ESPN Article: Pressure on Day
Nice to see preseason articles about the pressure on OSU to beat Michigan, instead of the annual “can’t beat his rivals” articles about Harbaugh pre-2021. They talk about having more motivation, but how much more motivation do you really need for The Game? I think it makes them play tighter, especially when they get behind.
100% agree with OP.
After they lose 6 more in a row, we can have a discussion about "motivation" and who wants it more.
Beat Ohio!
While it is nice to reflect on how the tables have turned and smile, I can't help but think that articles like this are why MGoBlog (and a few other blogs) exist. I suppose that in a world where Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and Dungeons and Dragons the movie exist I shouldn't be surprised that the same sports storylines get recycled too, but man give me some original content.
Maybe you should consider contributing some ‘original content’ yourself instead of chirping about free content being offered to you.
Are you lost?
Crying about "original content" on a message board post makes me think you dropped your map
Out of all the franchise movies you could have chosen those are possibly the two most watchable that have come out this year
It’s pretty simple. A single will get Day home. Or if there’s zero or one out, a sacrifice fly will be a success. Just need the ball to be hit deep enough.
Of course, there’s the wild pitch, or the balk- but Harbaugh doesn’t balk, so good luck with that.
Hopefully Day will be fired after Michigan curb stops osu 100 to nada in November.
why would you want that? better he stays there a long time, and accumulates a nice big fat losing record against his Rival
Long term I really think you take your chances if you can get a 90% winning coach to get fired. Every new coach is a chance to be Rich Rod or Hoke. Every bump in the road derails the juggernaut ever so slightly. Id take the chaos that comes in a coaching change after what Day has done any day. Who would be an upgrade?
Completely agree, rice. They thought they had Urban 2.0 after 2019 and he was going on his own decade long run on Michigan and would win NCs. A 3rd straight beatdown followed by him being fired would be a cherry on top. Destroy every bit of their confidence and recruiting momentum they've had. He knows he's gone if he loses in November. I've said before I think they lose 1-2 games before playing Michigan anyway.
That's like saying...Gee I hope James Franklin gets canned.
Day probably won't be fired if he loses at the big house, but he most definitely gets canned if he loses in the big toilet again.
I hope Franklin stays forever. He hit his ceiling a long time ago.
MeLLLLLLLLLLLL says Hi!
It is possible that OSU is on a downward slide with Day but I always find it odd that someone gets canned for not winning a couple of games after winning with an otherwise stellar record. As we asked with Harbaugh comparisons, who is better that would come to Michigan? (Remember Matt Campbell, fine coach but . . .) Some said Hoke was on his way to Michigan in October of Rich Rod's last year. Hoke was the best available that would actually accept the position. Rich Rod was the 4th choice when he was hired. Tressel was the 3rd choice when he was hired. LSU winning the NC with 3 different coaches is an amazing story.
The LSU thing is a perfect example of how the best collection of players/talent will always have a shot to win it all. You want to win it all a top 5 talented roster is an absolute must.
I think they let him go if he loses 3 in a row. Their fans lost their shit and wanted him gone after 2 losses.
Thanks for posting.
Lots of pressure when you get to 3rd base....
Strangely I think Urban agrees with Ji_!
but they didn't
Until OSU rolls into Ann Arbor in November not a single win for the Buckeyes will matter, and any losses will be magnified.
I’m not so sure this year’s OSU team is better than last year’s version with Stroud at QB. I’m not saying they’ll lose a bunch of games but I don’t see same sports car as the national pundits do. I think ND and PSU give them a run for their money, maybe even Maryland, and then playing at the big house in late November could add up to 2 or 3 losses.
Day losing to UM 3x in a row won’t be his death sentence, unless it’s a complete drubbing, but 4 would be the final straw for sure.
I think it depends on what the defense does in year 2 under Knowles. The offense will put up numbers, albeit with a first-year QB. But will the defense take another step forward or will it still be high risk, ripe for JJ, Blake, Donovan, CJ, Colston, and Sherrone to slice and dice?
I’d be nervous if I were a Buckeye fan. Playing with an untested QB behind a line that lost 3 players and wasn’t that good to begin with? Their defense will be better with another year in the system, but so will Michigan’s Offense. I also believe Michigan’s Defense will be improved this year. Apart from benefiting from another year in the NFL scheme Minter runs, they will respond to the beating they took against TCU. We’re going to be special this year and OSU will be just another grease spot on the road
Their line was really really good at pass protection but just ok at run blocking, however the three guys they lost were thier center and two tackles who were both drafted. I'm sure their O-line will be fine because of talent, but not S-tier good
Of all the things that happened in that TCU game the fact that our run game fell flat and theirs did well is the most troubling.
Exactly. All 3 of those games will be tough for them and on top of that they have to play at Wisconsin too. You think Luke Fickell will have them ready to go?
It seems that they have bigger goals in mind. What do we mere mortals know!
From a pragmatic POV, he is absolutely right. Losing to Michigan may not matter for OSU's NC goals. But...
If he loses this year in Ann Arbor, he will be coaching for his job in Columbus in 24, even if he wins all his other games by 50 points.
He’ll probably be an NFL OC by 2024.
