COLUMBUS, Ohio — This isn’t the first time Ryan Day has had to bounce back after a devastating loss to Michigan.
The Ohio State coach had to do it in 2021 in the Rose Bowl, where the Buckeyes beat Utah in a 48-45 thriller. He had to do it in 2022 in the Peach Bowl, where the Buckeyes lost 42-41 in a heartbreaking College Football Playoff semifinal against Georgia. And last year, a shell of his team lost 14-3 to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.
So now what?
Michigan’s 13-10 upset of Ohio State on Nov. 30 was the worst defeat of Day’s tenure and the hardest one yet for a senior class that hasn’t beaten the Wolverines. Ohio State’s seasons have historically been defined by what happens against Michigan, but the new 12-team College Football Playoff gives the Buckeyes something else to play for.
With it comes more pressure than ever to go on a postseason run.
There were no heads hanging at practice this week and nobody moping about the loss to Michigan anymore. The message has been that players have moved on after getting multiple weeks to recover. But the pressure on Day is not going away heading into No. 8 seed Ohio State’s first-round matchup with No. 9 seed Tennessee on Saturday night in Columbus.
Although athletic director Ross Bjork has voiced his confidence in Day — he even told a local radio station that Day will “absolutely” be the coach next season — a part of the fan base is already out on the sixth-year coach and may never come back around unless the Buckeyes win a national championship. Day has a 66-10 record that would be the envy of most of college football, but he’s 1-4 against Michigan and hasn’t been to the Big Ten title game since 2020.
“We are all invested in this thing in a big, big way. When you lose, it’s heartbreaking. We understand that,” Day said. “We know what it means to win football games at Ohio State. We know what that game means. But ultimately, that’s behind us. You have to grow and move on.”
Ohio State went all in on answering Michigan’s national title run, putting together arguably the best offseason of any team in the country.
Day took on more of a CEO role and emphasized fundraising. The Buckeyes became more aligned in their NIL efforts and heavily invested in players, with Bjork publicly stating that the roster is making around $20 million in NIL deals. Most of their key juniors from last season opted to return to take another run at Michigan and a national title, including All-Big Ten standouts like running back TreVeyon Henderson, receiver Emeka Egbuka, cornerback Denzel Burke, offensive lineman Donovan Jackson and defensive linemen JT Tuimoloau, Jack Sawyer and Tyleik Williams.
The Buckeyes also brought in a heralded transfer class including All-American safety Caleb Downs and center Seth McLaughlin from Alabama, running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss and quarterback Will Howard from Kansas State.
It was fair to say Ohio State had national title or bust expectations in the preseason. After all, some players said it themselves.
“It’s natty or bust, man,” Burke said in March. “That’s our mentality. No excuses, we got to win it all. We got to win it all.”
That goal may seem further away now, but it’s only gotten more pressing after the loss to Michigan and another season without a Big Ten championship for a highly ranked 2021 recruiting class that is in danger of moving on to the NFL without anything in the trophy case. Those frustrations spilled over into a postgame fight with the Wolverines that could be the enduring image of the 2024 season barring success in the Playoff.
To right those wrongs, Day not only has to put the most recent loss behind him, but he has to channel the version of himself — and the program — that’s at its best in the postseason. Ohio State has done it before, pre-Day, when it overcame an early-season loss to Virginia Tech, was the last team in and went on a run to the first College Football Playoff title in 2014 by beating Alabama and Oregon.
It’s also the one that, in 2022 under Day, threw caution to the wind and ran up 467 yards and 41 points on the best defense in the country, losing to eventual national champion Georgia in a game that came down to a missed field goal. Had Ohio State won, it would have been a heavy favorite against TCU in the national title game.
Even in defeat, that version of Ohio State played aggressive and free football and didn’t get hung up on the pressure it was facing after what was, at the time, two consecutive losses to Michigan.
“This is the way that we need to play football,” Day said after that game. “You can see the energy and passion on the sideline.”
