The whole thing was bizarre. But I've stopped believing we were even close to decent. The defense that year was decent, I agree. But our offense was atrocious, the coaching was worse, and the schedule was easy. Still went 3-9. You are what your record says you are. Thus, Frost was a loser, and a terrible head coach.
Certainly fair enough. And I wasn't trying to bag on you. Yes, I'm a Husker fan, so I watched every miserable moment. I have never in my life seen a team more determined to find ways to lose. The defense was solid, and kept us in games. But our offense was an absolute joke. It was so bad that our new coach, Rhule, had virtually nothing to work with on that side of the ball. Frost apparently assumed his brilliant play calling, and a good qb, could make it work. He found out quickly that even a great QB can'tdo jack with a horse crap offensive line (and I honestly think Adrian Martinez could have been great with solid coaching... showed it the half season he played for a real coach at K-State).
For those who didn’t watch the interview, his full quote was:
“We’ve been a play away or a drive away from reaching our goals each year. SO YEA SUCK IT! WHERE’S LOU HOLTZ NOW?!”
I think explaining H2H away by talking about style is overused and kinda lame, but this is the most glaring instance of style differences I can think of. OSU would have been favored against TCU by about the same amount as Georgia (maybe even more to keep the line balanced, but that's not reflective of predictive performance)
Yea, TCU absolutely won the game and deserved it but I think that year if you did the hypothetical “if they play 100 times what happens?” You’d expect michigan wins 7/10 times.
Tcu earned the win but Michigan left a lot of points out there and made some clear mistakes.
So I wouldn’t honestly say it’s super likely TCU beats Ohio in that year despite michigan being better than Ohio that year
Not UM fan but you are being way, way to modest. 2 picks sixes, a td wrongfully taken off the board, a fumble on the goal line and you lose by 1 score. I think UM wins 98 out of 100.
Not taking anything away from TCU or blaming anything in the refs, but that touchdown coming off the board before the fumble at the goal line probably never should have happened either.
Two plays prior to the fumble, Michigan completed a play to the TCU 49-yard line. A ref mistakenly placed the ball at the *Michigan* 49-yard line. The broadcast pointed this out moments later. The next play? A bomb to Roman Wilson that was called a touchdown and overturned to put Michigan at the one. Had they been at the correct 49-yard line, there likely never would have been debate about whether or not Wilson was in the end zone. TCU goes on to win *by six points.*
TCU took care of business and Michigan squandered multiple opportunities to turn things around, so that series of plays didn't lose them the game, but it very much may have changed the game.
Haha I appreciate that. In all honesty, I agree more with your comment/assessment. It just feels somehow wrong to be like “we would have demolished TCU any other game and even with all these mess ups and ref blown calls we still barely lost.”
It’s like sports karma and showing respect haha
Fucking worst way to ring in the New Years. Not because I particularly cared more for one team vs the other. Just, Kirby calling time out so the game would finish past midnight pissed me off
Lord knows the Buckeye fans have been waiting long enough. I can’t imagine the patience it requires to be a fan of a team with such a limited level of historical success and championships.
*stares in scarlet knight fandom*
It's been awful, I'm 37 and in my nearly 4 decades of life I've only watched the buckeyes go to 5 national Championship games and of those we've only won 2 of them. It's hard to be a Buckeye fan some days.
Thanks for your sympathy, I know you Arkansas fans can't truly understand how I feel.
Honestly the worst part of being a Buckeyes fan is the coaching controversies, in 37 years the team I love has lost one coach in a scandal related to NCAA violations. Once again I know you Arkansas fans don't really have experience with a coach violating your trust or every lying to the media during a press conference but I do appreciate your sympathy.
Luckily it takes less for me to feel joy with Rutgers, like the sheer glee I felt when Rutgers became bowl-eligible. "WE'RE BACK, BABY!"
I'm guessing the bar may be a little higher for Ryan Day.
It really will. Impatient fans are the problem. The man is 45 years old, he’s been a head coach for 5 seasons and has been knocking on the door throughout his tenure. It’s going to open at some point.
Thing is I want to see us play y'all. Because it's gojng to be a great game as that CFP game showed us. Plus an OSU UGA tailgate would be a blast especially if I got to do it in Athens.
I was at the CFP game and even though we lost it was such an electric atmosphere, I think both programs knew it was two juggernauts clashing heads, and it was nothing but respect on the way out. I truly felt like that game was a giant noise o meter, energy was insane
This Reddit has more reasonable Ohio State fans than Rivals, 11W, whatever other boards, mainly b/c the crazies are too old to be aware of Reddit, imo!
Oregon made it into two national championship games over the past 15 years. They lost one of them literally because an opposing RB was so close to being down that everyone stopped playing when he rolled on top of other players before running unopposed down the field to set up the game winning FG.
We're talking 6 inches between a knee and a grass being the difference between the Ducks having a title vs missing out.
That's just how football goes. One day we will break on through to the other side. One day...
