ATLANTA (AP) — Emotionally, this has been a season unlike any other for Ryan Day.
Less than two months ago, loud and influential media voices were calling for the firing of the nation's winningest active coach in the wake of Ohio State's fourth straight loss to Michigan.
He received harassment and threats of physical harm from unhinged fans — also some death threats, his players said — and his wife and children endured weeks of verbal abuse. Even Lou Holtz, the 88-year-old former Notre Dame coach, has continued to be a proverbial thorn in his side.
All is better, for now. Three straight wins in the College Football Playoff landed the Buckeyes in the championship game against Notre Dame on Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. A win over the Fighting Irish will keep his critics at bay. A loss? Day doesn't want to think about that.
“I say to my wife all the time, we signed up for it,” Day said. “It’s the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. This game will take you to your knees and give you some of the greatest experiences in the world. Not a lot of people get to experience those highs and lows, and you have to manage the tough times and enjoy the good ones.”
There have been lots of good times. Day is 69-10 in the six-plus seasons since he took over for Urban Meyer, and this is the fourth time he's gotten the Buckeyes to the CFP and second time to the title game.
Day mentioned Sunday that he and Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman lead programs where the expectations are extraordinarly high. Pursuing national championships is the standard. In Ohio State's case, beating Michigan is of equal importance, if not more.
That the Buckeyes failed to do that a fourth year in a row ratcheted up the heat on Day to unprecedented levels. They are on their longest losing streak in the series since John Cooper’s teams dropped the same number from 1988-91.
Before this year's game, Day made the jarring statement that losing to the Wolverines, to him, is comparable to when his father died when he was a young boy.
Day's wife, Nina, said last week in an interview with Columbus television station WBNS that she could see the toll the latest Michigan loss took on her husband.
“The weeks between the ‘Team Up North’ game and the Tennessee game were brutal,” she said, referring to the Buckeyes' first-round playoff opponent. "I was very upset about what was happening to some of our players and my children. It just wasn’t right. I think Buckeye Nation is an amazing fan base, I really do. And with every fan base there’s that percentage that takes it too far.”
Nick Saban, the former Alabama coach and now one of college football's most high-profile talking heads, drove that point home.
“These Ohio State fans, you know, they've got a psychotic obsession with Michigan and they need to go get therapy or something to try to get it fixed,” Saban said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN.
Then there's Holtz, who in 2023 predicted Notre Dame would win its regular-season game against the Buckeyes because Day's team was not as physical. After Ohio State won on a late touchdown, Day used his postgame TV interview to call out Holtz for disparaging his team.
Holtz was back at it last week, posting on X that if Notre Dame doesn't win Monday, “it's because we want to preserve Ryan Day's job.” In another post, he predicted a 3-point Irish win and said, “Remember, we're Notre Dame and they ain't!”
Buckeyes offensive lineman Donovan Jackson said the poking and prodding Day gets from fans and media make the national championship game personal to him and his teammates.
“Yeah, we’d love to win this for him,” Jackson said. "He’s the ultimate competitor. He wants to win games more than anyone else in the building. The stuff he and his family has gone through is ridiculous, in our opinion. We understand the magnitude of the games we play, but some of the stuff he goes through, I don’t quite understand.”
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