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Nick Saban watched with the rest of us as ESPN’s Rece Davis interviewed Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. In a clip shared Friday on ESPN’s College GameDay, Davis talked with Day about a fourth straight loss to Michigan and about all of the negativity that has arisen around the Ohio State program since.
The Buckeyes will host Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday night. The loss to Michigan prevented a trip to the Big Ten title game, but it didn’t squash the dream of winning a national championship. And that was Day’s message to Davis.
When Saban was then asked about Day’s current predicament, he dropped a gem.
“If Ohio State wants to beat Michigan, (the fans) need to be positive about their coach and the players. There’s nobody that wants to beat them worse than the players and the coaches. That’s No. 1,” the legendary Alabama coach said.
“No. 2, they have an opportunity to win the national championship. Everybody oughta be supporting the hell out of them so they have the best opportunity to do it and quit all this negative bullshit.”
Day is 66-10 as the head coach at Ohio State. He has never lost more than 3 games in a season (though that could change on Saturday). He was the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2019 and has coached 8 consensus All-Americans.
But he’s 1-4 against the Wolverines.
How many of those 65 wins would folks in Columbus trade to get rid of those 4 losses?
That’s the rub at Ohio State, though. And Day knew that when he took the job. And, to his credit, he hasn’t shied away from the standard. He has just fallen short over the last few years.
That can also change on Saturday. The Buckeyes kick off against the Vols at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. They’re a 7.5-point favorite at DraftKings.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
