Tuesdays with Gorney: Angst over Ohio State is getting ridiculous
“What’s concerning to me is Ryan Day and I’m starting to question is he who we think he is as a head football coach?” former NFL player and sports commentator Damien Harris said on CBS Sports over the weekend.
“He loses the big games that he’s supposed to win and then the games he’s supposed to boat race and run teams out of the building, it’s always close games like (the Nebraska game).
“The product of what we’re seeing from this Ohio State football team, is that a product of Ryan Day not being the head coach we think he is? You are supposed to be a premier team in college football and from coaching to playing to the rushing attack, they’re just not living up to the expectations that we had.
“Is this a Ryan Day problem, is this a talent problem, what’s going on?”
Harris was not the only one who came out – hard – against the Buckeyes in recent days. Former Ohio State fullback Zach Boren went on a podcast with Austin Ward of DottingTheEyes.com with more analysis of where he sees the program.
“This is the biggest issue that I’ve had for the last four years,” Boren said. “The lack of emotion, the lack of pure leadership, the lack of killer instinct are all major concerns for me. In a game like that on Saturday when you’re playing Nebraska, you know you should be blowing them out.
“There should be guys holding dudes accountable, on the sideline, on the field, grabbing them and telling them to get their (stuff) together. There should be some emotion from that standpoint. On Saturday, there was nothing. I was at the game, you look at the sidelines, it’s like a funeral.”
What really needs to die is this absurd criticism of Day and this bellyaching that the Buckeyes aren’t winning big enough.
An ugly victory over a scrappy Nebraska team isn’t good enough. Ohio State should have blown it out. Day should be fired if he doesn’t beat Michigan this season. Well, maybe this year since the Wolverines’ offense is so awful, but you get the point.
People: Ohio State is 6-1, literally one second away from beating No. 1 Oregon inside a crazed Autzen Stadium if QB Will Howard would have gotten down a hair sooner. The Buckeyes are outscoring opponents 40-12 per game. They’re favored by a field goal going into undefeated Penn State this weekend.
And fans are up in arms? If you read Ohio State social media, you’d think Conor Stalions was coaching this team.
Enough already.
Not only is the whining and complaining going to get you nowhere, it’s completely and utterly ridiculous.
Who’s got it better than Ohio State fans? Nobody.
Ohio State was a missed field goal away from playing for the national championship in 2022. The Buckeyes started 11-0 last season until the Michigan loss and then a meaningless defeat to Missouri in a bowl game that didn’t have national title implications.
Five blowouts to start this season – including against Michigan State and Iowa – were followed by a crusher at Oregon and then a lackluster win over Nebraska. So the Buckeyes got caught in a lookahead moment against the Huskers. Big deal. Ohio State still won.
There’s so much to be excited about. Jeremiah Smith is an unguardable superstar. The weapons across the board are nearly unmatched in college football.
Oh, and Ohio State has the top-ranked recruiting class in the country, the only program with five five-star commitments and the No. 1 overall player in the 2025 class with in-state five-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair. Waiting in the wings is five-star transfer Julian Sayin.
You think these are tough times for Ohio State? You think this is the time to complain about Day and the program’s direction?
There’s a great quote from “The Sopranos” that reminds me of Buckeyes’ fans complaining: You’re like the old woman who’s got a Virginia ham under her arm and she goes around crying because she’s got no bread.
If the only measure of success in Columbus is winning the national championship and the win rate of Urban Meyer, get over it. Meyer might have been the second-greatest college football coach of all-time. And Day’s winning percentage isn’t that far off.
In 71 games, Day has won 62 – that’s more than 87 percent victories. Meyer was at 91 percent. Day has lost four Big Ten matchups in six seasons, the same number of SEC games Georgia coach Kirby Smart has lost in the same period.
Meyer did his protege Day no favors this offseason when he said: “I’ve read about them, I’ve watched them. This might be the best roster in college football in the last decade – as far as NFL talent, as far as depth.”
Meyer might not be wrong. Ohio State fans should sit back, stop complaining and enjoy it.
