Ohio State head coach Ryan Day knows that he’s on the hot seat in Columbus. Sure, he has a 66-10 overall record at Ohio State, and he once again will have the Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff. Those things are all good.
Good is not good enough at OSU, though. What really matters is beating Michigan. The Buckeyes could go winless every season outside of “The Game” against Michigan, and that head coach would always be loved.
It’s the opposite for Day. He has a 1-4 record against the Wolverines and has lost four straight. Unranked Michigan just beat his No. 2-ranked team at the Horseshoe this past weekend in a major upset, and Day is certainly feeling the pressure from that.
“I don’t think I need to have a sales pitch, but I can say I feel their frustration,” Day recently said (h/t On3) when asked to talk about the losing streak and the frustration surrounding it within Columbus. “I don’t know what else to tell you. I don’t know what else to tell you. There’s no way to defend losing four years in a row.”
That sounds like a coach who is defeated. He’s literally out of words.
The reality of the situation, though, is that OSU could still go on to win a National Championship this year. That may be the only thing that saves Day’s bacon with the Ohio State faithful, and that’s the only thing now that he and his team can focus on.
“But I know this — we’re gonna play really hard in this [Playoff] game. We’re gonna swing as hard as we possibly can,” Day said. “We’ve a great group of guys. This is gonna move on to this next challenge. And we’ve got to go attack it with everything we possibly have. That’s about it.”
The loss to Michigan dropped Ohio State from No. 2 to No. 6 in the CFP rankings. That’s a big difference in seeding in a 12-team playoff, so it will be interesting to see who OSU ends up matched up with. Either way, the Buckeyes’ backs are against the wall.
