Ohio State Buckeyes' Ryan Day Receives Strong Take From Notable Analyst

Ryan Day led the Ohio State Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff national championship last season. He hoisted the trophy and broke a championship lull in Columbus that had lasted since 2014.

Winning that title is the ultimate goal and standard for OSU, so it was a massive run for Day and the Buckeyes. Heck, it was a run that very well could have saved his job, because before that magical CFP, the lasting image of his 2024 season would have been losing yet another game to Michigan.

Ohio State's 13-10 loss to Michigan this past season marked Day's fourth-consecutive loss to the hated Wolverines. Each loss has stung in Columbus, but this past one seemed even more egregious than the others. Ohio State came into the game ranked No. 2 in the nation and the Buckeyes had home field advantage. They were favored by 21 points, and the Wolverines were wrapping up a disappointing season and missing several key players.

Again, had it not been for the CFP run, that loss could have been the end of the Day era at OSU. That's, of course, not how it went down, but not everyone has been quick to forget Day's failures against the Wolverines. In fact, national analyst Josh Pate believes Day has a ton of pressure on him to beat Michigan heading into 2025.

“My personal college football worldview is that if you’re the head coach at Ohio State, your job is to beat Michigan—and then the Big Ten can be won, and then the national title can be won, in that order," Pate recently said on his show (h/t atozsports). "But beating Michigan is No. 1, and he [Day] hasn’t done it in several years now. So, if you are asking me if there’s pressure on him—absolutely, there is pressure on him. I don’t care if they won the national title by 100 last year. That’s almost like its own conversation. The national title picture is its own conversation. The Michigan game is a season. It is its own season."