HC Ryan Day (B1G Coach of Year, B1G Champion, National Champion)

[Steve19]

This is a rebuilding year. You ain't nothing special until you prove it on the field.

Day should have been lowering expectations before the year. He should have reacted to a #1 ranking with some questions in public and challenged his players to own it quietly. There is a LOT of talent on both sides of the ball, but the team lacks battle hardening as units and have inexperienced cogs in the wheel this early in the season. Day could have managed public expectations much more strategically so that Ohio State didn't walk onto the field in Texas with so much to lose and much less to win.

The beginning of that game gifted Ohio State two scores, in large part. Day should have told his team at half time that the game was not won and that they needed to come out winning. Pre-season, we heard was that Julian Sayin was leading the team and performing at a higher level than ever. In truth, he performed well below expectations in the 4th quarter when the pressure rose. We could say the same thing about the defensive line.

Perhaps I am wrong, and I understand and agree with the central premise, but Coach Day needs to rethink his strategy of cutting the number of plays to save his players for the final championship run. We all know that he has stud ponies that want to be ridden but rotating more players on the field accomplishes the same player health goals. If there aren't more players ready to play, even in a rebuilding year, then recruiting and readiness strategies need attention.

This is a disappointing loss because of the way it happened. Championships are still on the table, but so is the possibility that they roll into The Game with three losses.

 

[OHSportsFan]

​

THE SITUATIONAL: Always the Last to Know​

By Ramzy Nasrallah on September 16, 2026 at 1:15 pm @ramzy

you'll never guess which number 8 recovered this fumble

• The Situational
• OSU Football

Email this ArticleShare on RedditShare on TwitterShare on Facebook
6 Comments
We've talked enough about Texas. Let's change the subject.
Remember Three’s Company? Great show. Single guy living with two attractive, platonic women for rent-covering purposes; overbearing conservative landlord, googly-eyed goofy building manager. Appointment television and wildly entertaining.
The show was famous for its escalating comic misunderstandings. There was one in every episode. Crazy amounts of tension and ridiculous circumstances facing our beloved protagonists, always as a result of their own actions. The tightening was palpable.
Mr. Furley would show up at a critical point and make his googly-eyed goofy Oh Shit face directly into the camera. The episodes weren’t all exactly the same, but they were thematically simpatico.
A COLLECTION OF MEMORABLE OHIO STATE FOOTBALL GAMES SINCE 2019

YEAR	OPPONENT	DID OSU LEAD?	OSU RZ TRIPS	OSU RZ PTS	4Q OSU	4Q OPPONENT	FINAL
2019	CLEMSON	16–0	3	9	7	8	L, 29–23
2020	ALABAMA	14–14	4	24	0	7	L, 52–24
2021	OREGON	7–7	3	14	14	7	L, 35–28
2021	MICHIGAN	10–7	4	20	14	14	L, 42–27
2022	MICHIGAN	20–17	4	13	3	21	L, 45–23
2022	GEORGIA	38–24	5	31	3	18	L, 42–41
2023	MICHIGAN	17–17	3	21	7	6	L, 30–24
2023	MISSOURI	3–0	0	0	0	14	L, 14–3
2024	OREGON	21–14	5	31	3	10	L, 32–31
2024	MICHIGAN	10–10	5	10	0	3	L, 13–10
2024	NOTRE DAME	31-7	6	34	3	8	W, 34-23
2025	INDIANA	10–3	4	10	0	0	L, 13–10
2025	MIAMI	0-0	3	14	7	7	L, 24–14
2026	TEXAS	23–3	4	13	0	21	L, 24–23

Every episode felt, you know, similar. The tightening. The clenching. The inability to deploy a shake-up of any kind to calm everyone down, reduce the pressure and eliminate the fear of making mistakes. Is Three’s Company a euphemism for the Buckeyes’ cursed field goal unit?
Ah, hell. I guess we haven’t talked enough about Texas. This one was special.

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/the-situational/2026/09/163769/always-the-last-to-know

Late getting to this but Ramzy types my dumb thoughts into beautiful words again.

This is good.

 

[brodybuck21]

Late getting to this but Ramzy types my dumb thoughts into beautiful words again.

This is good.

Haha exactly

 

[Telekinesis]

Late getting to this but Ramzy types my dumb thoughts into beautiful words again.

This is good.

