Ohio State has been a different team since Urban Meyer left for the NFL in 2021. During Meyer’s tenure, the Buckeyes won three Big Ten championships, a national championship in 2014 and a 7-0 win over archrival Michigan.
Under Ryan Day, Ohio State won two Big Ten titles in 2019 and 2020, but no national championship and a 1-3 record against “the team up north.” However, one of the most impressive rosters in college football entering the season could reverse that narrative that Day has disappointed as a head coach.
On his show “Always College Football,” ESPN college football commentator Greg McElroy drew an interesting comparison to the Buckeyes’ brand of football.
“{Ohio State} was a sports car, whereas winning in the Big Ten in recent years has come with a big diesel vehicle, a ‘dually,’ if you will,” McElroy said Wednesday afternoon. “I don’t want to say GMC or Ford, because that would piss people off…”
McElroy then compared Meyer and Day’s Ohio State teams to their performance on the field, saying recent Buckeye teams have been “more finesse” than the one Meyer has had in years past.
Ohio State comes into this season with extremely high expectations, not only because of their talented roster, but because their archrival Michigan has gotten the best out of them over the past three seasons. The fact that the Wolverines won a national title last year certainly doesn’t help them, either.
If Day fails to do his job for the fourth year in a row, there will be some tough questions to answer, especially with The Game taking place in Columbus this year.
