Buckeyes change it up against Northwestern

The site and kickoff time for Ohio State's game against Northwestern on Saturday are drawing more attention than usual with the Buckeyes playing at Wrigley Field and the game starting at noon, the fourth of six straight noon kickoffs for OSU.The first question at Day's weekly press conference Tuesday was about Wrigley Field, which he called "a great place with an unbelievable history."Day has seen a baseball game in Wrigley Field and saw Boston Red Sox games in Fenway Park when he was growing up in New Hampshire. He also said he has coached in baseball stadiums before, includingYankee Stadium."It's got great tradition," Day said about Wrigley Field. "The surrounding area, the restaurants that are in the area, it's just got a great vibe in that neighborhood. It's a great place with an unbelievable history, soit's a great opportunity for us."It is different, it's a different feel. But ultimately it will be 100 yards of football field, there will be stands on both side and we'll compete." Quarterback Will Howard, the only player made available for interviews on Tuesday, also has seen a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley and looks forward to playing there."It will be interesting to play football in there. It's a historic landmark in a really cool city. I'm looking forward to it."Some fans have complained about the number of early games OSU has had this season.Asked about "fan backlash," Day said, "I've got to deal with a lot of fan backlash for other things other than the times of game so I'm going to leave that for other people to deal with. I've got other things to dealwith."Whenever they tell us to play we're going to play. It doesn't matter where it is. It could be a baseball field. It could be 11 a.m., it could be at night. Wherever it is we're going to put the football down and goplay."Howard said he likes the early kickoffs. "I kind of like getting up and rolling," he said. "I have no control over that. I'm going to play whenever they tell me to play. Would it be cool to have a night game? Sure. I'm not worried about it."O-line in top 10: Ohio State's offensive line has been named as one of the 10 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, which goes to the best offensive line in the country. The other semifinalists are: Indiana, Oregon, Iowa, Alabama, Army, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Texas and Tulane.Hinsman settling in: Day saw progress from Carson Hinsman in his second start of the season at left guard in the Purdue game. "Overall, I felt like he was solid. I felt like he took the next step at playing guard as a starter. He came out of it healthy because he had that one moment where it was a little scary, but he's fine now," Day said. Accurate QB: On his way to completing 74 percent of his passes in Ohio State's first nine games, Howard has had five games in which he has completed 80 percent or more — Marshall, 16 of 20; Iowa, 21 of 25; Oregon, 28 of 35; Nebraska, 13 of 16; and Purdue, 21 of 26.Small changes: Day said there won't be any big changes because of playing in a baseball stadium, but there will be two departures from the normal routine.Because Wrigley Field has a grass surface, OSU will practice on grass this week. And because of the unusual layout of a football field in a baseball stadium, the team will go to the stadium on Friday, which it usually does not do on road trips.