Ohio State’s Ryan Day completes long, painful climb to top of college football mountain

ATLANTA — As the last notes of “Carmen Ohio” floated toward the cavernous roof of Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Ohio State players and coaches took their arms off their shoulders and used them to spell out the state where the national team was located. new to college football. the champion resides. It’s a tradition the Buckeyes honor after every game they play (home or away, win or lose) and the atmosphere has never been happier than Monday night, when the ninth national championship in program history was secured. with a 34-23 victory over Notre Dame. Dear Alma Mater… OHIO!

From his perch on the celebration platform where this year’s trophy presentation was just completed, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day offered a variation of the traditional arm movements that conclude the song. Instead of imitating the letters OHIO with the rest of his team, as he usually does each week, Day simply held up the 50-pound prize made of gold, bronze and stainless steel. He had finally completed the long, painful climb to the top of his highly scrutinized profession.

And how satisfying that moment must have been after everything Day had endured throughout this season and the previous three, none of which included Big Ten championships or victories over archrival Michigan. How beautiful the song must have sounded on this night and in this setting when juxtaposed with the hollow sound at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 30, when the Buckeyes suffered their fourth straight loss to the Wolverines and a fight was beginning to break out near midfield. field, the pepper-sprayed reality whose reality failed to resonate in a stupefied and shocked Day. How much more beautiful the hug must have been with his family knowing that his children will not be harassed when they return to school later this week and that his wife will not be worried about the death threats directed at her husband. Even the more joyful postgame scenes following the demolitions of Tennessee, Oregon and Texas came with lingering questions about Day’s future should Ohio State fall short against Notre Dame.

“I think in this day and age,” Day said shortly after midnight Tuesday morning, “there’s so much going on with wins and losses and social media, and people have to write articles, and a lot of things are said. That, yes, will certainly have an effect on you and your family. But when you sign up for this job, that’s what you sign up for. You have to be strong enough to weather those storms, to get through it.”

The story of Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame is about an unstoppable offense that scored touchdowns on its first four possessions and converted nine times on 12 third-down attempts, taking a 31-7 lead midway through the third quarter. This is a defense that got hit on the first drive of the game and then responded by giving up just 11 yards on the next four drives combined, none of which resulted in points. It’s a maligned kicker in Jayden Fielding who connected from 46 yards and 33 yards to keep the Fighting Irish at bay in the second half. It was a critical third-down conversion just before the two-minute timeout in which the coaching staff entrusted freshman sensation Jeremiah Smith to beat man coverage for a 56-yard completion that effectively sealed the game.

But the story of Ohio State’s national championship can’t be told without exploring the growth and maturation of Day, who replaced Urban Meyer in 2019 and spent the better part of a decade tinkering and toiling before finally perfecting the formula during the first iteration. of a 12-team playoff. Which means the story of this year’s title is about things like Day’s decision to hire defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State and then stick with him after poor performances against Michigan (twice) and Georgia, with Knowles ultimately transforming his unit into a force in 2024. It involves Day’s identification and recruitment of former Kansas State quarterback Will Howard (17 of 21, 231 yards, two TDs), whose enviable combination of leadership and talent it was exactly. what the Buckeyes needed after a disappointing season under Kyle McCord. It’s about Day’s connection to his 2021 recruiting class, most of whom decided to bypass the NFL Draft and return for one more chance to win it all. It’s about Day’s willingness to give up his play-calling duties and hire then-UCLA head coach Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator, freeing himself up to become more involved in other parts of the program, such as roster construction and fundraising, the result of which was one of the most powerful transfer portal in the country. It’s about Day’s incredible display of determination in bouncing back from another agonizing loss to Michigan and then leading Ohio State to four straight postseason wins against teams ranked seventh, first, third and fifth when the football playoff rankings were revealed. university.

