Urban Meyer ensures Ryan Day won't have excuses with loaded 2024 Ohio State roster

Count Urban Meyer as one of the many people putting pressure on Ryan Day this season. It has been over half a decade since Meyer last coached in Columbus. Now firmly back in the sports media game, Meyer continues to put out the content we crave. Love him or hate him, his college football analysis is always interesting. This time, he told Adam King of 10TV in Columbus that Day will have no excuses.

Ohio State is one of four teams that are College Football Playoff locks. The Buckeyes are my pick to win the Big Ten and finish as national runner-up to Georgia in the expanded postseason format. While one could easily argue that Ohio State has the deepest and best roster in the Power Four, I still think Georgia has a major head-coaching advantage over the Buckeyes with Day. Thus, Day will be facing unreal pressure.

Here is what Meyer told King about the amount of talent Ohio State has heading into this season.

“As of now, this is one of the most talented rosters in the last decade – maybe ever. They’ve got to play, but you look at the quality of athlete at every position, I’ve never seen anything like it."

All I know is if Meyer was coaching this team, the Buckeyes would be my pick to win it all over UGA.

Although no excuses will be tolerated, you have to wonder what Day has to do to keep his job.

Urban Meyer puts even more pressure on Ryan Day to succeed this year

Look. If Day were to be let go for whatever reason after this college football season, he would find a job immediately, either as a Power Four head coach, an NFL offensive coordinator, or even an NFL head coach if the right job opened up. However, with Gene Smith retiring and Ross Bjork taking over, the new Ohio State athletic director may want to hire his own guy if Day comes up short yet again.

If I were Bjork, I wouldn't fire Day after this season unless the Buckeyes were to somehow go 9-3, miss the playoff and lose to Michigan for the fourth year in a row. I don't see all three of those events happening this fall. If they do, I would understand Bjork wanting to go in a different direction. If that is the case, I would pay Ohio State alums like Luke Fickell, Marcus Freeman or Mike Vrabel top dollar.

Ultimately, we can only expect the unexpected from Ohio State this season. No other program faces this kind of pressure. Look at the other national title contenders. Georgia has already won two recently, while Ole Miss, Oregon and Texas haven't won one in the College Football Playoff era. Those four other teams will be fantastic, but none of them will be operating under such pressure as will Day.

Meyer putting a fire under Day will either make him or break him. We shall see in a few months then...