How long are people gonna hold that axe above Ryan Day’s neck for the Michigan loss? “This man has lost four in a row.” No one is asking you to excuse that. Yes, Jim Harbaugh managed to smack Ryan Day and took 3 wins, and now Sherrone Moore, with a walk-on quarterback, did the same and even PLANTED THE UM flag on the Buckeyes field. But the Bucks are in the semi-finals? How can you ignore that? “’First Take’ tried to fire him, they thought he was done,” Kirk Herbstreit was probably the only man coming in to defend Ryan Day after OSU thrashed the Vols out of Ohio Stadium. But then again, this started a whole new debacle back on ESPN.

“Not First Take. That was me, Stephen A…. You’ve got to quote me accurately, my brother,” Stephen A. Smith instantly called out Kirk on his comments, and the whole thing blew up. “What I said was, this man Ryan Day, if he doesn’t get a national championship he should go, even with a 66-10 record,” Smith pointed out. While Kirk hasn’t addressed the recent remarks, the entire mess made an Ohio State journalist jump in and defend him. “He’s 1 of the nicest people I’ve interviewed & universally known as one of the “good guys” in sports media who treats Lee Corso like he’s his own father,” College Sports Only pointed out. Herbie is a good fan, and whatever he said about Day ain’t wrong.

We understand that for Bucks fans, the UM loss is a major deal. Day has been losing to them for 4 years straight, but when you take that and compare it with how they managed to outpace a team like Vols with pure run-game domination, don’t you think Ray Day redeemed himself?

And how wrong is Kirk about the “fringe fans“? “I think you’re crazy to run off Ryan Day, after just 5 years,” Danny Kanell was not having it with OSU fans’ ‘fire Ryan Day’ chant. “He gets you right on the verge every single season,” Kanell had pointed out.

Everyone has one bad game. Bama lost to a da-n 5 loss Oklahoma team. Don’t you think Nick Saban was rolling in his seat watching that game unfold? Did Kalen DeBoer get fired? No. This is not how a fanbase should be. Day did a massive job against the Vols.

Will Howard was ON POINT with every dime he threw, and the running corps covered 300+ yards against a defense that even Alabama’s run game couldn’t get past. This is a redemption arc done right and for Kirk? “He’s too good of a guy to be surrounded by this much negativity,” College Sports Only adds. What every Bucks hater has to do right now is sit back and watch how the semi-final against Oregon unfolds.

Execution, not revenge: Ohio State vs Oregon

“It’s about our preparation.” This game shouldn’t turn into an act of revenge. Going into this, Day has to keep his head clear and the offense and defense have to switch back to the same rhythm they had against Tennessee.

But then again, it won’t exactly be that easy. For Day, he is losing out on 2 massive players. LT Josh Simmons is out because of his knee injury and Seth McLaughlin will also not be playing. While both of them were also out for the Vols game, Day could’ve used these guys against the Ducks’ strong offense.

On top of this, Dan Lanning is getting his star Jordan Burch back. The DE went OFF against Boise with 8 tackles and a sack. In 9 games he has brought in 12 solo tackles along with 8.5 sacks. He wasn’t there when OSU and Ducks met for the first time. However, with him recovered, he is going to create a lot of pressure on Howard.

The last time Howard had 40%+ pressure on him was during the UM showdown, and we all know how that went. If Chip Kelly runs the football yet again, the Ducks are going to have a hard. But if Dillion Gabriel starts landing those long shots, then Day is going to have to rethink his defense strategy.