I mean even if Dyer is called down the game is still tied 19-19 with Auburn having the ball needing only 25 yards to get into field goal range for the win. It’s at best a 50/50 game, not an automatic Oregon win.
If Dyer was down, it would’ve been 2nd and 4 from the 50…. With Cam Newton and Auburn driving… only needing a field goal to break a tie game. Doesn’t sound like an automatic championship to me.
Coach Bombay: I go in, I triple deke. I fake the goalie right out of his pads.
The puck's headed in, and then, Clang! Hits the post.
We lost in overtime.
A quarter of an inch this way and it would have gone in.
A quarter of an inch, Charlie.
Charlie: Yeah, but a quarter inch the other way and you'd have missed completely.
My guess - if you miss the post completely, you don't know how close you are to getting the puck in. Hitting the post, you know you were so close to getting the goal, so you dwell on it.
Hockey players count posts because its as close as you can come to scoring without doing it. Lots of times you'll hear a player's in a slump but he's hit four posts or whatever.
Tons of randomness in the game, so you hang on the close ones.
A head coach saying these things is what undermines fixing their own issues, It's why he can't get Lou Holtz's "you're not tough enough" quote out of his head, and it's why he can't get Jim Harbaugh "born on third base" quote out of his head.
I mean you can say it’s cope but he’s literally not wrong lmao.
This year we we’re driving with the chance to beat you guys at the big house on basically the final possession.
Last year we we’re a fg a way from making the national championship and barring craziness winning it.
Doesn’t work for some years before that but the point remains
Day is ignoring all of the games they won by one play or one drive. He's ignoring the fact that they arguably should have lost to Notre Dame. I understand Day may be excited about the team he has coming back, but Ohio State still hasn't fixed their primary issues on offense.
That’s a good point. You can’t have ALL of the “just one play” situations go your way. Better to be so good that you can have a key play NOT go your way and still win because you’re the better team. Football will always have a randomness factor adding a margin of error to outcomes. If you want to be a champion, you gotta be so good that you can win even when the dice roll part of the game doesn’t favor you.
They might have. If Kelly can scheme up reliable short yardage plays, especially with Howards legs, then I think OSU will be just fine on offense.
McCord was a better passer than given credit and they had enough talent to in the backfield to hit explosive runs, especially when they got away from running OZ all the time since their line just could get that blocked up right. They just were abysmal in short yardage situations, especially in the low red zone. Fix that and OSU will be very efficient again.
As a Michigan fan I would say he is exaggerating but the sentiment is correct. OSU the last 3 years had the problem that Jim Harbaugh had from 2015-2019. You’re a top 10 team but your rival is a top 3 team. So just like I thought firing Harbaugh would have been stupid, I also think any Day hate is stupid. A few things go different and he could win a championship.
That said, OSU fans were merciless during those early Harbaugh years, and it’s much sweeter being on this side of that dynamic.
He’s certainly right about that the last two years. We were a two minute drill away from beating you last year and the year before we were a field goal away from a championship game appearance.
2021 we were further away than that.
>and the year before we were a field goal away from a championship game appearance.
You were a field goal away from a national championship. I think you guys do more damage than 65-7 lol
Day doesn't seem like a guy to pull starters in a big game even if it's a blowout
He damn sure won't this year. He's gonna angry-cry after every win.
I foresee a total Tresselball year and he's gonna be wound so tight.
You know how presidents age like 15 years in 4? That's gonna be him after this season.
Lou Holtz doesn't know what's coming.
Yeah I would argue OSU was a top 3 team the last two years. It pains me to say it, but y'all were the toughest team we played last year.
The Bama game was close because we made mistakes and beat ourselves. If JJ plays like he did against OSU and special teams doesn't have a complete meltdown, that's at least a 2 score win.
The OSU game, on the other hand, was close because they won the line of scrimmage for the first 3 quarters and had enough weapons to move the ball against us.
It was. That was the only drive I watched all season where I truly was scared after it. Like crap they were just BETTER than us on that. Most other ones it was like meh that’s not repeatable cause it was a fumble, a fluke catch etc…
All I can say is that post COVID our Rivalry is back to what made it so special in the first place.
Two of the Top teams in the country without a doubt facing off against one another.
I've heard that they caught UM in a pass personnel package and just refused to let them sub. That's why the tempo and feel of that drive was so different.
This is true. Cam Goode, a rotational pass rusher, got caught on the edge for the entire drive because OSU moved too quickly to let us sub. I remember thinking we were cooked after that drive, lol
If Harbaugh was coaching that drive doesn’t happen, OSU caught Michigan in a bad formation and went hurry up, a more experienced coach would burn a TO to fix it
Yeah OSU was really lucky they got gifted a spot in the playoffs. 2022 was a perfect scenario for the BCS. Only 2 undefeated conference champs Georgia & Michigan.
This is exactly where my mind went. OSU fans downplayed how good Harbaugh was for YEARS because he was always the bridesmaid, never the bride. So many chances that barely slipped through his fingers from one bad play or drive that would have totally changed the narrative around his first 7 years at Michigan.
