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On Dec. 21 No. 9 seed Tennessee (10-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conferences) heads to Columbus, Ohio for a first-round College Football Playoff matchup No. 8 seed with Ohio State(10-2, 7-2 Big Ten Conference). To make the College Football Playoff should be an accomplishment that galvanizes a fanbase around their football program. But instead, the talk around Buckeye nation is should Ryan Day be the head coach of the program moving forward?
That’s because Day suffered not only the worst loss of his career but the worst loss in the history of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. Days' Buckeyes walked into a home game against Michigan, where they were more than a 20-point favorite with a trip to Big Ten Conference Championship on the line. It was a game that should have been a layup on paper for the Buckeyes. Instead of the layup, most thought it ended up a last-second full-court shot that came nowhere close with Michigan walking out with a 13-10 victory. With the win, Michigan didn’t just beat the Buckeyes, they took their ability to accomplish two of their goals from them. It was another year with a loss in the game and another year that a trip to play for a B1G Championship didn't happen.
There is no mistaking that Day got very lucky that the CFP was expanded to its 12-team format this season. If this is the four-team format Day would already be looking for a new job. The 12-team playoff has given the Buckeye headman a lifeline to prove he deserves to be the head coach. The way he can do it is simple—win the whole thing. A team built to be one of the best in Buckeye history has accomplished zero of the goals and that's unacceptable for a football program like Ohio State.
The Game Should Have Been the End
The Game is a war between Ohio State and Michigan and Day has now fallen short for a fourth straight year. Day and his staff cost Ohio State that game by not implementing a game plan to win. Instead they implemented one to prove they're a tough team. It was a game plan that played right into the strength of the Wolverines and cost the Buckeyes the game.
This season Michigan lacked the talent on offense to compete and missing their best defensive back on defense. The secondary compromise should have played right into Ohio State's strength in throwing the ball. Instead, Day’s arrogance to prove he was tough and could run the ball cost them the game and the final straw. There is no excuse, that Michigan walked into the Horseshoe as a 6-5 team and walked out with 13-10 win with a walk-on quarterback leading them.
Under Day a rivalry that has been dominated for the better part of two decades has been flipped. For the Wolverines, the game was just a win over their archrival Buckeyes. But for Ohio State, it cost them two of the goals.
National Title or Out
Ohio State didn’t make it easy by failing to accomplish their first two goals and are now faced with one of the more difficult paths to accomplish its third goal of winning a national championship.
This team was put together to beat Michigan, win the B1G and win a national championship. Not accomplishing the first two is a failure, not accomplishing all three is an embarrassment.
Day was given every resource necessary to win a national championship from NIL dollars to having the financial means to bring in some of the top assistant coaches possible. Those resources helped bring back several key contributors from a year ago and add some of the best players from the Transfer Portal. If after all that Ohio State still can't win the ultimate prize the question that needs to be asked is, if you can't win with a team described as the best to come out of Columbus, then what will it take for Day to win it?
If that’s a question that needs to be asked then you already know the answer is that he most likely won't win it. You don’t pay a coach more than $10 million a year to win nothin. You pay him to beat his rivals and bring home conference and national championships. If Day shows again he can't, it might be time for Day to go.
Ohio State football has long been considered one of the elite programs in the country, and rightfully so. But being considered elite also comes with expectations and if you can’t accomplish those expectations then you shouldn’t be the head coach at a program like Ohio State. Under Day’s tutelage over the previous four years, Ohio State has fallen short of accomplishing any of those goals. The only one left is four games away. If Ohio State goes another year without fulfilling any of the expectations is it time to say enough on the Day era and move on to something new?
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