Maybe you liked Ryan Day’s postgame rant, perhaps you didn’t. Maybe you thought it was all part of sports and summed up the passion and energy of college football, or maybe you felt it was either a bit weird, or an overzealous response to remarks made by an aging media pundit, or both.
Either way, it doesn’t really matter. Because whether the Ohio State head coach’s outburst was pre-planned or represented true, heat-of-the-victory impulse is now irrelevant, for he has found a group who loved it so much that he’s definitely not regretting it now.
Day spoke up following the Buckeyes’ thrilling, walk-off 17-14 victory over Notre Dame on Sept. 23, angrily and loudly singling out remarks from former Irish head coach Lou Holtz that appeared to question Day’s team’s toughness.
Face red, eyes ablaze, he launched into a stout defense of Ohio State’s mettle in his immediate television interview, then got going again to begin his main news conference.
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It was, in all truth, not entirely comfortable viewing, a coach in his 40s who leads a group of young men, lighting up an 86-year-old who last coached a meaningful game nearly two decades ago.
But if we are to be cynical, and you kind of have to be in this case, from Day’s perspective it is a case of: job done.
For Columbus is buzzing this week ahead of the visit of undefeated Maryland (noon ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app, with coverage beginning at 10 a.m. ET) and, without question, what Day said has a lot to do with it. There are different ways to get your supporters fired up. The best one is to win, and because this is 2023, the second best is to talk big and be brash and then go out and try to back it up.
[Is Ohio State ripe for an upset vs. Maryland in battle of unbeatens?]
As sports fans, we’re not as complicated as we sometimes think we are. Most of all, in the vast number of cases, we’re just looking for any evidence that the coaches and players of the teams we love care about it just as much as we do.
And if that comes in the form of a guy working himself into a lather in front of a microphone and going a little beyond the scope of typical post-win etiquette, well, so be it.
Joel Klatt reacts to Ryan Day’s response to Notre Dame legend Lou Holtz | The Joel Klatt Show
In case you were wondering, Day’s not walking this thing back. If anything, he’s leaning into it even more, and his team’s fan base is absolutely here for it.
“There are just times when you’ve got to standup for your guys,” Day told Central Ohio TV station WBNS-10TV this week. “I got to tell you, the response from Buckeye Nation, the people around Columbus, everybody at Ohio State, has been over the top, just really excited about how our team played and how much passion we showed out for the game.
“It is something that I learned about when I first got here, but now I really live it, and understand what that all means. It is going to continue to be Ohio against the world and we are going to make sure that’s our rallying cry moving forward.”
Ohio State goes into the weekend ranked No. 4 but with some lingering questions. The offense, day’s baby, has some imperfections. Quarterback Kyle McCord has big shoes to fill after C.J. Stroud‘s departure, and the Buckeyes are just 38th in the country in scoring productivity. Standout wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has yet to hit full stride, and the same can be said for a highly-touted offensive line.
In a stacked Big Ten, the dates of Penn State (Oct. 21) and, as ever, Michigan (Nov. 25), loom large.
This weekend, Day’s group will be facing an undefeated opponent for the fifth straight week, something that hasn’t happened in the Ohio State program since 1940. Maryland, led by Taulia Tagovailoa at QB, should not be underestimated.
[Lou Holtz drops Ohio State five spots in his rankings after Buckeyes’ bye week]
However, Ohio State will be coming in with swagger and confidence and a certain type of resolute mindset. The locker room has made it very clear they liked what Day had to say and if it has some kind of galvanizing effect – and if this season ends with serious success – the way we view this thing in years to come might be far different.
“It was awkward. I was like, ‘Oooh, is this the right way to go?’” FOX college football analyst Joel Klatt said on “The Joel Klatt Show.” “Then I immediately think to myself: This is exactly what he wanted – for the people who want to receive it. Is this going to hit for everybody? No. If you’re a Michigan fan he looks thin-skinned. If you’re a crusty old pundit, you think he’s being silly and he’s being frivolous and whiny.
“If you’re not, you’re probably an Ohio State player or a staff member. Guess what? He was speaking to them … and for them. It’s like a rally for a candidate at that point. He’s speaking to his base. Every Buckeye fan and every Buckeye player is immediately thinking to themselves – yes.”
Day won’t be winning much national love with that approach, but that’s not what he’s looking for. He’s got his town, and his team’s support crew, electrified. Whether that translates into performance for his players, we’ll see this weekend. But the energy is there, you can almost touch it.
Method to the madness? Maybe.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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