I’m not doing the soft version of this. I’m not doing the polite version of this. I’m not doing the “at least we beat Michigan” group hug.
Ryan Day is a fraud.
He beat Michigan this year and he acted like the job was done. Like the rest of college football was supposed to bow. Like the university should start planning the statue. Like beating Michigan was the whole season.
Here’s the part that should make every Ohio State fan mad. The Michigan win was not the end. It was supposed to be the start. It was supposed to light a fire under the whole team.
Instead, it looked like Ryan Day got his one moment and started clapping for himself.
Then we lost to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship. Then we had 25 days off before Miami. Twenty five. And what did we look like. Predictable. Slow. Unready. Like we spent that time watching the Michigan game on repeat and calling it “work.”
If you’re waiting for the excuse, you’re not getting one from me. This is on Ryan Day. This is his program. This is his team. This is his mess.
The Michigan win was a trap, and Ryan Day fell in love with it
I’m not going to lie. Beating Michigan felt good. I wanted it. I needed it. I was tired of hearing about it.
But the way Ryan Day acted after that win told me everything. He treated it like the finish line. Like he did the big thing, so now everyone should shut up.
That is not how Ohio State is supposed to work.
Beating Michigan is the price of entry. It is not the prize. It is not the banner. It is not the season.
And let me say this clear because people keep trying to make it bigger than it was. This Michigan team was not very good. Ryan Day beat a Michigan team that was not very good, and he started acting like he beat the final boss.
That is the first problem. If your whole identity is one rivalry game, you are not building a champion. You are building a yearly mood swing.
And that is exactly what Ryan Day does. He sells a full season. Then he coaches like one game is the whole story.
Losing to Indiana should have embarrassed him into changing
If Ryan Day was real, the Indiana loss would have changed everything.
That Big Ten Championship loss should have made him angry. It should have made him sharp. It should have made him cut out all the cute stuff and build a plan that works when the other team hits back.
Instead, it felt like the same old Ryan Day thing. When the pressure goes up, the offense gets smaller. The calls get safer. The whole thing gets tight.
And don’t tell me this is just “one bad game.” This was the Big Ten Championship. This was the moment. This was the test.
He failed it.
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The 25 days off before Miami were a gift, and he wasted it
This is the part that I cannot get over.
We had 25 days off before Miami.
That is time to fix the biggest problems. That is time to self-scout. That is time to change what needs changing. That is time to get your team ready for a better front seven.
So why did it look like nothing improved.
The play calling vs Miami was terrible. It was predictable. It felt like the same look, the same rhythm, the same answers, even when it clearly was not working.
And that is coaching.
When a team has that much time off and still looks easy to read, that is not on the players. That is on the guy holding the pen. That is on Ryan Day.
I kept watching and thinking, how is this the plan. How is this the best he has after all that time.
It looked like he spent those 25 days patting himself on the back for beating Michigan and watching that game over and over again.
And you know what. If you want one reason why I’m so mad, it’s this. The Miami game did not look like a team that was hungry. It looked like a team that thought showing up was enough.
That is a head coach problem.
He wasted the best parts of this team
This is where it turns from annoying to unforgivable.
We had the best wide receiver in America. We had a quarterback who was in the Heisman conversation. And we still ended the season looking stuck and simple when it mattered.
That is insane.
If you have those two things, you should be dangerous every week. You should be a nightmare. You should be forcing teams to pick their poison.
Instead, we watched talent get wasted because the plan was bad and the line was worse.
And I’m not done.
The defense was supposed to be better than last year. That was the promise. That was the talk. And it got wasted too. Because when the team is not ready, when the offense cannot stay on schedule, when the coach cannot adjust, the whole roster pays for it.
That is what makes me furious. People act like this is just about one play call. It’s not. It’s about a coach who keeps letting talent rot in big games.
If you want to read more on that part, read Ohio State wasting elite talent.
Here is the scary thought, and this is the second thing nobody wants to say out loud. What if this is the best version of Ryan Day you’re going to get.
Because it sure looks like it.
Mid-season wins do not move me anymore. I’ve seen enough. I want to see a team that is ready when it counts.
Next year is going to be the same problem with better posters
Now we get the next sales pitch. Recruiting.
Ryan Day put all his eggs in one basket to bring in Chris Henry Jr. Sure, he landed him. That is great. Now it’s Henry and Smith, and everybody is going to start dreaming again.
And I’m telling you right now, the dream is going to die in the same place if nothing changes.
Because who is blocking.
If the offensive line is bad now, and it’s going to be even worse next year, then what are we doing.
Henry and Smith will look great in cupcake games vs nobodies. They will run free, catch bombs, and people will scream that Ryan Day is back.
Then we play a team with a pulse.
Then Sayin is getting sacked and on his back because the line sucks and Ryan Day can’t call plays when the game turns ugly.
That’s the loop. That’s the cycle. That’s the trap.
And if I’m Smith, I’m looking at the future like this. Do I want to spend my best years running up and down the field all game while the quarterback is getting hit and the coach keeps calling the same stale stuff. If you want to stay and fight, fine. If you want to hit the portal and save your career, I’m not blaming you.
This season was a failure. I don’t care that we beat Michigan. You don’t get to act proud when you got dominated the last two weeks that mattered and expect everyone to clap because you beat a bad Michigan team.
Ryan Day beat Michigan and he thought the job was finished.
It wasn’t.
And until he starts coaching like the season is bigger than one Saturday, Ohio State fans are going to keep getting the same new year gift. Anger. Embarrassment. And a coach who looks shocked when the games get real.
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