When Ryan Day became the Ohio State Buckeyes head coach in 2019 and won his first game against the Michigan Wolverines quite comprehensively (56-27), who knew what would follow in the next 4 years? Coming into this season’s game, Day had lost 3 games in a row to Ohio State’s Big 10 rivals. And what did he say about it? “We felt what it’s like to not win this game, and it’s bad.” But he didn’t stop there.

“It’s one of the worst things that’s happened to me in my life, quite honestly. Other than losing my father and a few other things, it’s quite honestly for my family the worst thing that’s happened. So we can never have that happen.” But it did. And he let it happen once again on Saturday when Michigan headed to Columbus and defeated the Buckeyes 13-10. Considering what he said, we should’ve known how the loss would affect his family. Because that’s precisely what happened.

Add to that a brutal troll by an ex-Michigan staffer who was banned from Columbus, which further sprinkled salt on Day’s fresh wounds. But let’s come back to the game and how Day’s family was affected by it. Sherrone Moore’s Wolverines came in a 20.5-point underdog. In the rivalry dating back to 1978, this has been the second-biggest spread. Maybe Day and the Buckeyes took Michigan too lightly because, despite being without their powerful duo of cornerback Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland, the reigning champions managed to come out on top for the fourth consecutive time.

With less than 2 minutes left on the clock, the scores were tied at 10-10. But with every play, the Wolverines were getting closer and closer to the field goal range. And then came a 5-yard penalty for the Buckeyes for an illegal substitution. They had 12 players in defense. At that point, they were 10 yards from a touchdown, but instead of going for a field goal straight away, the Wolverines were killing time before Dominic Zvada’s unit came in to give Michigan a 13-10 lead with 45 seconds to go. That was it. As the Buckeyes crumbled, Ryan Day and his family had to relive “the worst thing” that’s happened to them.

Seeing Day in such a sticky spot was enough for analysts Dan Wetzel and Pat Forde to take it up on the Yahoo! Sports podcast. “I think this was the worst coaching job I recall,” Wetzel said. “I cannot recall a worse job for a single game than what Ryan Day put out yesterday. There’s literally no excuse to lose this game 13-10.” This was a game Ohio State had been planning to win for a year. Well, 4 years, when it comes to Ryan Day. But here’s the thing: after Michigan won the national championship last year, Ohio State assembled a $20 million roster as a direct response.

Just when people thought the pain couldn’t get any worse, Pat Forde dropped some heartbreaking insights. The Sports Illustrated journalist was there in person at Ohio Stadium, and things were already heated up in Day’s family. As he recalled on the podcast, “I stood on the sideline by his daughters… with a little more than two minutes left, I look to my left, and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, these poor teenage girls are crying their eyes out.’” While he passed them, assuming they were just fans, something struck him.

“You’re like, ‘Oh, I think I know who they are,’ and then you see the name tags, it’s like, ‘Oh no. It’s Ryan Day’s daughters.’ It’s just so miserable. It was painful to look at it… you could just see it crushing them,” shared Forde. They were the Ohio State head coach’s daughters, Grace and Ourania. After witnessing their dad succumb to Michigan on the gridiron yet again, how could they not have felt the way they were? After the game, Ryan Day said, “We’re very disappointed. Never thought this would happen right here.

“We’re expecting to win this game and then go play in the Big Ten Championship Game, and neither of those things happened. We don’t know what’s going on now.” As for the emotions on the field, his daughters’ tears were only the beginning. After Michigan sealed the victory, the Wolverines gathered in the middle of the field, waving their blue-and-maize flags. As they danced and celebrated, some of the players planted a flag on the Ohio State logo, and the Buckeyes didn’t like that.

Seconds later, a brawl broke out, with curses and punches flying everywhere you looked. In the aftermath, each program was fined $100,000. As for Ryan Day, he addressed it, saying, “I don’t know all the details of it, but I know that these guys are looking to put a flag on the field and our guys weren’t going to let that happen. I’ll find out exactly what happened, but this is our field. And certainly, we’re embarrassed at the fact we lost the game, but there are some prideful guys on the field that weren’t going to let that happen.”

If all this wasn’t enough, the social media backlash that followed wouldn’t have made things better for Ryan Day & Co.

An ex-Michigan staffer took a shot at Ryan Day 

While Day & Co. accepted one of the most embarrassing losses at the hands of the Wolverines, fans’ rage was expected. But not in his wildest dreams did the Buckeyes head coach have thought that an ex-Wolverines staffer, the most notorious man in college football, would be waiting for an opportunity to make a comeback. We are talking about Connor Stalions, folks! The name behind the great signal-stealing scandal was banned from entering the Ohio Stadium. But so what?

Stalions didn’t just manage to watch ‘The Game,’ he ensured to dish out a brutal jab at Day. After his former side’s win, he posted a selfie on X, featuring a TV in the background, with the caption, “Hi friends! They said I wasn’t allowed in Columbus this year 😕. Just checking in on my buddy Ryan. Everything good???” Absolute Salt Bae alert! Stalions was spotted with ex-teammate and Michigan offensive tackle Trent Jones. And it wasn’t just Day. Even his quarterback couldn’t escape the online troll game.

The Buckeyes signal-caller, Will Howard, was one of the main reasons behind the loss, and he fell prey to Connor Stalions’ brutal commentary as he failed to keep his promise. “I’ll go for 3 today if I can,” the quarterback said heading into the game. So, the ex-Michigan staffer wrote, “Hi Tate, they sure went for 3 quite a bit. At least they stuck to the game-plan 🤷🏻‍♂️.”

With this, Ryan Day moves a step closer to calling it quits as the head coach of Ohio State. Let’s see if he can coach up some happy faces and coach down the heat on his job!