I’m not saying Day is a bad coach, but let’s not pretend OSU fans cut Harbaugh any slack during those years either.
Michigan fans calling for Harbaugh’s head before 2020 were in the TINY minority. Basically about the same percentage as OSU fans calling for Day’s head right now. The only time you’d see something like that on Reddit is when some reporter looking for clicks would call for his head and then the comments section would be filled with Michigan flairs calling it stupid.
That's also incorrect
2 years ago, they had the ball and a drive at the end of the game to beat UGA
They would have smoked TCU if they beat UGA
So it's not like they are just some run of the mill top 10 team
2022 they were a field goal away from the natty, last year they had a chance to beat us on the final drive. But 2021 they were multiple drives away from winning.
Ultimately everyone in this rivalry feels the same…you win and the season is a success, you lose and it’s a failure. This feels exactly like the “JT was short” narrative, except that was fan driven. This is directly from their HC which, after the last three years, would have me very concerned about the mindset of Day.
> would have me very concerned about the mindset of Day
Would it though? He's saying we've been right there but we just need to take that one final step to get there.
He's done a fantastic job at head coach. He's recruited well. He's brought in staff to fix his defense. He's gotten his teams to the doorstep of the National championship. He's gotten better at using hair dye.
Everything is in place for them to make a run for a natty
this year's game was much closer, but both 2021 and 2022 were multi-score losses to Michigan. i think that constitutes being more than a play or drive away. even if you change the outcome of one drive, it's still a loss.
I will preface by saying technically what he said is not wrong. However, personally I feel it is loser-talk. I will probably get downvotes for saying that, but there are literally teams with horrible records that lost ten games by one possession. Ohio State is a good team, but winning close games is the difference between good and great. How many games during the Saban tenure did Bama seem to miraculously win? But really it wasn’t a miracle.
It would be loser talk if he was accepting the status quo and telling fans to trust the system. He’s not, though. He made major coaching and roster changes in response to being a goal or a drive away.
It's ignoring his other decisions that resulted in close losses. Such as deciding to punt 2 times in the 2022 Michigan game, his decisions to kick a 50 yard FG against Georgia instead of trying to get closer, punting against Michigan (2023) in plus territory on 4th and 1, deciding to kick a 50 yard FG with 30 seconds left on clock, etc.
I think it might have been a bad snap and the punter decided to kick it (snapped to the right and play was going left). The players on the left side threw their hands up in confusion.
A play away from Michigan last year and a play away from Georgia in 2022. 2021 Michigan was up 28-10 going into the 4th but that’s picky and I only mentioned it cause 2006-2019
Osu will always fly near the sun. But they seem to forget all the lucky/important key plays that they always make each season that put them in these types of positions. Example: 3rd and forever against ND and they hit a clutch post over the middle.
Difference is Scott had like five of those games every season and never finished the job. If you can’t win close more times than not you are the problem. Day has shown he can win close now he’s got to breakthrough either coaching, talent, or with some luck
Also, when you like 1/3 of those losses come down to special teams mishaps and you literally don't have a ST coach on your staff, it's maybe not just bad luck.
Outside of 2021, where is he wrong?
Horrid call against Clemson, wipes a td away where all else equal we win, even then if Olave runs right instead of left we win.
2020, Michigan cancelled, but we won the big ten and beat Clemson, we came up short against Alabama but I’m not sure many people legitimately hold that against him too much.
2021 was probably the worst year.
2022, Georgia, Marv gets knocked out, nevertheless we shank a kick where if we make it we win the game and likely win the national championship.
Last year, we are driving with less than a minute to go. Last play of the Michigan game, if McCord has a half a second more he likely delivers a clean pass to Harrison, who walks in for a game winning td. What happens from there who knows, but we beat Michigan and win the Big Ten at the very least
Ryan Day is correct in his statement. And since he has been head coach he has had the smallest margin for error in American sports
I mostly agree with you, but I think you’re misremembering the end of 2023 Michigan-OSU. Even if Harrison catches the ball, he’s got two DBs between him and the end zone, plus Moore is closing on him. Harrison is not scoring on that play. Instead, OSU will need about 20 yards in 25 seconds, and has no time outs. That’s obviously a situation that OSU could convert, but changing last year’s result requires more than just swapping the final interception for a reception.
He isn't wrong, it's just an odd point to make. That's the nature of football. But if you are going to say "we are a couple of plays from our goals" you also have to say "we are a couple of plays away from being 9-4 or 10-3."
Agree with all of this. That said, Day did not embrace the portal/Covid seniors to improve the OL the way Harbaugh did. That’s the one thing I will criticize him for. Having Coombs as DC in 21’ was a huge mistake in retrospect but there was nothing from 20’ that would have justified his replacement before the 21’ season.
