Passionate Ryan Day earns physical, soul-cleansing Buckeyes victory

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Ryan Day needed a soul-cleanser. Boy, did he get one.

First it was two Novembers ago, when Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh claimed that Day was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple after the Wolverines beat Ohio State in Ann Arbor. Later that offseason, other Michigan coaches took jabs at the Buckeyes lack of physicality.

Then it was last season, when rushing yards were, at times, at a premium and questions lingered around the sport. Are the Buckeyes tough enough?

It’s all been festering inside Day for two years. And what made it bubble to the surface was Friday afternoon, when legendary 86-year-old former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz went on “The Pat McAfee Show” claimed that every team that has beaten Day — all five of them — has done so by being more physical than Day’s Buckeyes. It was a shot at the Ohio State program, but it was also a prod at Day himself.

At least that’s how Ryan Day took that quote. Because in the aftermath of the Buckeyes thrilling, last-second, 17-14 win over the Irish on the road Saturday night, Day had a message to deliver.

To Lou Holtz. To the doubters of Day’s program as a tough, physical outfit. To college football. Ryan Day believes his program is tough. And the one-yard touchdown run in the final seconds Saturday night was the perfect moment for Day to finally, after nearly two entire years, defend his program, and possibly more importantly, defend himself.

“It was brewing for a couple of days,” Day said nearly immediately after taking the podium after Ohio State 17, Notre Dame 14 on Saturday night. “I said it earlier and I’ll say it again: a lot of people took a lot of shots at this team over the last 48 hours. It really hit home to me. The way that our team played, not only did we physically get after these guys last year, we did it again this year at the end of the game. It says a lot about this team. I’m really upset and disrespected by what Lou Holtz said publicly about our team, Ohio State and Buckeye Nation. And we’re not going to stand for it. That’s not even close to true.

“We had one bad half a couple of years ago up in Ann Arbor. We did in the second half. But every game we play in, we’re physical. We are. I don’t know where that narrative comes from. But that ends tonight.”

Day was questioned when he was first handed the keys to the program from Urban Meyer in 2019. They were quickly smoothed over when he led Ohio State to the College Football Playoff in his first season and the national title game in his second. But the early-season loss to Oregon in 2021 was the first sign of a program that could have toughness issues. The late-November beatdown in the rivalry exacerbated it.

Ryan Day has carried it with him since then. And everyone who works around him can see that first-hand.

“He’s passionate,” Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. “We all had his back. And I’m really happy for him.”

Last season could have been the best moment for Day to explode with emotion, when Michigan, the same team that started the rhetoric about Day and toughness, came to Columbus in a battle of unbeatens. But even at home, Ohio State fell and looked like the less physical team. It could have happened against top-ranked Georgia just five weeks later, but the Buckeyes came within one field goal of knocking off the Bulldogs.

So the narrative pinged around college football for the second straight offseason. Is Ohio State tough enough? Does Ryan Day run a tough program?

Day believes, after converting a one-yard touchdown run by Chip Trayanum in the game’s final seconds Saturday night at Notre Dame, the answer is a resounding yes. He can now point to a game in which the ball was on the 1-yard line with three seconds to play. It was either get tough, be physical and score a go-ahead, game-winning touchdown or continue to be questioned for a lack of toughness — and go home with a rare loss.

Ohio State chose the former. Day did. He called that play, and he made it clear that he decided to run the ball, get tough and show some physicality. And he knew what it meant when it converted.

“That was one heck of a win for our team,” Day said. “It was a great win for Ohio State. It’s always been Ohio against the world. And it continues to be to this day. I hope everybody in Buckeye Nation enjoys that win. To come in here and win like that after winning the way we did last year, because we physically got after them last year. We did. A lot of people make comments and don’t watch film. Put the film on and watch what goes on.

“… The guts of our team to go and win that game on the road, you’re going to tell me this team’s not physical, not tough? You’re wrong.”

Chief among those who were wrong was Holtz, who bore the brunt of Day’s pent up anger from this narrative. The second Day had a microphone in his face after the win over Notre Dame, he let it all out.

Because for nearly two years, it’s seemed like it has been Ryan Day against the world as he fights an uphill battle to prove he can roll out a physical, tough program onto the big stage.

Turns out all it took was one yard to showcase it for everyone to see. That lone yard gave Ryan Day a much-needed and validating soul-cleansing.

The post Passionate Ryan Day earns physical, soul-cleansing Buckeyes victory appeared first on On3.