Everything Ryan Day said after shutting up doubters with Ohio State natty

Ryan Day is a national champion. About a month and a half ago, Ohio State Buckeyes fans might've looked at you like you had two heads if you predicted such a thing. They were ready to show up at the head coach's door with torches and pitchforks and demand his job. That's what a fourth consecutive loss to rival Michigan had done to the fanbase, especially with a $20 million roster built to win a title.

The Michigan loss is still poisoning Day's ledger but it's outshined for now by being the first champion of the 12-team College Football Playoff era after the Buckeyes beat Notre Dame, 34-23, on Monday night.

After winning a natty, Day earned the right to tell every doubter, everyone who called for his job, and everyone who spoke so ill of the Ohio State head coach to kick rocks or something even less kind with a similar sentiment. But as he did defeate, Day handled his seminal victory with all class.

Everything Ryan Day said after Ohio State's national championship win

Following the victory and in the immediate aftermath, ESPN's Holly Rowe spoke to Day, who spoke glowing of his team's and his players' ability to overcome adversity.

"The story gets to get told now, and it's a great story. I've got a bunch of guys who have just overcome some really tough situations. And there's a point where there's a lot of people that counted us out. We just kept swinging and kept fighting. It's the reason why you get into coaching is to see guys overcome things, learn life lessons and then reach their dreams. This is what happened tonight."

At the podium for his postgame press conference, Day continued to make it about his team and his players and their "story".

"Now the stories of these guys will be told because they’ve cemented themselves in Ohio State history, the ninth national champ and the third really in the last 50 years."

Circling back to adversity, Day also talked about what it meant to lose in the 2022 CFP to Georgia on a fateful missed kick at the stroke of midnight of the new year.

"I understand it now," Day said. "It all makes sense. And here we are. I couldn't feel better."

More on that note, the Ohio State head coach was asked about the Michigan loss and how the Buckeyes overcame it. And his comments were seemingly backed up by what the team showed on the field throughout the Playoff.

"We had an awful day," Day said. "I don’t know how else to describe it. We had an awful day, and we just said we could never do that again."

Day also spoke about the new 12-team format for the College Football Playoff and what it afforded Ohio State in terms of opportunity.

"I think this playoff system allowed our team to grow and learn and build. You can say whatever you want about — people talked a lot about how much money guys were making in NIL and different things like that. That was just because NIL was available. The majority of our team came back. These guys have been here for a long time."

Back to his players, Day spoke glowingly of quarterback Will Howard, not just because of his stellar play on Monday night, but because of what he meant to OSU in his lone season with the Buckeyes following his transfer from Kansas State.

"What I didn’t know was how special his leadership is and his resilience and his positive mindset," Day said. "It’s something I learned a lot about."

Perhaps the best quote speaking to the freeness that Ohio State played with once in the postseason, Day addressed the call to throw it to Jeremiah Smith late in the fourth quarter on third down to essentially ice the win for the Buckeyes.

"Just thought to myself, only one national championship," Day said. "You only get one opportunity a year to do this, let's just lay it on the line out there and be aggressive. And that's what we did."

Now a champion after all the adversity he faced and the calls for his job, Day spoke plainly about the pressure that comes with this gig and, while he maintained class throughout, it was perhaps his biggest personal flex of the night.

"When you sign up for this job, that's what you sign up for," Day said. "You've got to be strong enough to withstand those storms, to come out the back end. Now, it's an even better story."

It's a great story indeed for Day, one wherein the next chapter could be just as good as Ohio State should be among the best teams in college football for the 2025 season. But for now, he and the Buckeyes can enjoy this chapter, likely with some cigars to complement their newfound hardware for the trophy case.