Nick Saban’s harsh words for Ohio State fans over Ryan Day completely miss the point

From the moment the clock struck zero on Ohio State's fourth straight loss to Michigan, the mood in Columbus has been ... testy, to say the least. Ryan Day had been given everything he could've possibly asked for ahead of the 2024 season, from a hefty NIL budget to his old mentor as offensive coordinator to a down year for his arch rival, and still the result was the same: a confounding loss against a premier opponent, and an even more confounding loss to the Wolverines.

For most Buckeye fans, that was the last straw. Nevermind the fact that an expanded College Football Playoff meant that Ohio State's season was far from over, and that a national title was still well within reach. Another failure, this one the most embarrassing yet, had convinced just about everyone that Day would never have what it takes to get the program over the hump, and giving him one more shot was simply delaying the inevitable.

Everyone, that is, except perhaps the greatest college football coach of all-time. While a growing number of Ohio State fans are ready to move on from Day even before the team's playoff opener against Tennessee on Saturday night, Nick Saban thinks that the head coach has done just fine at the job, and somehow it's everyone else's fault — not, you know, Day himself's — that his team has consistently failed to produce in the moments that really matter.

Nick Saban gives laughable excuse for Ryan Day's struggles at Ohio State

Appearing on College GameDay ahead of the first-round CFP matchup between Indiana and Notre Dame, Saban had some very harsh words for Buckeye fans who've spent most of the last three weeks pleading with the administration to make a change.

"If Ohio State wants to beat Michigan, [the fans] need to be positive about the coach and the players," Saban said. "They have an opportunity to win the national championship. Everybody oughta be supporting the hell out of them so that they have the best opportunity to do it."

Saban has forgotten more about the sport than I'll ever know, and he certainly understands better than most just how difficult life can become for a head coach at one of the biggest and most pressure-packed programs in America. But with all due respect, this argument feels exactly backwards: The fans at Ohio State have become so negative precisely because Day has consistently failed to beat not just Michigan but most every team he faces that can match the Buckeyes for talent.

The reality is that Ohio State fans haven't been anywhere near the problem this season. They were riding high entering the Oregon game, convinced that this was the most talented Buckeye roster in recent memory. And given how badly the Wolverines had struggled on offense amid a 6-5 start. There wasn't all that much "negativity" to speak of ahead of this year's Michigan game. And yet, Ohio State found a way to lose both, each in ways that were directly tied not just to Day's roster management (or lack thereof) but his strategy and in-game management.

It beggars belief to think that Ohio State's record would be any different right now had fans just been a little bit nicer on social media. Day was handed the keys to the kingdom when he took over from Urban Meyer, and if there's negativity surrounding his performance at this point, it's because things have only gotten steadily worse as Meyer's players moved on and Day's took over. Heck, even a long-time Buckeye nemesis, Michigan legend Desmond Howard, agrees.

Desmond Howard pokes crucial hole in Ryan Day's record in Columbus

You'd think that Howard would have no problem with Day coaching as long as he wants; after all, Michigan is enjoying his tenure in Columbus just fine right now. But while the rest of his GameDay colleagues were coming to Day's defense, Howard was the one person who took the other side, pointing out that Day's 66-10 overall record at Ohio State masks the fact that most of those 66 wins have come with a profound structural advantage.

It's all well and good to cite Day's record in his defense, but Ohio State has as many if not more resources than any program in the country, situated in a recruiting hot bed, with a long and storied tradition of consistent football success. The fact that Day hasn't lost to Wisconsin or Purdue is hardly an argument in his favor; that's just table stakes. Any Buckeye coach will be defined by how he performs in the biggest games, i.e., the ones against Michigan and the ones against the handful of true peers around the country. And in those games, Day has been an abject failure, 1-4 against the Wolverines, 10-9 against top-10 teams and 2-7 against top-five teams.

At this point, maybe it's true that all the noise serves as a distraction that adversely affects the team on the field. But if it is, Day only has himself to blame.