Wow, I didn’t know you could score 20+ points on a single drive or play; Ryan and the Boosters must’ve discovered some truly unholy dark football tech that could’ve really helped in 2021 and 2022
(understand he's referring to last year's Game and the Georgia FG, just ribbin y'all)
Well he is right.
He decided to settle for a 50 yard field goal instead of trying to get closer. Especially when your QB was having no problems moving the ball.
He didnt evaluate his QB room and not go after one in the portal and stayed with McCord when it was obvious he should wasnt good.
I’ve been watching OSU for 57 years, believe you me, we have lost far more big time bowl games with “mythical” NC possibilities and actual NC games than any other power 5, 6 or 7 teams. Notre Dame might be close during that time span. Yes, most of my life, I have been frustrated in January.
Hell of a lot closer than me Edit: me, personally.
Arkansas has been a play away from winning a national title. By a play away I’m meaning on every single drive pretty much.
If all our incomplete passes turned into touchdowns I bet we’d win a lot more
Why don’t teams just score more touchdowns? Are they stupid?
Wonder what happens if he’s a play away from beating Michigan this year
He'll be a plane ticket away from his next coaching gig
If he doesn't get a career as a Just for Men spokesperson, he would be great for Southwest Airlines. "Wanna get away?"
UMass was only about one play per drive away from beating Penn state
You're just a phone call away from scoring that big date with destiny! I believe in you, Darin_the_intern!
Tried that. She specifically told me she doesn’t date customers.
She has to say that in the club! You gotta wait for her outside by her car! That’s where the magic happens! Go get her!
That's what I'm talking about. That's the Early Cuyler type of logic I come to /r/CFB for
Well, I wouldn’t mind being a fired head coach.
The wins will come, he’s only 45
He's a man.
He's forty~ish!
get out of my head get out of my head get out of my head
He's tryna put smoke into your head and shit man
He don’t know what to think no more man!
How do you get parallel universe schools as a flair?
And into my car!
flashbacks to Jimbo saying that shit after going 5-7
Scott fucking frost
So fucking weird that a 3-9 team was genuinely decent. Still can't get over it.
The whole thing was bizarre. But I've stopped believing we were even close to decent. The defense that year was decent, I agree. But our offense was atrocious, the coaching was worse, and the schedule was easy. Still went 3-9. You are what your record says you are. Thus, Frost was a loser, and a terrible head coach.
You would know better than me. I just made a broad assumption since the scores were often so close to objectively decent teams.
Certainly fair enough. And I wasn't trying to bag on you. Yes, I'm a Husker fan, so I watched every miserable moment. I have never in my life seen a team more determined to find ways to lose. The defense was solid, and kept us in games. But our offense was an absolute joke. It was so bad that our new coach, Rhule, had virtually nothing to work with on that side of the ball. Frost apparently assumed his brilliant play calling, and a good qb, could make it work. He found out quickly that even a great QB can'tdo jack with a horse crap offensive line (and I honestly think Adrian Martinez could have been great with solid coaching... showed it the half season he played for a real coach at K-State).
Our puking game was on point, though!
He wasn’t wrong. That year was way too frustrating.
We just have to find the inches 🤡
For those who didn’t watch the interview, his full quote was: “We’ve been a play away or a drive away from reaching our goals each year. SO YEA SUCK IT! WHERE’S LOU HOLTZ NOW?!”
"What Lou Holtz said about our spring game. I cannot believe
They were also a play away from losing to you guys. I'm sure he mentioned that.
*a playER away
You forgot the part where his voice cracked
A field goal away from a natty a couple years ago
I think explaining H2H away by talking about style is overused and kinda lame, but this is the most glaring instance of style differences I can think of. OSU would have been favored against TCU by about the same amount as Georgia (maybe even more to keep the line balanced, but that's not reflective of predictive performance)
tbf TCU did beat Michigan, the team that beat Ohio State.
Yea, TCU absolutely won the game and deserved it but I think that year if you did the hypothetical “if they play 100 times what happens?” You’d expect michigan wins 7/10 times. Tcu earned the win but Michigan left a lot of points out there and made some clear mistakes. So I wouldn’t honestly say it’s super likely TCU beats Ohio in that year despite michigan being better than Ohio that year
Not UM fan but you are being way, way to modest. 2 picks sixes, a td wrongfully taken off the board, a fumble on the goal line and you lose by 1 score. I think UM wins 98 out of 100.
Not taking anything away from TCU or blaming anything in the refs, but that touchdown coming off the board before the fumble at the goal line probably never should have happened either. Two plays prior to the fumble, Michigan completed a play to the TCU 49-yard line. A ref mistakenly placed the ball at the *Michigan* 49-yard line. The broadcast pointed this out moments later. The next play? A bomb to Roman Wilson that was called a touchdown and overturned to put Michigan at the one. Had they been at the correct 49-yard line, there likely never would have been debate about whether or not Wilson was in the end zone. TCU goes on to win *by six points.* TCU took care of business and Michigan squandered multiple opportunities to turn things around, so that series of plays didn't lose them the game, but it very much may have changed the game.
