Ohio State football fans better be careful for what they wish for when it comes to potentially ousting their head coach in Ryan Day.
Let's just say Columbus has felt better about Ohio State head coach Ryan Day than it does right now.
Ohio State did start the 2023 college football season out with a road victory in conference play, but a 23-3 final score at Indiana in Bloomington was nothing to write home about. First-time starting quarterback Kyle McCord looked lost under center, and it was not a good debut for Brian Hartline as the offensive coordinator either. Naturally, all the vitriol is being aimed at the Ohio State head coach.
So how bad is it? Well, one Ohio State message board poster wants Day out if he loses more than two games this season. With the likes of Michigan, Notre Dame and Penn State on their schedule, that might actually happen, so you better be careful what you wish for, man. Day is not John Cooper ... yet.
And to hire Deion Sanders away from Colorado after year one in Boulder is absolute lunacy. If Ohio State were to can Day, there are only two logical choices to replace him: Buckeyes alums Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel. That is it. No, I doubt Marcus Freeman would leave Notre Dame after two seasons...
Ohio State message board hero wants Ryan Day out after a 9-3 season
I think for as long as Day calls the shots in Columbus that Ohio State will remain around at top-six, maybe even a top-eight, program in the country. In the era of the expanded College Football Playoff, that is all you can ask for. It means you can contend for an AQ bid as a conference champion in most seasons, or at the very least, be in contention for one of the handful of at-large bids to get in that way.
The problem is the rest of the Big Ten's upper crust has leveled up; Ohio State has stayed the same. Michigan is a problem for the Buckeyes over in Ann Arbor. This looks to be the best Penn State team since the Nittany Lions won the Big Ten some half decade ago. Outside of that, you have Wisconsin improving, as well as next year's new entrants in the league in Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.
So would I fire Day after a down year for Ohio State standards? No, not even close. Because C.J. Stroud now plays for the Houston Texans, you had to expect some level of pullback about of the Buckeyes, right? Perhaps McCord or maybe his backup in Devin Brown can be the answer to Ohio State fans' prayers under center? For now, we need to sit back and watch Day try to solve this mess.
Day's stock may have taken a hit, but there is no palpable reason to sell off a blue-chipper right now.
