In support of Ryan Day…Ryan Day has won 82% of the games he’s coached, and for all we know is virtuous enough to satisfy the underbelly of Buckeye Nation. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
After a thrilling 42-17 win over Tennessee Saturday night, its hard to calculate who feels more silly for fan fervor…Ohio State fans for firing Ryan Day before his time, or Tennessee fans for believing good things happen when you just wear orange.
Columbus, OH – Regardless of who you wanted to win…
Or who you wanted to replace Ryan Day as coach of the Buckeyes had he not won Saturday night…
What we witnessed was a smorgasbord of ‘egg on my face’.
And with equal parts to go around.
I’ll deal with those who wanted to fire Ryan Day first.
As good as Ohio State football has been since 1951 – the Big Ten championships, the Rose Bowls, the national championships, and beating Michigan nine times in a row – there’s never been a successful coach yet at Ohio State that people didn’t want to fire at some point.
At the height of frustration with Woody Hayes…someone flew a banner over the stadium that read, ‘Three Yards And A Pile of Rust’. Today, we revere the name of Woody Hayes.
During the mid-60s and before the fabulous sophomore class of 1968 they flew banners over Ohio Stadium that read, ‘Fire Woody’, or ‘Goodbye Woody’. Broadcaster Bert Charles once told me about the ultimate that read, ‘Three yards and a lot of rust’.
After Woody was fired for slugging that Clemson player, they hired Earle Bruce, who won, but not enough, and people wanted him out because they hated his hat and lack of glamour. Ohio State deserved something better.
Enter John Cooper, who won 75% of his games, but he only beat Michigan twice, and only one Rose Bowl.
Then Tressel, who won but pretty much fired himself for failing to do right…Tressel-Gate.
Then Urban Meyer, who won, but turned out to not be virtuous enough to satisfy the sanctimonious underbelly of Buckeye Nation.
And now Ryan Day, who’s record is 67-10 since 2019…but wears that same stain of Michigan on the hem of his garment.
And just for irony, there are some who believe that Jake Diebler is in over his head as basketball coach, despite having beaten #4-ranked Kentucky Saturday in New York, in a nationally televised romp…85-65.
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I heard a lot of calls for change last week, and how life is lost if you don’t beat Michigan. This while Michigan sat at home and Ohio State belted Tennessee Saturday night to be in the thick of it for the national championship.
This, while opening weekend of the CFP showed up a dud, but with Ohio State and Ryan Day being one of the obvious three who looked like they belonged there.
So what would you rather have, those of you with more pride than perspective? Beating Michigan, or playing Oregon in the Rose Bowl next week for a chance to play on?
If your answer is beating Michigan, you’re dumber than the Tennessee crowd I saw who believed that there’s nothing sweeter than 40,000 people showing up dressed like a ‘Dreamsicle’. It’s true…that you can’t beat one on a hot summer day. But come football season, orange without game is an invitation to get your a– kicked. A great line I wish I could claim, but it’s something I overheard from Pat McAfee while he entertained people under the South Stands during halftime. I’m paraphrasing, or course.
That, and this: “If I’m Tennessee I’m felling pretty silly right now. This is what you get with Big Ten football in December.”
No one expected it, either what they saw or the way it went down. But it’s why I have disdain for the term ‘upset’, because if a team believes it’s good enough to win, and then does it, how is that an upset? It’s just a surprise.
Like Ohio State was on Saturday night. Everyone knew that Tennessee is a good football team, but they just zigged too much, while the Buckeyes zagged.
“This is what you get with Big Ten football in December.” – Pat McAfee
And all that orange?
I got to Tuttle Parking Garage at about 2 pm on Saturday, where the media people park, and found the ground floor full of Tennessee fans who had driven all night and decided to claim imminent domain – squatters’ rights. Dressed in their checkerboard coveralls, some were sleeping in the car with the engine running, while others had taken up parking spots with grills and heaters, fueled by Natty Light.
They were actually very hospitable, while being a bit presumptive. They just parked in Tuttle before the gates were put up = before anyone was there to tell them they couldn’t.
Actually, I’m of the opinion that in all of sports no one wears the color orange better than Tennessee – always have. It’s not that kind that burns your retina, but rather, as Jeff Gilbert wrote, a ‘dreamsicle’ orange – subtle – and without any kind of accent to make it stand out. It personifies less is more – one of the few distinctive traditional college uniforms still in use. Reminds of you Penn State, and the Buckeyes, of course when they choose to look like the Buckeyes.
When orange lets you down. All dressed up and no where to go…but home.
Some had driven eight hours, and a man from Nashville actually told me that Tennessee fans would have bought every seat in Ohio Stadium if they’d had the chance. They were that confident.
Whewwww….!
“We expect to win,” his travel partner smiled. “This is why the Big Ten doesn’t play SEC teams during the regular season. This won’t be Indiana.”
Two hours later I came back to my car to get my equipment and found that the Ohio State Patrol had taken care of imminent domain. Grills were gone, heaters were gone, the Natty Light was gone…and all that ‘Rocky Top’.
And by the end of the first quarter their confidence was gone with the Natty Light…stunned disbelief over the orange having failed them. There were 40,000 totally miserable people who must have felt like Ohio State fans felt on November 30th.
When they take too much for granted.
When talk of firing someone has to be put off… for at least another week.
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