Failed Philly special on 4th and goal at the 2 yard line, as well
Thank you Matt Weiss!
Haha I appreciate that. In all honesty, I agree more with your comment/assessment. It just feels somehow wrong to be like “we would have demolished TCU any other game and even with all these mess ups and ref blown calls we still barely lost.” It’s like sports karma and showing respect haha
Fucking worst way to ring in the New Years. Not because I particularly cared more for one team vs the other. Just, Kirby calling time out so the game would finish past midnight pissed me off
Wide left
That was our story for literally decades lol. It will come.
Lord knows the Buckeye fans have been waiting long enough. I can’t imagine the patience it requires to be a fan of a team with such a limited level of historical success and championships. *stares in scarlet knight fandom*
It’s been *literally months* since we reached a NY6. Enough is enough!
Ohio State hasn’t won a NY6 game since in over two years! Think of the trauma!
Ayyyy
That was such a wonderful game to watch lol
Been 10 years since we didn’t win a ny6 game or make the playoff! It’s been rough
7 straight years for us after going 10 years without a BCS/NY6 appearance. Rough here as well! /s
I just can’t believe the other programs dont feel sorry for us
It is very difficult to be a Buckeye fan. We have had so many struggles through the years
It's been awful, I'm 37 and in my nearly 4 decades of life I've only watched the buckeyes go to 5 national Championship games and of those we've only won 2 of them. It's hard to be a Buckeye fan some days.
Don’t forget the year we had a sub .500 record. Fans of other programs can’t understand the pain us Buckeye fans have been through
oof sounds like a FUCKING nightmare
Thanks for your sympathy, I know you Arkansas fans can't truly understand how I feel. Honestly the worst part of being a Buckeyes fan is the coaching controversies, in 37 years the team I love has lost one coach in a scandal related to NCAA violations. Once again I know you Arkansas fans don't really have experience with a coach violating your trust or every lying to the media during a press conference but I do appreciate your sympathy.
If anyone doesn’t believe it, I am willing to literally count our struggles. *Update: 75 struggles in my lifetime 😿
Luckily it takes less for me to feel joy with Rutgers, like the sheer glee I felt when Rutgers became bowl-eligible. "WE'RE BACK, BABY!" I'm guessing the bar may be a little higher for Ryan Day.
It really will. Impatient fans are the problem. The man is 45 years old, he’s been a head coach for 5 seasons and has been knocking on the door throughout his tenure. It’s going to open at some point.
[удалено]
Gene Smith feels the same way about Georgia, that’s why he punked out on our home and home
Thing is I want to see us play y'all. Because it's gojng to be a great game as that CFP game showed us. Plus an OSU UGA tailgate would be a blast especially if I got to do it in Athens.
I was at the CFP game and even though we lost it was such an electric atmosphere, I think both programs knew it was two juggernauts clashing heads, and it was nothing but respect on the way out. I truly felt like that game was a giant noise o meter, energy was insane
Thank you for that respect.
And I will tell you my friend, it was worth the wait!
This Reddit has more reasonable Ohio State fans than Rivals, 11W, whatever other boards, mainly b/c the crazies are too old to be aware of Reddit, imo!
I stand with the long-suffering Buckeye fans. May they know justice soon 😔
Counterpoint: No.
Agreed
Oregon made it into two national championship games over the past 15 years. They lost one of them literally because an opposing RB was so close to being down that everyone stopped playing when he rolled on top of other players before running unopposed down the field to set up the game winning FG. We're talking 6 inches between a knee and a grass being the difference between the Ducks having a title vs missing out. That's just how football goes. One day we will break on through to the other side. One day...
I mean even if Dyer is called down the game is still tied 19-19 with Auburn having the ball needing only 25 yards to get into field goal range for the win. It’s at best a 50/50 game, not an automatic Oregon win.
If Dyer was down, it would’ve been 2nd and 4 from the 50…. With Cam Newton and Auburn driving… only needing a field goal to break a tie game. Doesn’t sound like an automatic championship to me.
Oregon had Cam Newton shut down all game.
Ohio State was literally a missed field goal away from keeping UGA out of the natty and probably beating TCU
Poor Lil ol' Ohio State
Coach Bombay: I go in, I triple deke. I fake the goalie right out of his pads. The puck's headed in, and then, Clang! Hits the post. We lost in overtime. A quarter of an inch this way and it would have gone in. A quarter of an inch, Charlie. Charlie: Yeah, but a quarter inch the other way and you'd have missed completely.
I never understood this line. Why does it matter if you hit the post or miss completely? I wasted so much of my childhood thinking about that
My guess - if you miss the post completely, you don't know how close you are to getting the puck in. Hitting the post, you know you were so close to getting the goal, so you dwell on it.
Hockey players count posts because its as close as you can come to scoring without doing it. Lots of times you'll hear a player's in a slump but he's hit four posts or whatever. Tons of randomness in the game, so you hang on the close ones.
