ESPN’s Desmond Howard Rips Ohio State’s Ryan Day For Criticizing Lou Holtz

The Heisman Trophy winner pushed back on criticism of Holtz and Lee Corso.

Following Ohio State’s big win over Notre Dame last weekend, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day called out Lou Holtz for calling his team soft.

“I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now. What he said about our team … I cannot believe,” Day said after the game. “This is a tough team right here.”

On the same day, Washington State Jake Dickert went after Lee Corso and ESPN for calling the Oregon State-Washington State game the “No One Watches” bowl.

Those quotes went viral at the time, and it remains a storyline a week later. On Saturday morning’s episode of College Gameday, ESPN analyst Desmond Howard criticized both Day and Dickert for bashing Holtz and Corso after their games.

“Lee Corso and Lou Holtz, Hall of Famers and legends that built this sport up, and you’re going to come after them because they didn’t pat your team on the back when they were doing bad?” Howard said. “I thought that it was thin-skinned. They were hypersensitive, and it wasn’t their best moments at all.”

"I thought that it was thin-skinned, they were hypersensitive, and it wasn't their best moments at all."

Desmond Howard criticizes Dickert, Leaf, as well as Ohio State's Ryan Day for going after Lee Corso and Lou Holtz. pic.twitter.com/RDDq9FNw1Q

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 30, 2023

It must’ve been relatively easy for Howard to criticize Day, because the 1991 Heisman Trophy winner is a Michigan legend. Howard wasn’t the only analyst to push back on Dickert’s criticism of ESPN and Corso, as Pat McAfee also did not appreciate the Washington State coach’s comments.