Ohio State enters the 2024 college football season as one of the favorites to win the College Football Playoff, ranking second in both the US LBM Coaches Poll and the preseason AP Top 25.
Whether the Buckeyes can win the national championship may not even be the most pressing question surrounding the program in 2024. It is what not What winning the title could mean for their coach
By most conventional measures, Ryan Day has succeeded in his five-plus seasons at Ohio State, compiling a 56-8 record, two Big Ten championships and three playoff appearances. But he has failed in other aspects of the job that are just as emotionally important to Buckeyes fans as an excellent overall record.
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For this reason, Day enters the 2024 season in a precarious position: He is a successful coach of a prestigious program who nevertheless faces increasing pressure to win – or a growing portion of Ohio State supporters will demand his firing.
Even though Day is in this situation, he at least has one prominent defender: Nick Saban.
During an appearance Friday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” broadcast from Dublin, Ireland, not Ohio, the legendary and recently retired coach responded firmly to a question about Day and the enormous expectations facing him and the Buckeyes this season.
“I’ve lived this life for 17 years. For 15 years we were expected to win every game,” the former Alabama coach said. “It’s hard for me to put that kind of pressure and expectation on a coach, including Ryan Day, because you never know what’s going to happen. You don’t know if the quarterback is going to get hurt. You don’t know if you’re going to lose cornerbacks on defense and you can’t cover anyone. You have to be able to improvise and adapt and do your best. Personally, I think Ryan Day is a really good coach. I think he’s going to do a really good job with this roster.”
Those lofty goals for Ohio State are largely the result of having arguably the best, most talented and deep roster in the country. The Buckeyes have four players on the Associated Press All-America team, more than any other team in the country. Seven of the 22 offensive and defensive positions on the USA TODAY Network All-Big Ten team were filled by Ohio State players.
With so many outstanding players, there are legitimate hopes for a national championship, but Saban believes Day should not be held responsible for the Buckeyes’ roster if his team fails to win the title.
“If he has the best roster, who got him there? Who’s responsible for getting them there? He got them there,” Saban said. “That counts for something. … The fans should appreciate the fact that they have one of the best teams in the country, and they should do their part to be positive and cheer the guy on in a positive way and generate a lot of positive energy.”
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The most glaring flaws in Day’s otherwise impressive track record have been his failures in the most important and crucial games – the ones that separate a truly good coach from a master coach.
Under Day, Ohio State has gone 2-5 against opponents ranked in the top five of the US LBM Coaches Poll at the time of the game. Day also has a 1-3 record against archrival Michigan after his two full-time predecessors, Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel, combined to go 17-1 against the Wolverines. With a 30-24 loss last season in Ann Arbor, Day became the first Buckeyes coach since John Cooper in the 1995-97 season to lose three straight to Michigan.
“I’m sure his team, regardless of what we all think, has problems and difficulties that need to be resolved,” Saban said. “If they are resolved in a positive way thanks to the players and all the coaches and the leadership of Ryan Day, then maybe they can get where they want to go. But I’m a process-oriented guy. I say that all the time. You should always think about what you have to do to get the result and not be a fan and say if you don’t get the result, we’ll fire you.”