I think this is a real possibility...because it is also a very real possibility that the Peter Principle has come to fruition with his assignment to the HC position.
They're shook
No one had more pressure than Harbaugh two years ago... The "pressure" Day is experiencing is light compared to what Jim went through.
I think our fanbase was actually to the point where we were hoping for a close game and that is about it. Days expectations are much higher. Day followed probably the most successful coach at OSU, Harbaugh followed Hoke.
It's more than that. Day followed Meyer and Tressel. Harbaugh had Hoke and Rodriguez. These things are not even in the same stratosphere.
This is very true, although if Day loses to us again in '23, I think that the pressure will ramp up that high for him in '24. Especially if OSU loses another game before that.
I'm not so sure. The OSU football fanbase is probably The(TM) most spoiled sports fanbase in American sports. They've literally never seen their team go through a significant downturn. When they counter and say "the 6-6 year was really hard!" that's how you know it's true. The expectations for Day are basically 0-1 losses every season and a conference title + CFP berth or we riot
Thats a fair statement but Day also knows he doesn't have as long of a leash as Jim did. Osucks arent going to let Day hang around long enough to lose 5 straight to Michigan.
They now play the way we did when they were beating us every year - more afraid to lose than excited to win. That's a big reason why I think we are going to beat them this year.
If they do lose to us, and don't throw a fit and can Day, he'll get a shot at reversing the dynamic in 2024 (we will lose a lot of offensive production and the game will be in Columbus). But I expect them to can Day if we beat them again this year - no matter how dumb that move might be.
I agree about 2024. We need the three-peat this year, because I don't expect us to be very good next year. Massive rebuild everywhere on offense and we're going to pay the price of a poor 2023 recruiting class. Schedule might be absolutely brutal too. 7-5 or 6-6 could be in the cards.
You are correct. We needed this recruiting upcoming class last cycle. We are lucky to have so many return this couldve been a dicey season.
Eh, their fans would be dumb enough to axe Day for losing to us this year but I would be extremely surprised if their athletic dept. is.
I like seeing Ohio State going into the game with anxiety and doubts.
I'm sure that Day is under a ton of pressure this year. When you beat your rival 15 out of 16 times and then suddenly lose two in a row it must feel like the end of the world. Truth is, 15 out of 16 is "Michigan dominance in Brown Jug game" level dominance, and it's not reasonable to expect that. Reasonable expectations for OSU would be 6 or 7 wins a decade vs. Michigan if both teams have competent coaching, and that means that occasional 2 game losing streak. Even Auburn is 5-11 against Alabama under Saban's tenure.
There's no way that we should have ever lost 15 out of 16.
The Bucks have also lost 2 games or less 12 years in a row. Imagine how pissed the Buckeye fans will be at Day if he has a 9-3 season or, god forbid, an 8-4 season. It's inevitable though. Nobody stays dominant forever, even though when they have been dominant for a decade it's hard to imagine anything else. Just look at Florida State -- 14 seasons in a row losing 2 games or less from 1987 through 2000, with two national chamionships in there. If you told people in 2000 that Florida State would be crappy for most of the next 20 years, people would have thought that you were crazy. Ditto for USC under Pete Carroll, Florida under Spurrier and Meyer, etc.
OSU has changed somewhat under Day from Meyer. They have gone full Fun-and-Gun it seems, whereas Meyer was very much focused on the ground game or at least having a balanced attack. I wonder if returning to Meyer's style of football just isn't in Day's DNA. I think that he's a "throw for 400 yards per game" guy and that's just who he is. This works against a lot of teams but they have been totally unprepared for us in the trenches the past couple of years. They may have gotten too QB and WR focused, and their defense has been spotty (and just plain bad against us).
It took 7 years for Michigan to build what they have right now. We actually have a program right now with a unique identity. Imitating that is something that can't easily be done overnight.
That is not to say that I expect a repeat of '21-'22 any time soon, but I don't see Day running off six or seven in a row against us.
Nice to see the narrative flip for a change.
I don't think Day is coaching for his job this year, no matter what happens in The Game (unless it something like a 49-3 beatdown, which is highly unlikely). Let's be honest, there is almost no one OSU can hire who is going to do any better than him. Two Big Ten titles, three CFP appearances, one title game appearance, and was one missed field goal away from a second title game and almost certainly winning it all. On top of all that, fielding the best offenses OSU has ever had, and is winning nearly 90% of his games.
I know, its not that he's only losing 1-2 games a year, but its that he's losing the wrong games. I know. But again, who are they realistically going to get who would do any better? The only coaches in the game who, at this juncture, are proven to be better coaches are Smart and Saban. And neither of them are leaving their current spots.
It is in fact more likely that if they fire Day and bring someone else in, OSU as a whole would regress. Shoot, they could even hire their own RichRod and crater the program for nearly a decade. If I'm an OSU fan, I'm frankly terrified at the prospect of firing Day.
Day is safe this upcoming season. Even with a third loss to Michigan. However, he may very well be coaching for his job in 2024 if he loses to Michigan again this season. But that would be the time to effectively right the ship, given everyone Michigan is likely losing next season, both players and staff.
It'd be nice to see the OSU fans bickering on their message boards about their coach for a change.