Ohio State’s Ryan Day Criticized After Timid Play-Calling vs. Michigan

The Buckeyes coach made a rather conservative decision that left some fans scratching their heads.

No. 3 Michigan had No. 2 Ohio State on the ropes in the second half of a winner-take-all edition of The Game on Saturday afternoon. Still, Ryan Day opted to make a handful of conservative decisions that had much of the college football world in disbelief. 

After the Buckeyes held a narrow three-point lead at halftime, the Wolverines came out in a fury in the third quarter and managed to take a two-score advantage by the time the fourth quarter came around. Nevertheless, Day opted multiple times to punt the ball with his team trailing, much to the surprise of those watching. 

Though the choice to punt the ball away on the Michigan 45-yard line with six minutes remaining in the third quarter seemed excusable at the time, Ohio State punted again early in the fourth quarter after just three plays. At the time, the Buckeyes were trailing by 11 points and a large portion of the college football world felt strongly that Day should’ve been aggressive and tried to convert the fourth-and-three.

Ryan Day is punting for 20 yards of field position in a game where Michigan has multiple 60-yard passing touchdowns

— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) November 26, 2022

A team feels the temperament of the coach. When Ohio State punted on that fourth down, Ryan Day showed weakness and trepidation despite having the better football team and home field. That stuff is contagious and now Michigan is on the doorstep of scoring on the following drive.

— Ari Wasserman (@AriWasserman) November 26, 2022

Ryan day deserves 1000% of the blame if and when they lose this

— matt (@sponhourm) November 26, 2022

Ryan Day sure isn’t treating C.J. Stroud like a future No. 1 overall pick.

— Nick Pedone (@NickPedone12) November 26, 2022

Ryan Day punting again on 4th and short. He must have inside info about his team making the playoffs despite losing this game by 18 points.

— Cousin Sal (@TheCousinSal) November 26, 2022

Jim Harbaugh is attempting 57-yard field goals and Ryan Day is punting in plus territory. One has a Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback and the other's quarterback has four touchdowns today. What a strange game.

— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy) November 26, 2022

Does Ryan Day know that football games only last 60 minutes?

— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) November 26, 2022

Ohio State was down 24-20, punted with 6:00 left in the third quarter, and is finally getting the ball back down 31-20 with 13:00 left in the fourth quarter. That punt was just a devastating game management mistake by Ryan Day.

— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) November 26, 2022

Day and the Buckeyes had yet another special year in 2022, but plenty of his critics will point back to his play-calling in The Game as a major lapse. For the first time since 1999 and 2000, Ohio State will have dropped consecutive games to Michigan, a result that won’t go over well with the Buckeyes faithful. 

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