Paul Finebaum Defends Lou Holtz Against Ryan Day Rant

Paul Finebaum came to the defense of Lou Holtz after he was ripped by Ohio State coach Ryan Day for his pre-game comments.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were the winners of perhaps the biggest game of the college football slate in Week 4, taking down the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend 17-14 on a last-second touchdown.

Before that game, however, Lou Holtz had some choice words about the Buckeyes, asserting that Notre Dame was not only the better football team but the more physical team. 

After the win, Day responded in a furious fashion, calling out Holtz for his comments. 

Now, with the dust beginning to settle, ESPN's Paul Finebaum decided to weigh in on the controversy, coming to the defense of Holtz.

"I’m sure there are plenty of Lou Holtz jokes going around today," Finebaum said. "But I happened to be around Lou about a year ago… at 86 or 87, whatever he is, still very sharp and amazing guy so I’m glad Lou has gotten a curtain call. I doubt Lou really cares. He said what he said because that’s who he is."

Finebaum then took what sounded like a veiled shot at Day, seemingly blaming Notre Dame's last-second gaffe on Irish Marcus Freeman, rather than giving the Buckeyes credit for the win. 

"I think Ryan Day had a great moment," Finebaum continued. "Especially versus the other coach who made a basic elementary coaching mistake at the end of the game and the cost of that is incalculable."

Either way, the Buckeyes are now heading into their bye week undefeated and ranked No. 4 in the country, and despite how anyone feels about the way the Bucks have played in the first four weeks, that's all that matters. 

Ohio State will return to the field on October 7 when they take on the Maryland Terrapins at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.