Nothing quite hits for poetry on the Buckeyes like a Ramzy article. Still hanging around these parts as well, pretty sure.

No matter how much a loss might hurt, I can always depend on him to give me the gospel. Gifted man, unquestionably.

 

[gmen6981]

This is a rebuilding year. You ain't nothing special until you prove it on the field.

Day should have been lowering expectations before the year. He should have reacted to a #1 ranking with some questions in public and challenged his players to own it quietly. There is a LOT of talent on both sides of the ball, but the team lacks battle hardening as units and have inexperienced cogs in the wheel this early in the season. Day could have managed public expectations much more strategically so that Ohio State didn't walk onto the field in Texas with so much to lose and much less to win.

The beginning of that game gifted Ohio State two scores, in large part. Day should have told his team at half time that the game was not won and that they needed to come out winning. Pre-season, we heard was that Julian Sayin was leading the team and performing at a higher level than ever. In truth, he performed well below expectations in the 4th quarter when the pressure rose. We could say the same thing about the defensive line.

Perhaps I am wrong, and I understand and agree with the central premise, but Coach Day needs to rethink his strategy of cutting the number of plays to save his players for the final championship run. We all know that he has stud ponies that want to be ridden but rotating more players on the field accomplishes the same player health goals. If there aren't more players ready to play, even in a rebuilding year, then recruiting and readiness strategies need attention.

This is a disappointing loss because of the way it happened. Championships are still on the table, but so is the possibility that they roll into The Game with three losses.

All good points but I don't think he was really limiting the number of plays against Texas like we saw last year. They DID rotate a lot of players trying to keep guys as fresh as possible in the heat.

 

[ShowMeBuck]

Maybe it’s just me but it seems the most physical teams Day has had were the ones right after Urban where Urbs stamp was still on the team. Critics of Ohio State that have labeled Days teams as finesse and soft are kind of right. Hate to admit it but it’s hard to argue against that. Does anyone feel good about the chances of converting a 3rd and 2 under Day?

 

[exhawg]

Maybe it’s just me but it seems the most physical teams Day has had were the ones right after Urban where Urbs stamp was still on the team. Critics of Ohio State that have labeled Days teams as finesse and soft are kind of right. Hate to admit it but it’s hard to argue against that. Does anyone feel good about the chances of converting a 3rd and 2 under Day?

He needs to accept that they can't line up and ram it down the throat for that 3rd and 2 and find something else. We have the weapons to get those, but that doesn't include 3 TE's and a handoff.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

He needs to accept that they can't line up and ram it down the throat for that 3rd and 2 and find something else. We have the weapons to get those, but that doesn't include 3 TE's and a handoff.

Exactly. There's nothing wrong with being a finesse team until you try to play like 1990s Wisconsin. Get over being called soft and beat the shit out of somebody 70-27 with finesse.

 

[Gunlife]

He needs to accept that they can't line up and ram it down the throat for that 3rd and 2 and find something else. We have the weapons to get those, but that doesn't include 3 TE's and a handoff.

I find it strange that he doesn't require his qb to be a larger framed guy that can run. Not saying Kenholtz is anywhere near as good as Sayin, but he would get you 1 yard on 3rd or 4th down. Thats why I thought TSC was going to be a perfect fit, and maybe he will be, but its not trending that way.

 

[Tanner]

I think Day should be MORE finesse. For some reason he's obsessed with playing smash mouth football with teams that aren't suited for it

 

[Jaxbuck]

I find it strange that he doesn't require his qb to be a larger framed guy that can run. Not saying Kenholtz is anywhere near as good as Sayin, but he would get you 1 yard on 3rd or 4th down. Thats why I thought TSC was going to be a perfect fit, and maybe he will be, but its not trending that way.

I will find it alarming if he isn't learning from what doesn't work with QB prospects as much as what does.

He shouldn't need a particular body type/prototype, he should be identifying what mental characteristics he can screen for that will net him guys that have the processing capacity to be elite.

Physical tools are table stakes at this level. Mental is the differentiator.

 

[RB07OSU]

I think Day should be MORE finesse. For some reason he's obsessed with playing smash mouth football with teams that aren't suited for it

Agreed 100%. We've recruited athletes that are more adept at finesse play. Not saying you can't work on being physical, but the whole be tough to prove we're tough bullshit is getting old. Do what is best suited to your roster to win games. Finesse the hell out of everyone if it gets the W.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

Agreed 100%. We've recruited athletes that are more adept at finesse play. Not saying you can't work on being physical, but the whole be tough to prove we're tough bullshit is getting old. Do what is best suited to your roster to win games. Finesse the hell out of everyone if it gets the W.

