3 more missteps that will get Ryan Day fired at Ohio State, starting vs Georgia

1. Ohio State missing the 2023 Playoff could spell the end of Ryan Day

In all honesty, Ryan Day should feel extremely fortunate that Clemson lost to South Carolina in the regular-season finale and that USC still can’t find a way to beat Utah as they lost for the second time in 2022 to the Utes in the Pac-12 Championship game. Because if either of those things had not happened, the conversation right now around the OSU head coach would be much different.

The truth of the matter is that Day benefitted from the shortcomings of those two teams down the stretch in that it pushed the Buckeyes into the College Football Playoff despite the team not even making it into the Big Ten Championship Game and having their last regular-season game be a 22-point home loss to their biggest rival.

That, however, is not something that can be counted on. Let’s say that we see Day and the Buckeyes stumble in the first two ways we’ve already laid out against Georgia on Dec. 31 and then in the 2023 season finale against Michigan. There is absolutely no guarantee that, even at 11-1, they would get into the Playoff. And if that happens, then there is nothing for Day to hang his hat on.

This would likely be the final nail in the coffin. That isn’t to say Ohio State would fire Ryan Day on the spot, but it would make the conversation about his future in Columbus extremely real, much more so than it was after 45-23 this year. And once that talk gets started, it becomes exceptionally difficult to change the narrative as quickly as is necessary.

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