The Buckeyes got an early holiday gift last night, in the form of a Utah win over USC in the Pac-12 Championship game. It was the crack in the proverbial door for Ohio State to return to the College Football Playoff. (Side note, this was the happiest I have been in a long time seeing a team other than Ohio State get a victory).
Ohio State head coach Ryan Day joined ESPN’s College GameDay to discuss the loss to our rivals, along with the potential for what could happen when the CFP committee makes their final judgment tomorrow night. Day believes that “we can be a dangerous team in the playoffs” as he told Pat McAfee.
What can you take away from that loss to Michigan @ryandaytime…#GameDay pic.twitter.com/g9qMRBFOwE
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 3, 2022
Another interesting tidbit from Day’s answer was about playing loose, mentioning that “moving forward we are going to play loose, we’re going to be aggressive, and we’re going to go at people. There can’t be moving forward, anybody in our program that presses at all, feels pressure. We’re just going to roll.”
Day was also asked by Desmond Howard how things changed so drastically from the team and program thinking the season was over after the demoralizing loss to its arch-rival, to now, the opportunity in front of them.
“When you go through a few days where you think that maybe your whole season’s gone, and all of a sudden you start to build hope and then you start to see the opportunity where everything’s right out in front of you, it’s almost like a second lease on life,” Day told GameDay. “So we’re very excited. There’s been a whole swing in the whole program here in the last 24 hours.
“The guys were sending text messages last night. Really, really excited. So certainly there’s been a big swing in just the whole program. And so there’s a lot of excitement right now. And you get an opportunity to go play in this thing. You’re two games away from a national championship after feeling like a few days ago like your whole season was over.”
Ryan Day talks about how things have changed for Ohio State after USC's loss:
"You get an opportunity to go play in this thing, you're two games away from a national championship after feeling like, a few days ago, your season was over." pic.twitter.com/z1XQCKH8zO
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) December 3, 2022
Personally, I love this but wondering where it was last week. The pressure might have gotten to the Buckeyes, but the change of attitude can only help going forward.
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