The Michigan Wolverines Have Nearly Broken Ryan Day
Week four of the 2023 college football season provided some incredible matchups, most notably between No. 9 Notre Dame and No. 6 Ohio State. With No. 2 Michigan disposing of Rutgers earlier in the day, there's no question that most of the maize and blue faithful were tuned in to the game down in South Bend - hoping to see the Buckeyes suffer their first loss of the season.
Down 14-10 with three seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes scored the game winning touchdown on a 1-yard run by DeaMonte Trayanum. Ohio State would escape South Bend with a 17-14 win and a perfect 4-0 record.
While Nobody can deny that Ohio State's Ryan Day has put together an impressive record as the head coach in Columbus, his postgame comments were as odd as they were telling.
Day, clearly emotional after the win, went on a wild rant about his teams toughness - singling out former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz. For context, Holtz - who's now 86 years old - made an appearance on College Gameday and shared his thoughts about the primetime matchup between Notre Dame and Ohio State.
"Notre Dame is a better football team than Ohio State," Holtz said. After listing all of the reasons why he thinks Notre Dame is better, Holtz singled out Day specifically.
"He has lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan twice, and everybody that beats him does so because they're more physical than Ohio State. I think Notre Dame will take that same approach."
Finishing out the segment, Holtz offered this final message to the Buckeyes. "You take this message to Ohio State," said Holtz. "You tell them they better bring their lunch, cause it's going to be a full damn day's work."
It's clear that Ryan Day was listening to cable television prior to the game against Notre Dame, and he let loose during his postgame interview.
"I'd like to know where Lou Holtz is right now," Day said. "What he said about our team, what he said about our team...I cannot believe. This is a tough team right here. We're proud to be from Ohio, and it's always been Ohio against the world. It will continue to be Ohio against the world. But I'll tell you what, I love those kids and we've got a tough team."
When asked what his team proved about themselves following the victory, Day continued his rant with a wild assertion, claiming the Buckeyes have played just one bad half of football over the last couple of years.
"Toughness. Everybody's questioning these kids all of the time. We had one bad half the last couple of years, that's it."
Meeting with the media during his postgame press conference, Day elaborated on his "one bad half" comment, saying that he was referring to the 2021 loss against Michigan in Ann Arbor.
"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."
Maybe he's completely blocked out last year's matchup with Michigan in Columbus, but to say that Ohio State has played one bad half of football in two years is comical.
After entering the half with a 20-17 lead over Michigan in 2022, the Buckeyes were outscored 28-3 in the second half - and the Wolverines cruised to their second-consecutive dominant victory over Ohio State. It feels like being outscored 28-3 in your own building is a bad half of football, but maybe Ryan Day sees things differently.
Either way, his postgame comments seemed less like a man trying to convince the world, and more like a man trying to convince himself. Day has taken a significant amount of criticism after getting blown out by Michigan in back-to-back seasons, and it's clear that it's starting to wear on him. He also made it clear that he takes issue with anyone questioning his teams toughness, saying he doesn't know where that narrative comes from. The reality is that the narrative was created in his own back yard, and by the same folks who were calling for his job last November.
Sure, that postgame rant certainly had a little bit to do with Lou Holtz and Notre Dame, but at the heart of that anger, frustration, and emotion was Michigan.
The Wolverines and the Buckeyes will clash in Ann Arbor on Nov. 25 at noon on FOX, in what should be one of the top matchups of the entire 2023 college football season.
