Ryan Day Ohio State Buckeyes. Mandatory credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports
Angry Ohio State fans ready to release Ryan Day were quelled after the Buckeyes made the playoff. But a few missteps can change the tune.
With the taste of a 45-23 loss to rival Michigan still simmering in their mouths, Ohio State fans were ready to send head coach Ryan Day a run. After all, it was the Buckeyes’ second straight loss to Harbaugh after two decades of dominance in the competition and the first time OSU had lost in Columbus in over 20 years.
Thanks to some help from USC, Clemson, and others, though, Ohio State did enough under the day in the regular season to punch its ticket to the College Football Playoff. They’re now waiting for a date with the Georgia Bulldogs at the Peach Bowl on December 31st and the birds calling Fire Day have been quiet…at least for now.
As is often the case in college football, that can change in an instant. Ryan Day didn’t deliver the lofty results expected at Ohio State the way his predecessors, Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel, did before him. In retrospect, here are three missteps a head coach can make with the Buckeyes over the next year that could legitimately lead to him looking for a new job.
3. Blowing out Ohio State by CFP’s Georgia would be a bad look for Ryan’s Day
The hurdles Ryan Day needs to clear starts with Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal game.
One of the biggest criticisms of Ohio State since Day took over, especially over the past couple of years when he’s been left to his own devices with regards to recruiting and talent acquisition, has been the general inability to get games against tougher opponents who have the same. talent levels.
When you sum up what happened the past two years against Michigan, it comes down to the simple fact that the Buckeyes have all the skills in the world, perhaps more than any other program, when it comes to wide receivers, running backs. And even quarterbacks, but when they get hit in the mouth repeatedly, they don’t have an answer.
There were signs of that against teams like Penn State and Northwestern this season, but in the end, talent was still able to prevail. This was not the case against Michigan. And they are in real danger of not being the case against Georgia given that they play a similar style to the Wolverines.
If Ohio State goes out and loses to the Bulldogs but keeps things tight, it’s not the end of the world. However, if the defending Nationals bullied the Buckeyes for 60 Minutes and won in surprising fashion, that’s another indictment for Day and the way his program was designed.
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