“I don’t know if this surprises other people,” Kelly said Monday night, “[but] I wasn’t surprised because it’s made for this. I told him a long time ago when he became the head coach here. “Go run because you are made for it.” I’m very happy for him. And the way he led this group (the players will say the same), how he stood his ground at all times. They always talk about Ohio Against the World. “Sometimes it was Woody Hayes Athletic Center against the world because it was just us.”

And yet, the expectation was always that Ohio State would come to Atlanta and defeat Notre Dame, just as the Buckeyes defeated their three previous playoff opponents by a combined score of 111-52. Sporadic songs of “OH! …IO!” began playing in downtown Atlanta shortly after 1 p.m. Monday as hundreds of fans marched, parade style, along Peachtree Street and toward the stadium, all of them bundled up against unseasonably cold temperatures. Cheers from the rally Ohio State’s pregame performances were audible more than 60 stories above ground through thick windows in the media hotel, a testament to both the passion of Ohio State’s fan base and how invigorating they can be. be loosely enforced open container laws. To the south, at the intersection of Marietta Street NW and Centennial Olympic Park Drive, a rotating billboard repeatedly displayed an Ohio State ad: “We’re taking it all one game at a time.” , he said in perfect coach language that would have made Day proud.

Their marketing effort unfolded just a stone’s throw from SkyView Atlanta, the giant Ferris wheel across the street from where fans of both schools posed in front of the Olympic rings. One family of Fighting Irish faithful wore matching shamrock hats that wrapped around their heads and under their chins, with faces sticking out in the middle where each leaf converged. Closer to the stadium, where parking attendants warmed themselves using propane heating tanks, Notre Dame’s equipment truck was painted from stern to cab with a statistic that won’t need updating: 11 CONSENSUS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS,” it read. in white letters held by clovers.

And for a moment, albeit briefly, the possibility of another national title for Notre Dame seemed clearly real. The fact that the Fighting Irish turned their opening possession into an 18-play, 75-yard odyssey that included run after run by quarterback Riley Leonard, who sliced ​​through Knowles’ defense with relative ease, incubated the flickering notion that the Head coach Marcus Freeman and his band of independent underdogs might actually be with the most explosive team in college football. When Leonard crossed the goal line intact for a 1-yard score that gave Notre Dame an early lead, the stadium’s lush green minority unleashed a deafening roar. Day was so perplexed by what had happened that he spent the entire media timeout before the next kickoff studying film on a tablet, hovering near the 35-yard line between occasional aimless strolls.

“I’d say that first drive was uncharacteristic of us,” linebacker Cody Simon said. “We were hoping to go out and dominate.”

Domination came soon enough, and with it some visceral displays of emotion from Day that underscored how much he craved this national title after years of personal and family tension. He pumped his fist twice and raised his leg as running back Quinshon Judkins ran past the tacklers and into the end zone for a 14-7 lead. He joined the crowd in a Bronx cheer when Notre Dame’s offense was called for holding, the first such penalty against an Ohio State opponent since September. He jumped in the air and waved his arms excitedly as a fake Fighting Irish punt pass fell incomplete a few feet from where Day stood. And when his players doused him with Gatorade in the final moments, at which point the Buckeyes’ victory was assured, he jumped into the arms of offensive tackle Josh Fryar and screamed with joy.

About 20 minutes later, after the trophy ceremony and the “Carmen Ohio” game had come and gone, Day walked off the field under the densest crowd of Ohio State fans. It had only been seven weeks since Day made the same trek after a disastrous home loss to Michigan, at which point expletives, insults and calls for him to resign were loudly hurled in his direction. This time, Day simply raised his right hand as thousands of Buckeyes showered him with cheers.

“Nothing is guaranteed,” Day said. “But I always, in the back of my mind, felt that the people of Ohio and all of Buckeye Nation, after going through tough times and watching a team and a group of coaches go through tough times to achieve their goal, it would still mean more. And I hope everyone is proud of what we’ve done.”

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. follow him on @Michael_Cohen13.

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