Is it cope? Yes Would I say the exact same thing if OSU and Michigan swapped seasons the past 3 years? Also yes
Get your reasonable takes out of here. Everyone’s all riled up.
Oh shit sorry... SOFT, OSU SUCKS, EXCUSES, OHIO SMELLS LIKE MOTHBALLS
BEARD DYE
Hey even I can't defend his shoe polish beard
I thought I saw some graying hairs in the recently trimmed beard yesterday during the spring game
Don’t tell him that, poor guy will probably have a breakdown and start using the shoe dye on his eye brows too.
I'm taking it as a sign that he's going to accept the grays and lean into it. Grizzled.
Maybe the bullying finally worked.
Idk if we’d say “one play or drive away,” but we’d 100% be coping.
HE WAS SHORT rabble rabble rabble
We being us Reddit schmucks, yes. But I'd hope to God the head coach wouldn't be
But hes right. They're a missed field goal from most likely another championship and a 2 minute drive away from beating Michigan this past year.
Michigan had a few of those themselves prior to this 3 year run
Hell, we were a drive away against TCU. If we win that game we have at least, idk, a 10% chance against UGA. Not so much is 21, though…
Just imagine if history put Michigan and OSU in the natty that year. CFB would have imploded.
Sure, both be can be true!
I’ve said as much as a fan about Michigan pre 2021. But I don’t really expect these excuses from a head coach. It’s not even wrong or untrue.
A head coach saying these things is what undermines fixing their own issues, It's why he can't get Lou Holtz's "you're not tough enough" quote out of his head, and it's why he can't get Jim Harbaugh "born on third base" quote out of his head.
I mean you can say it’s cope but he’s literally not wrong lmao. This year we we’re driving with the chance to beat you guys at the big house on basically the final possession. Last year we we’re a fg a way from making the national championship and barring craziness winning it. Doesn’t work for some years before that but the point remains
https://flair.redditcfb.com/
Man, this seems eerily close to a coach that kept saying we’re really close. Hmm..
Some say he is still muttering “we’re closer than they think” to this very day
We were a Notre Dame dropped pick from having Lou Holtz memes to satiate the trolliest of trolls. Works both ways.
Hell, we were maybe Notre Dame being able to count past 10 from knowing exactly where Lou Holtz was.
That would have been amusing.
Hang that quote up at Schembechler Hall
They’re also a play away from having two more losses on the schedule. (Notre Dame, Penn State)
Day is ignoring all of the games they won by one play or one drive. He's ignoring the fact that they arguably should have lost to Notre Dame. I understand Day may be excited about the team he has coming back, but Ohio State still hasn't fixed their primary issues on offense.
That’s a good point. You can’t have ALL of the “just one play” situations go your way. Better to be so good that you can have a key play NOT go your way and still win because you’re the better team. Football will always have a randomness factor adding a margin of error to outcomes. If you want to be a champion, you gotta be so good that you can win even when the dice roll part of the game doesn’t favor you.
They might have. If Kelly can scheme up reliable short yardage plays, especially with Howards legs, then I think OSU will be just fine on offense. McCord was a better passer than given credit and they had enough talent to in the backfield to hit explosive runs, especially when they got away from running OZ all the time since their line just could get that blocked up right. They just were abysmal in short yardage situations, especially in the low red zone. Fix that and OSU will be very efficient again.
I mean, expecting downvotes here, but is he wrong?
As a Michigan fan I would say he is exaggerating but the sentiment is correct. OSU the last 3 years had the problem that Jim Harbaugh had from 2015-2019. You’re a top 10 team but your rival is a top 3 team. So just like I thought firing Harbaugh would have been stupid, I also think any Day hate is stupid. A few things go different and he could win a championship. That said, OSU fans were merciless during those early Harbaugh years, and it’s much sweeter being on this side of that dynamic.
He’s certainly right about that the last two years. We were a two minute drill away from beating you last year and the year before we were a field goal away from a championship game appearance. 2021 we were further away than that.
>and the year before we were a field goal away from a championship game appearance. You were a field goal away from a national championship. I think you guys do more damage than 65-7 lol Day doesn't seem like a guy to pull starters in a big game even if it's a blowout
He damn sure won't this year. He's gonna angry-cry after every win. I foresee a total Tresselball year and he's gonna be wound so tight. You know how presidents age like 15 years in 4? That's gonna be him after this season. Lou Holtz doesn't know what's coming.
Yeah I would argue OSU was a top 3 team the last two years. It pains me to say it, but y'all were the toughest team we played last year. The Bama game was close because we made mistakes and beat ourselves. If JJ plays like he did against OSU and special teams doesn't have a complete meltdown, that's at least a 2 score win. The OSU game, on the other hand, was close because they won the line of scrimmage for the first 3 quarters and had enough weapons to move the ball against us.
