The Fake Smoke For Day

By Kyle Golik

In Ohio, there are a few certainties to life. You will pay taxes, you will die, and you will hate “The Team Up North.” This is bred into every Ohioan who bleeds for the Scarlet and Grey and that passion permeates to the decision-makers of Ohio State.

They call Miami of Ohio, “The Cradle of Coaches,” due to all the Hall of Fame coaches the school has cultivated for football. If they are born in Miami, they go to die in Columbus, as Ohio State was known for many years as the “Graveyard of Coaches,” for the many unceremonious endings to coaches' careers. One who got to leave on his own terms was Urban Meyer .

Meyer had what many would consider the ideal coaching career at Ohio State. The Buckeyes never lost to Michigan and Meyer was able to deliver Big Ten and a national championship. Overall, Meyer won over 90% of his games at Ohio State, only losing four conference games between 2012 and 2018. Meyer’s greatness, and even him being 59 years of age, the possibility and dream of him returning to Ohio State is always looming large over current head coach Ryan Day . What also looms now over Day’s 2024 Buckeyes is the great expectations Meyer now has proclaimed about them.

“But as of now, this is one of the most talented teams rosters in the last decade, maybe ever. I mean that’s a big statement they gotta play, but you look at the quality of athlete at every position. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Meyer told WBNS Columbus this week.

All of a sudden expectations are through the roof for Day, who at any other school wouldn’t have his job questioned at all.

Day is respected throughout the nation by coaches. Even when former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh claimed Day was "born on third base", Day has proven he can advance the 90 feet and clinch him with his 56-8 overall record, two Big Ten championships with a 39-3 record in the Big Ten, three College Football Playoff appearance and an appearance in 2020 Final against Alabama.

What people zero in on is the three in the loss column in Big Ten play, all of which are to Michigan - that team up north. The questions mount, can Day survive a fourth consecutive loss, and unfair comparisons have been made to John Cooper . While people look at the three defeats to Michigan in a similar vein to Cooper’s paltry 2-10-1 record against Michigan, Cooper didn’t produce the results Day has.

Cooper may have wasted a lot of talent, look at those mid-1990s Ohio State teams with Joey Galloway, Eddie George, Orlando Pace and to not have come up with a national championship is a head-scratcher. Day hasn’t wasted talent, a bevy of bowl opt-outs allowed Missouri to win the Cotton Bowl, and hard to blame Day on that front. But how aggressive he was in the transfer portal is redefining his time in Columbus.

By all accounts, quarterback Will Howard was going to sign elsewhere but when Ohio State got aggressive, the steady leader who helped Kansas State to a Big XII Championship in 2022 signed with the Buckeyes.

"You mean the Team Up North," Howard said, when broached about Michigan topic after joining Ohio State. "They won't say that M word. I guess I won't be saying it either."

Howard gets it, he is motivated to win in college football’s greatest rivalry.

Ohio State then landed the much-maligned center Seth McLauglin from Alabama. After a few practices , Day said, "Seth's snaps have been great, I know that was a little bit of a concern, I think it had a little bit to do with the (quarterback's) cadence or whatever. He's been doing great."

Day wasn’t done attacking the portal, he landed 2022 SEC Freshman of the Year, running back Quinshon Judkins from Ole Miss. Judkins is fourth all-time in SEC history in rushing yards in his freshman and sophomore seasons trailing only Herschel Walker, Darren McFadden, and Leonard Fournette. With TreVeyon Henderson still in the backfield, it is one that has the talent similar to what Michigan enjoyed with Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards, as well as Penn State with Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

When Nick Saban retired, Ohio State was able to lure in 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year, safety Caleb Downs , who provides the Buckeyes athleticism at safety not seen since Malik Hooker. They also landed a five-star quarterback in Julian Sayin , whose skills will push Howard for the starting job.

Day is incredibly sincere about fulfilling the goals for Ohio State. Following a third consecutive defeat, Day described feeling in the pit of his stomach a pain not describable and emotionally saying , “We waited a whole year for it and came up short.”

The smoke that surrounds Day now trying to drum up doubt is insanity. If Ohio State brass was gullible enough to fire him, even if they were to lose to Michigan for a fourth time, Day would have another job by sundown. He is that good. But with how this season’s roster is constructed, it isn’t worth reading about the end of Day because the new Day is upon the Big Ten, one that will be painful for the rest of the conference.