Ohio State playoff run shows Ryan Day built a foundation stronger than it seemed

After every practice, Ohio State lays down a cement brick to symbolize the foundation it wants to build.

Coach Ryan Day came up with the idea in the offseason and relayed it to the team’s leadership committee. The Buckeyes entered the year with one of the nation’s most experienced coaching staffs leading one of the most talented rosters. A championship was the expectation. Day didn’t want the end result to be everything his team thought about. The focus had to be on the day-to-day process needed to be great.

“When you start the season with so many expectations, it’s easy to focus on down the road,” Day said in early November. “In order to make sure the guys understand the work they are putting in August and September as we’re building up the season, all those days mattered.

“How do you know what your foundation is? You go through a storm and you find out what’s left when you wake up the next morning. We knew there would be storms and big games along the way. All those days and bricks we put in the foundation are going to be what matters the most.”

What was once just one is now more than 100 gray and scarlet bricks as the Buckeyes prepare for their final game against Notre Dame on Monday to cap the longest college football season ever with a national championship at stake.

And if criticism of Day after Ohio State lost to Michigan was warranted, he deserves credit, too, for not letting that foundation crumble.

A year ago, following another loss to Michigan and an ugly Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri, Day changed his approach. He gave up play calling, hired offensive coordinator Chip Kelly to run the offense and freed himself up to jump around where the team needed him most. In the offseason, that meant anything from speaking to donors to improve Ohio State’s NIL efforts to spending time with the running backs while searching for a new position coach during spring practice.

Once the season started, Day’s flexibility and versatility helped Ohio State weather an unexpected number of storms.

The Oregon loss in October was tough, mainly because the defense was exposed in a way it hadn’t been since 2022 against Georgia. Day took that time to jump into the defensive meetings and help coordinator Jim Knowles tweak the defense.

Since Oregon, Ohio State has given up an average of 13 points per game and 3.96 yards per play, both the best marks in the country.

“He’s a football guy,” Knowles said. “It’s one thing to be a boss and point out the problems, but he has that football acumen where he can offer solutions and ideas. That’s a big deal having that kind of resource who can say, ‘Hey, let me show you how I see from an offensive perspective.’ Those are invaluable conversations.”

There were also injuries along the offensive line that threatened to derail the season. Potential All-American left tackle Josh Simmons went down for the year against Oregon, and Rimington Trophy-winning center Seth McLaughlin was lost a month later. Both were devastating injuries that forced Day to help out with numerous changes to an embattled group.

Then came the hardest moment of all: the infamous 13-10 upset by Michigan.

The loss was Day’s first to an unranked opponent and fourth in a row to the rival Wolverines, sending the Ohio State fan base into a spiral. Some fans wanted Day fired after the loss, perhaps an expected reaction after the Buckeyes went all in to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten and win the national championship in 2024.

Because of the loss, the first two goals wouldn’t happen. The new 12-team College Football Playoff meant the third was still possible, but it didn’t feel that way at the time.

When Day stepped to the podium on Dec. 4, he was scheduled to talk to reporters about the recruits Ohio State had just signed. The celebration of another top-five class was overshadowed by what happened against Michigan just four days earlier.

Day, boasting a 66-10 record, was asked if he planned to leave Ohio State. He quickly shook his head and said no. He was asked if he planned to return next season. He said yes.

Then there was a question about the team’s three annual goals and whether Day is the right coach to achieve them.

“Our guys love Ohio State, they are completely bought in and they wanted to win that game,” Day said. “The culture is as strong as it’s ever been. We have good players and good coaches. It was a bad day. Now we have to go forward.

“The mindset is go win the whole thing now.”

Michigan wasn’t something Day got over in just a day or even a week. But he gave a message to his team, which held a players-only meeting after the loss: Ohio State had a lot left to play for and still had the talent to win a national championship.

Although he and his family were dealing with the personal backlash of losing to Michigan, there wasn’t a part of Day that was ready to quit.

“I told him a long time ago he was built for this,” said Kelly, who coached Day in college at New Hampshire. “He understands the gravity of what you have to do to be a head coach here. I think he’s handled it tremendously. He’s the same person every day. I think the consistency in how he shows up here every day and what his mission is, and how he drives this entire program – coaches, people in the building, players, whatever – is very evident.”

Though Day’s words after Michigan did little to quiet criticism from the outside, what Day and Ohio State have done on the field afterward – three consecutive wins against Tennessee, Oregon and Texas to get to the national championship game – is a better answer than anything he could’ve said in the wake of another rivalry loss.

Ohio State has won three Playoff games by double digits. It routed Tennessee by 25 points, got emphatic revenge against Oregon in the Rose Bowl by 20 after jumping out to a 34-0 lead and fended off Texas by 14 in the Cotton Bowl with the help of a dramatic defensive touchdown by team captain Jack Sawyer, one of several seniors who returned for another season after the Buckeyes fell short of their goals the past few years.

Players like Sawyer have rallied around their embattled coach during the run.

“He’s our centerpiece,” tight end Will Kacmarek said. “Every day he keeps us on track and humble and celebrates the small victories that we’ve had. He’s done a good job of keeping us together when we had a loss. He’s an awesome coach and the best I’ve ever had.”

All year, Day has stepped into whatever role Ohio State needs from him. Ohio State’s turnaround isn’t all just because its coach loves its players and the players love him back. That’s part of it, but Day has also gone back to his game-planning roots.

The result has been Ohio State playing its best football of the season – making it a heavy favorite against the Irish on Monday.

“When you get into these playoffs, the football has to be right,” Day said.

This is Day’s chance to not only get the championship that has evaded him – Ohio State lost the 2020 title to Alabama – but stake a claim to being one of the best coaches in the sport. A win Monday would be the Buckeyes’ fifth against an AP top-five team at the time of the game this season, setting a record. Day has the highest career winning percentage among active coaches, and he can leave Atlanta as one of just three active coaches with a national title, along with Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney.

Though credit if Ohio State wins will go to the talented roster, Day’s role in assembling the team and putting it in position to rescue a lost season and rebound from the Michigan loss can’t be dismissed.

Through all the criticism, backlash and pressure, Monday will give Day a chance to lay that last brick on a foundation that, in reality, began when he took the job in 2019.

“We have to finish it. We have to finish it,” Day said. “It’s one thing to build the foundation, now you have to go finish the job.”