian Sayin is \u201cdefinitely gonna win\u201d the Heisman Trophy. \u201cThey say all these other quarterbacks are up there with him, but he\u2019s different. He\u2019s the best, and they\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tInniss said Sayin is being a lot more vocal now than he was at the start of the season.<\/p>\n
\t\tOn facing Jim Knowles this week: \u201cHe did a lot of great things here. We know what he likes to do. But we gotta be ready for anything. He could throw anything at us. But it\u2019s gonna be fun. It\u2019s gonna be a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn why Ohio State hasn\u2019t had a letdown game this year: \u201cOur preparation has been on an elite level. We gotta continue to do that. From film watching to taking notes in meetings and practice, we\u2019ve done a great job so far. We just gotta keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tInniss didn\u2019t know that Ohio State won\u2019t play Penn State next year, but expressed disappointment when told that: \u201cDamn, we would have been going back to Penn State too. I would have liked that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tInniss thinks his season has been \u201cgood\u201d so far, but he expects more from himself. \u201cI know there\u2019s definitely things I can do better. I always want to be better at everything. Honestly, I\u2019ve got to critique every little thing in my game. I\u2019m a big, harsh critic on myself, so I went back and watched the film over the bye week to critique everything and hoping to put what I learned on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn his fellow Ohio State wide receiver and close friend Carnell Tate: \u201cI\u2019m just hoping to see him go first round.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tAsked about his injury vs. Wisconsin, Inniss said his foot \u201cjust got rolled up on,\u201d but \u201cit was all good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tInniss said he\u2019s \u201cdefinitely more comfortable\u201d fielding punts now than he was last year and the beginning of this year.<\/p>\n
\tLB Sonny Styles<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re super focused, and I think Coach Day is instilling the right mindset in us. We know this is really where the season starts.\u00a0honestly, anything that happened before this doesn\u2019t really matter. You got to play your best football in November.\u201d\u2013 Sonny Styles on Ohio State’s focus before playing Penn State\n<\/p>\n
\t\tStyles said Penn State\u2019s record doesn\u2019t reflect how talented the Nittany Lions are in all three phases. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a really good team in Penn State coming to the Shoe. They\u2019re talented. I know they\u2019ve lost some games, but they\u2019re a talented team. They\u2019re really good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tStyles said it didn\u2019t take any convincing from Day or Ohio State\u2019s coaching staff for the players to believe how talented Penn State is. \u201cI know sometimes in college, I mean, you can have some bad games, things go the wrong way and things happen. But I know they\u2019re gonna come ready to play. They\u2019ve got some really good players on all sides of the ball and really good coaches. I know they\u2019re gonna be ready to play when they come in here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn Penn State running back Kaytron Allen: \u201cI would say this about both (he and Nick Singleton). They\u2019re both big, strong and fast. They can do anything out there. They can catch the ball out of the backfield. They can run downhill. They can get going on the edge. They can do everything. They can do everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn whether Jim Knowles being Penn State\u2019s defensive coordinator provides any extra motivation for Ohio State: \u201cWe\u2019re just focused on us \u2014 just doing what we do. Go out there and find a way to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tS Caleb Downs<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI feel like it\u2019s another challenge for us. That\u2019s how we\u2019re looking at it. He left last year, and wish him the best, but not this week.\u201d\u2013 Caleb Downs on playing against Jim Knowles\n<\/p>\n
\t\tOn Matt Patricia vs. Jim Knowles: \u201cThey\u2019re great in their own way, each of them. And that\u2019s the big thing, you gotta be yourself in whatever you do. And I respect both of them for how they operate and how they act. Coach P\u2019s defense is different, he teaches his own way. Coach Knowles\u2019 defense is different, he teaches his own way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tWhat stands out about Penn State\u2019s running game? \u201cThe running backs run really hard. They have two really good running backs, a two-headed snake. They do a lot of different shifts and motions, they get people out of sorts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer: \u201cHe\u2019s athletic. He can move. He can get out of certain situations. He did that in the last game that he played. There\u2019s not a lot of tape on him. But, I mean, we\u2019ll have to see in the game. At the end of the day, he\u2019s got to look somewhere. He\u2019s got to throw the ball somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tDowns didn\u2019t know that Ohio State wouldn\u2019t play Penn State next year, but he was surprised to hear that. \u201cSince I\u2019ve been a kid, I always remember that being a game. But I guess that\u2019s the changes in college football right now. So it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tOn freshman safety Faheem Delane: \u201cHe\u2019s learned a lot. He\u2019s grown up since he got here in the spring. He\u2019s still growing as a player. He\u2019s done a lot of things well, though. He\u2019s got a lot of talent, a lot of physical attributes that make him a good player. And he\u2019s going to continue to learn and do what he needs to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\tDowns says Julian Sayin has been the same guy since he arrived at Ohio State. \u201cHe\u2019s acted the same way since I met him. Cool, calm, and collected. So J-Cool has been J-Cool.\u201d<\/p>\n