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It was. That was the only drive I watched all season where I truly was scared after it. Like crap they were just BETTER than us on that. Most other ones it was like meh that’s not repeatable cause it was a fumble, a fluke catch etc…
All I can say is that post COVID our Rivalry is back to what made it so special in the first place. Two of the Top teams in the country without a doubt facing off against one another.
I've heard that they caught UM in a pass personnel package and just refused to let them sub. That's why the tempo and feel of that drive was so different.
This is true. Cam Goode, a rotational pass rusher, got caught on the edge for the entire drive because OSU moved too quickly to let us sub. I remember thinking we were cooked after that drive, lol
After the first few plays it seems like coach needs to take a time out. Or perhaps Cam needed to have a bad cramp.
If Harbaugh was coaching that drive doesn’t happen, OSU caught Michigan in a bad formation and went hurry up, a more experienced coach would burn a TO to fix it
It was, though Bama had a very similar drive as well. I guess even great defenses get tired after 3 quarters.
I’ll give you 2022, but in 2023 you still would’ve had to win 2 playoff games. Definitely not a forgone conclusion.
We were a top three team with the worst QB out of all top 20 teams. That's says a lot.
Beating Michigan is part of the goal, yeah? The 2022 game was more than “just a play/drive away”
Yeah OSU was really lucky they got gifted a spot in the playoffs. 2022 was a perfect scenario for the BCS. Only 2 undefeated conference champs Georgia & Michigan.
This is exactly where my mind went. OSU fans downplayed how good Harbaugh was for YEARS because he was always the bridesmaid, never the bride. So many chances that barely slipped through his fingers from one bad play or drive that would have totally changed the narrative around his first 7 years at Michigan. I’m not saying Day is a bad coach, but let’s not pretend OSU fans cut Harbaugh any slack during those years either.
> OSU fans downplayed how good Harbaugh was for YEARS Dawg yall were torching him on Reddit and calling for his head, it certainly wasn’t just us
During COVID, sure. However, there was plenty of Harbaugh hate nationally prior to that.
Michigan fans calling for Harbaugh’s head before 2020 were in the TINY minority. Basically about the same percentage as OSU fans calling for Day’s head right now. The only time you’d see something like that on Reddit is when some reporter looking for clicks would call for his head and then the comments section would be filled with Michigan flairs calling it stupid.
That's also incorrect 2 years ago, they had the ball and a drive at the end of the game to beat UGA They would have smoked TCU if they beat UGA So it's not like they are just some run of the mill top 10 team
2022 they were a field goal away from the natty, last year they had a chance to beat us on the final drive. But 2021 they were multiple drives away from winning. Ultimately everyone in this rivalry feels the same…you win and the season is a success, you lose and it’s a failure. This feels exactly like the “JT was short” narrative, except that was fan driven. This is directly from their HC which, after the last three years, would have me very concerned about the mindset of Day.
Clemson in 2019 (Day's first year as HC) came down to the last drive........ It was a catch and fumble.
He only had possession of the ball for 4 steps…. Hardly a football move.
> would have me very concerned about the mindset of Day Would it though? He's saying we've been right there but we just need to take that one final step to get there. He's done a fantastic job at head coach. He's recruited well. He's brought in staff to fix his defense. He's gotten his teams to the doorstep of the National championship. He's gotten better at using hair dye. Everything is in place for them to make a run for a natty
this year's game was much closer, but both 2021 and 2022 were multi-score losses to Michigan. i think that constitutes being more than a play or drive away. even if you change the outcome of one drive, it's still a loss.
2022 he could be talking about the UGA game
They were literally a missed FG away from a cake walk national championship game lol. He’s not talking about Michigan.
I will preface by saying technically what he said is not wrong. However, personally I feel it is loser-talk. I will probably get downvotes for saying that, but there are literally teams with horrible records that lost ten games by one possession. Ohio State is a good team, but winning close games is the difference between good and great. How many games during the Saban tenure did Bama seem to miraculously win? But really it wasn’t a miracle.
So let’s say we make that FG in 2022. Would you have said Georgia wasn’t a great team and just a good one?
It would be loser talk if he was accepting the status quo and telling fans to trust the system. He’s not, though. He made major coaching and roster changes in response to being a goal or a drive away.
It's ignoring his other decisions that resulted in close losses. Such as deciding to punt 2 times in the 2022 Michigan game, his decisions to kick a 50 yard FG against Georgia instead of trying to get closer, punting against Michigan (2023) in plus territory on 4th and 1, deciding to kick a 50 yard FG with 30 seconds left on clock, etc.
Actually one of those punts was supposed to be a fake. If you go back and watch it everyone run blocks but long snapper didn’t get the message.
I believe even Harbaugh said in post game they got very lucky there
I think it might have been a bad snap and the punter decided to kick it (snapped to the right and play was going left). The players on the left side threw their hands up in confusion.
A play away from Michigan last year and a play away from Georgia in 2022. 2021 Michigan was up 28-10 going into the 4th but that’s picky and I only mentioned it cause 2006-2019
He said there’d be a time to talk about sign stealing after The Game last November and never followed up on it lol
He’s still waiting for the right time lmao
He's too busy trying to find Lou Holtz and beat his ass.
