Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s redemption

CNN
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Ryan Day wants his Ohio State Buckeyes to leave no room for doubt.

After a complete team performance that earned the Bucks their first national championship in a decade, Day should have put to rest any doubts in the minds of the Buckeye faithful about his tenure in Columbus.

Ohio State fans are among the toughest and most critical in college football – in fact, after this 34-23 victory over Notre Dame, which has now won nine national championships, some will be unhappy that it wasn’t an even bigger victory. The day has been the subject of her ire all season. Even though the Buckeyes had been knocking out one team after another for most of the season, a one-point loss to Oregon stuck with them.

And then came the listless loss to Michigan. Day and his team were showered with boos from their home fans as they were unable to get anything going on offense for most of the game, and the truly mediocre Wolverines earned their fourth straight win over their arch-rivals.

All of that seems a distant memory now. Day has lived up to the promise his team has shown most of this season, and the talented Buckeyes are now national champions.

“They are my motivation – my family at home, my wife and kids and then these guys. That’s why I get up every day to help these guys achieve their dreams and goals,” Day said after the game. “That’s all that matters, and then it just shows an example: When things get tough in life, just keep swinging as hard as you can and fight. That’s our culture.”

Day may have started this playoff run as a coach for his job against Tennessee. It cannot be overstated how devastated Buckeye fans were after the loss to the Wolverines on November 30th and the ugly scenes following that game when Michigan attempted to raise a flag at midfield at Ohio Stadium.

Volunteer fans stormed into the Horseshoe for the opening game. It was estimated that the crowd was 40% Tennessee fans. ESPN commentator and Buckeye alum Kirk Herbstreit said during that broadcast that he had never seen anything like it. Experts predicted that despite an incredible start to his head coaching career in Columbus, Day could be out of a job if Ohio State lost to the Vols.

After a quarter of the game against Tennessee, Day was no longer in the hot seat. Three touchdowns in the first quarter set the tone for the rest of the Buckeye playoff run, a huge lead on the way to outright elimination of the Volunteers.

In the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day it was similar – even worse. At halftime, Ohio State was up 34-8 and the top-seeded, undefeated Ducks didn’t seem to belong on the same field as the Buckeyes.

Texas posed more of a challenge and kept the game close until the final minutes, when senior Jack Sawyer stripped the ball from UT quarterback Quinn Ewers and broke away from his former roommate and the rest of the Longhorns for a touchdown that tied the game brought ice cream.

Putting the loss to Michigan behind them was no easy task, Day said after the win against Tennessee, but it was necessary for the Buckeyes to move back toward the ultimate goal of the season: a national title.

“I’ve said this before, nothing that has happened so far will have any impact on what’s going on other than learning from our experiences,” Day told reporters. “The first week was identifying the problems. You don’t just leave the game. You have to identify the problems and have real conversations with the players and give them the floor because they are interested in it. And then coaches also have their opinions.

He added: “To say it doesn’t bother you, it does. We are very proud of who we are. These guys are very proud.”

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, who has known Day most of his life, said it was clear the pressure was on the head coach. But, Kelly says, it’s nothing the 45-year-old can’t handle.

“I told him a long time ago that he was made for this. And he understands it. He understands the gravity of his position. “He understands what everyone feels about Buckeye football, and rightfully so,” Kelly said after the Tennessee win. “He feels exactly the same. I don’t think anyone felt the loss to The Team Up North harder than he did. That’s the type of person he is.

“But he also has to lead from the front. It wasn’t, “I’m sorry” and “Hey, will everyone lift me up and make me feel better?” It was, “No, we have to do this the right way, look at what we did in the movie.” “We need to figure out how to correct this.'”

In the final minutes of the game against Notre Dame, there were some echoes of the loss to Michigan. Kelly became conservative again with his style of play. The Irish showed why “fighting” is part of their school’s mascot by overcoming a 31-7 deficit to score just one touchdown and two-point conversion.

For the first time since the first quarter, the Buckeyes were under pressure – real pressure. The game plan remained very conservative, with Howard taking a few quarterback keepers and Notre Dame stopping the clock with their timeouts. But Day and Kelly flipped the script at the last second.

Howard floated a long pass on a go route down the right sideline to freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith, who leapt and hauled in the 57-yard catch to put the Buckeyes in the Notre Dame red zone with two minutes left. From there, it was a Jayden Fielder field goal that sealed the victory and Day celebrated his first national championship.

With all the pressure on him and all the criticism that came into this program a little less than two months ago, it was obvious how much the win meant to Day. As time expired, he ran down the sideline, ripped off his headset and threw it behind him somewhere deep on the Buckeye sideline — if not into the stands. He enjoyed the Gatorade bath, deep green liquid splashing down around him as he celebrated with his team.

“The story is now being told. And it’s a great story. About a couple of guys who overcame some really difficult situations, and there came a point where a lot of people stopped taking us into consideration,” Day said.

“We just kept swinging and kept fighting. This is why you start coaching. It’s about seeing how guys get through things. Learn life lessons and then achieve your dreams. That’s what happened tonight.”