Shitty comparison coming but it keeps popping in to mind...

Teams like Penn State or Alabama can never have cool flashy uniforms. The fans and the program just won't allow it, for reasons that are kind of silly if you really take a step back and ask the question "Why aren't we allowed to modernize?". Oregon is allowed to. They built an entire program around it from nothing. Miami is allowed to. All the "lesser" teams can change uniforms and nobody will be "angry" about it. But teams with historical significance......or in the case of Penn State, a cultish foundation.....won't allow for it.

I feel like the same can kind of be said about many things Ohio State does. For some stupid reason, we're not "allowed" to be flashy and open and fun on offense. We're supposed to line up with 3 TEs and tell you what we're doing and be better than you anyways. Fucking why? Why does it have to be like that? Why can't we have a fun ass offense where the players enjoy being part of it? Because of the status quo of 100+ years? I love me some tradition, but we're allowed to open things up and just have fun. We did it 2 years ago for an important string of games and it worked out pretty damn well. Every game should be played the way we played against Tennessee and Oregon. It makes 0 sense why we don't. If you want to work on certain aspects of the game.....do it in the 3rd and 4th quarters after we're already up 50.

 

[Gunlife]

Shitty comparison coming but it keeps popping in to mind...

Teams like Penn State or Alabama can never have cool flashy uniforms. The fans and the program just won't allow it, for reasons that are kind of silly if you really take a step back and ask the question "Why aren't we allowed to modernize?". Oregon is allowed to. They built an entire program around it from nothing. Miami is allowed to. All the "lesser" teams can change uniforms and nobody will be "angry" about it. But teams with historical significance......or in the case of Penn State, a cultish foundation.....won't allow for it.

I feel like the same can kind of be said about many things Ohio State does. For some stupid reason, we're not "allowed" to be flashy and open and fun on offense. We're supposed to line up with 3 TEs and tell you what we're doing and be better than you anyways. Fucking why? Why does it have to be like that? Why can't we have a fun ass offense where the players enjoy being part of it? Because of the status quo of 100+ years? I love me some tradition, but we're allowed to open things up and just have fun. We did it 2 years ago for an important string of games and it worked out pretty damn well. Every game should be played the way we played against Tennessee and Oregon. It makes 0 sense why we don't. If you want to work on certain aspects of the game.....do it in the 3rd and 4th quarters after we're already up 50.

I hope Woody can't hear this. His Shadow still demands we ram it down TTUNs and Penn States throats.

I don't mean this literally. But their are some (my old dad) that still talk about Archie and Pete Johnson days..... OSU does have 5 national championships pounding people into the ground.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Shitty comparison coming but it keeps popping in to mind...

Teams like Penn State or Alabama can never have cool flashy uniforms. The fans and the program just won't allow it, for reasons that are kind of silly if you really take a step back and ask the question "Why aren't we allowed to modernize?". Oregon is allowed to. They built an entire program around it from nothing. Miami is allowed to. All the "lesser" teams can change uniforms and nobody will be "angry" about it. But teams with historical significance......or in the case of Penn State, a cultish foundation.....won't allow for it.

I feel like the same can kind of be said about many things Ohio State does. For some stupid reason, we're not "allowed" to be flashy and open and fun on offense. We're supposed to line up with 3 TEs and tell you what we're doing and be better than you anyways. Fucking why? Why does it have to be like that? Why can't we have a fun ass offense where the players enjoy being part of it? Because of the status quo of 100+ years? I love me some tradition, but we're allowed to open things up and just have fun. We did it 2 years ago for an important string of games and it worked out pretty damn well. Every game should be played the way we played against Tennessee and Oregon. It makes 0 sense why we don't. If you want to work on certain aspects of the game.....do it in the 3rd and 4th quarters after we're already up 50.

Honestly I think it's more from a place of "we have better players than everyone else, we should be able to line up and take whatever the opponent gives us" type of thing than a tradition bound thing.

Cooper was like this, he tried to be all things at all times but never had a real identity.

"Talented" is not an identity.