ATLANTA – The noise, after Ohio State’s loss to Michigan just 51 days ago, was deafening. It seemed like the only thing Ryan Day could do to drown it out was to win a national championship.
And on Monday he did just that. Ohio State beat Notre Dame 34-23 for the team’s first national title in 10 years, when Urban Meyer was the Buckeyes’ head coach.
Day said it from the get-go. He really just “wanted to finish this thing the right way.”
With a multi-million dollar roster at hand and a championship legacy for the ages, pressure came from all sides. It was time for Ryan Day to win big.
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“So, when you look at the game against Michigan, it could be one of two things,’ said Chip Kelly, Ohio State offensive coordinator who was also Day’s coach when he played at New Hampshire. ‘It could be your tombstone or it could be a stepping stone. And Ryan and our players turned it into a stepping stone.”
Ohio State’s 13-10 loss to Michigan on its own turf was a gut punch for Day. Day, who’s faced constant pressure to meet the standard of Buckeyes fans, is 1-4 against the Wolverines in his time as head coach – a record some deem as “fireable.”
“I was upset, but yet, [I] know that he’s a great coach and unfortunately, some of our fans take it a little extreme,” longtime Ohio State fan Todd Adcock told USA TODAY Sports before kickoff on Monday.
In the news conference following the now-infamous postgame scuffle between the two rivals, all Day could say was “I don’t know.” Tensions were high and uncertainty loomed over a team favored to win it all.
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Now, the script has flipped. All in 51 days, Day turned things around and it all fell quiet. Not even the noise could stop Ryan Day and his powerhouse Ohio State team.
“(The players are) my motivation. My family at home, my wife and kids, and these guys. That’s why I get up in the morning every day is just to try to make sure these guys reach their dreams and goals,’ Day said in a postgame broadcast interview on Monday.
‘We hung in there like a family does when things get hard.’
This story will be updated with more information.
Mia Fishman is a student in the University of Georgia’s undergraduate Sports Media Certificate program.