Day is still regarded as one of the best coaches in the country, even if his record against Michigan leaves a lot to be desired in Columbus.
Though he’s been acclaimed for his play-calling acumen in the past, there’s an aspect of Day’s coaching that players behind the scenes notice that others don’t. One that can make him great in situations like these.
“He’s a great motivator,” Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. said.
Before the 2022 Peach Bowl, there was an obvious “nothing to lose” attitude for the Buckeyes. They showed it on the field. Because it was a loss, it’s hard to place it into context of Day’s best coaching efforts, but it was undoubtedly one of his best offensive game plans.
Unlike the most recent loss to Michigan, the entire game felt like Ohio State emptying its toolbox to take the biggest swing possible with no regard for the consequences. It got the ball into the hands of its playmakers on the perimeter and let them go to work, resulting in more than 100 receiving yards for both Harrison and Egbuka.
“We kind of snuck in at four and were like, ‘Let’s just go out there and just cut it loose,” said Harrison, a star Ohio State receiver from 2021-23.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud praised his coach after the game for the game plan, too.
“We had 1,500 reps — when you are preparing like that, you know what’s going to happen, you are playing free and having fun,” Stroud said. “That was the most fun game I’ve ever played in my life.”
Though Day isn’t the play caller this year — he gave that up and hired his mentor, Chip Kelly, as offensive coordinator — many are hoping the same version of Day shows up against Tennessee and beyond. Ohio State no longer has Harrison, but it still has arguably the best receiving corps in the country with Egbuka joined by Carnell Tate and superstar freshman Jeremiah Smith.
“We didn’t put our players in position to make the plays that they needed to make in that game, and that falls on us as a coaching staff,” Kelly said when asked about Michigan this week. “We’re really talented on the perimeter, and sometimes people are scheming up to take things away.
“And I think you still have to find ways and we have to be creative enough that you can still get the ball in those guys’ hands.”
Although there are scenarios Day can fall back on with his Playoff experience, Ohio State isn’t an underdog this time like it was against Georgia in 2022. The Buckeyes are favorites by more than a touchdown at home and have the third-best odds to win the national championship, according to Austin Mock’s projections model for The Athletic.
Day’s message, however, remains the same against a Tennessee team that presents some of the same matchup problems as Michigan in the trenches.
“I think there are guys who were part of that game on the team, they know what it’s like to play in the Playoff,” Day said. “Once you get into the Playoff, it’s a brand-new start. That’s what our guys have recognized now.”
It took Ohio State time to move on after Michigan and think about what’s ahead. Many of the players who stepped up as leaders in the time off were on the team for all three previous losses to Michigan and know what it takes to come back from a Wolverines loss and fight. They know the importance of playing loose in these scenarios, as Ohio State did in the Rose Bowl in 2021 as well.
The Buckeyes had a week before the selection show, and during that time there were emotional and honest conversations among the team.
“You have to talk and work the issues out and I think we did,” Howard said. “We came in here and we talked, hashed some things out. You have to work the issues out. We discussed some things about how we’re going to finish it the right way.”
Because of that, Day believes his team is ready to play.
“They understand what’s at stake and the high expectations,” he said.
So maybe the bigger question is if Day is ready.
He’s 1-3 in the Playoff, including a 52-24 loss to Alabama in the 2020 title game. That Alabama team is considered one of the best teams of the Playoff era.
The other two losses were by a combined 7 points and had two controversial, game-changing plays that shifted the momentum. There was the 29-23 loss to Clemson in 2019 that included a fumble that Ohio State recovered and scored on before it was reviewed and ruled an incomplete pass. And there was also the no-call on the big hit that took Harrison out of the Peach Bowl due to a concussion.
If those two plays had gone differently, there’s a chance the conversation surrounding Day may be different. But the results are the results, and Day finds himself in what feels like a must-win situation, regardless of his true job status.
Ohio State needs to win, and that means Day must learn from the past to ensure his future.
— The Athletic’s Doug Haller contributed to this report.
(Top photo: Ian Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