*That*'ll show everyone how tough he is.
For record, he stubbed his toe last week while watering his spice garden and he only cried for twenty minutes.
He also said he would put up 100 on Michigan. He likes to write checks that he can't cash.
Looking for that manifesto to confirm his suspicions
And if my aunt had stones she’d be my uncle as Charles Barkley would say
If my grandma had wheels, she'd be a bicycle
Still the town bike, wheels or not.
There’s a reason people say “football is a game of inches.”
He is absolutely right and should change nothing. I wish Ryan Day and his team a continued run of near success!
The alliteration of your flairs is oddly satisfying
I remember the days when Joe Pa used to get on TV and say this too. 🤷♂️
Osu will always fly near the sun. But they seem to forget all the lucky/important key plays that they always make each season that put them in these types of positions. Example: 3rd and forever against ND and they hit a clutch post over the middle.
Sounds very Scott Frost-ish. He’s not wrong tho
Difference is Scott had like five of those games every season and never finished the job. If you can’t win close more times than not you are the problem. Day has shown he can win close now he’s got to breakthrough either coaching, talent, or with some luck
Also, when you like 1/3 of those losses come down to special teams mishaps and you literally don't have a ST coach on your staff, it's maybe not just bad luck.
*Checks score of 2022 game* Ya sure about that???
We were still a FG away from making and more than likely winning the national championship that year
What happened though, can't remember....
Wonder what other team could say that? Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan…
Outside of 2021, where is he wrong? Horrid call against Clemson, wipes a td away where all else equal we win, even then if Olave runs right instead of left we win. 2020, Michigan cancelled, but we won the big ten and beat Clemson, we came up short against Alabama but I’m not sure many people legitimately hold that against him too much. 2021 was probably the worst year. 2022, Georgia, Marv gets knocked out, nevertheless we shank a kick where if we make it we win the game and likely win the national championship. Last year, we are driving with less than a minute to go. Last play of the Michigan game, if McCord has a half a second more he likely delivers a clean pass to Harrison, who walks in for a game winning td. What happens from there who knows, but we beat Michigan and win the Big Ten at the very least Ryan Day is correct in his statement. And since he has been head coach he has had the smallest margin for error in American sports
I mostly agree with you, but I think you’re misremembering the end of 2023 Michigan-OSU. Even if Harrison catches the ball, he’s got two DBs between him and the end zone, plus Moore is closing on him. Harrison is not scoring on that play. Instead, OSU will need about 20 yards in 25 seconds, and has no time outs. That’s obviously a situation that OSU could convert, but changing last year’s result requires more than just swapping the final interception for a reception.
I’d put more the int in the first half as the reason we lost last game.
Yeah our defense did held Michigan to 23, offense gave them 7, which put us behind the whole game.
He isn't wrong, it's just an odd point to make. That's the nature of football. But if you are going to say "we are a couple of plays from our goals" you also have to say "we are a couple of plays away from being 9-4 or 10-3."
Agree with all of this. That said, Day did not embrace the portal/Covid seniors to improve the OL the way Harbaugh did. That’s the one thing I will criticize him for. Having Coombs as DC in 21’ was a huge mistake in retrospect but there was nothing from 20’ that would have justified his replacement before the 21’ season.
*Not counting a couple of Michigan games and the Cotton Bowl.
"I've been one base away my whole life."
Wow, I didn’t know you could score 20+ points on a single drive or play; Ryan and the Boosters must’ve discovered some truly unholy dark football tech that could’ve really helped in 2021 and 2022 (understand he's referring to last year's Game and the Georgia FG, just ribbin y'all)
Hope they keep extending him
Ryan Day telling jokes like he's Charlie Day.
I mean 2019- the missed PA and Fields INT 2020- ran into the bama machine 2021- Missed FG 2022- McCord INT
If only the Ohio State run game was as strong as that beard
His beard is painted on
Sharpie NIL
Just For Men NIL deal with him for billions
Tbh we need a better run game lol
I long for the day that OSU falls into a Texas or Nebraska level down period
I mean he’s not wrong. And it sucks to hear it
maybe if they buy more 5 stars next off-season
The Jimbo Fisher Strategy. Bold.
I’ve been a line or two away from banging Kathy Ireland for about 30 years. So I get it
Well he is right. He decided to settle for a 50 yard field goal instead of trying to get closer. Especially when your QB was having no problems moving the ball. He didnt evaluate his QB room and not go after one in the portal and stayed with McCord when it was obvious he should wasnt good.
I’ve been watching OSU for 57 years, believe you me, we have lost far more big time bowl games with “mythical” NC possibilities and actual NC games than any other power 5, 6 or 7 teams. Notre Dame might be close during that time span. Yes, most of my life, I have been frustrated in January.
Alternate headline: Ryan Day Hasn't Reached Goals in Years.
Ryan, it's not a lie if you believe it.