The honeymoon period is clearly over with Ryan Day for some Ohio State fans. Despite having one of the best overall records in college football since he took over the head coaching position from Urban Meyer, and having only lost two Big Ten games, the two losses to Michigan have crippled the psyche of some in Buckeye Nation.
And, in Columbus, if you don’t beat the Wolverines on a consistent basis, there are going to be some problems as large as the stash of khakis in Jim Harbaugh’s closet. Day is now 1-2 vs. Michigan and really needs to find a way to get a victory up in Ann Arbor on November 25 in the year of our Lord 2023.
Buy Buckeyes TicketsAnywhere else would be drawing up statue designs of how Day has performed so far, but not on the banks of the Olentangy. No, instead there is immense pressure heading into this season, so much so that CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee has labeled Day as one of seven head coaches facing the most pressure this upcoming season.
“Day is in one of the most unique situations in this era,” writes Sallee. “He has lost back-to-back games to rival Michigan, which is simply unacceptable to the Buckeye faithful. However, they have been in the national championship hunt in both of those seasons and came within one missed field goal at the gun away from making the College Football Playoff National Championship last year. His status is utterly bizarre. The Michigan conundrum has to be solved. But, if history repeats itself and the Buckeyes stay in the title hunt, that will certainly give the fan base hope — especially considering the CFP will expand to 12 teams next season.”
Unique indeed. Day’s losses have come only in the biggest of games. He hasn’t lost anything that would be called mindboggling. Even Urban Meyer had his head-scratching defeats (look up Iowa 2017 and Purdue 2018). Day is 45-6 as the head coach of the Buckeyes. His losses include three games in the College Football Playoff (Clemson, Alabama, Georgia), one against a top-twelve Oregon team at home in 2021, and the two to Michigan when the Wolverines also made the College Football Playoff.
Jimbo Fisher, Ryan Day among the college football coaches facing the most pressure in 2023https://t.co/iMiAmT7ixK
— Barrett Sallee 🇺🇸 (@BarrettSallee) April 17, 2023
But still. There is no Big Ten title, no win over Michigan, and no national title the last two seasons, and that’s grinding on a very vocal set of some OSU fans. Yes, there is indeed some pressure on Day this coming fall and you can bet that he is fully aware of it.
