3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish to blame for blowing game vs. Ohio State

2. Lou Holtz opened his mouth and lit a fire inside of Ryan Day, alright

We have not seen bulletin-board material like this in quite some time. Lou Holtz's appearance on Friday's edition of The Pat McAfee Show blew up in Notre Dame's face big time. He may not have had any direct cause in Notre Dame's latest embarrassing defeat, but he sure as hell lit a fire inside of Ohio State head coach Ryan Day. Calling Ohioans soft is a death sentence in major college football.

Give Day and his staff a ton of credit. The Buckeyes never gave up and preceded to win one of the most impressive games of the young college football season. It felt like vindication to some degree over the Peach Bowl loss to Georgia last holiday season in the College Football Playoff. The stakes were higher and the stage was bigger, but this win was one Ohio State can most definitely build on.

It may have been hilarious to see Holtz go for broke on a major national sports program like PMS, but you can't embarrass people like that and expect for them to just sit back and take it. Again, we have to give Jim Knowles and his defense a ton of credit for being the type of Ohio tough we often associate with Buckeyes football. It may propel them to beat either Michigan or Penn State, possibly even both?

Let this be the latest lesson on why it is never a good idea to poke the bear before the cage match.