Ever heard of the saying that if you fly too close to the sun, you gonna get burned? Yeah, bad day to be Ryan Day, folks. That game against Michigan wasn’t JUST a loss to the Buckeyes. You have no idea the ripple effect this was going to have on the entire team and Ryan Day’s playoff run. OSU dropped from the 2nd seed straight to the 6th seed. Till now, it was all good. But then came the conference title games. Let’s recount the events: Ryan Day missed the Big 10 title game, and Oregon grabbed the title win against Penn State, followed by Arizona State and Clemson sneaking into the 12-team bracket after their respective title game wins.

Now, what does that leave on the plate for OSU? Yeah, an 8th spot on the playoff list, which means that they are facing off against the 9th seed, and the winner from that bracket is going up against the No.1 team, which is the Ducks. This is a nightmare scenario for Day and Co. They will be facing off against the Vols. Do you have any idea how bad this game is going to get? Let’s look back at the Michigan loss, shall we?. Not only was the Buckeyes’ offense horrendous, but even the defense failed to stop a 5-loss team that doesn’t even have a proper quarterback.

Is this the best roster money can buy? Because if it is, then that’s $21 million going down the drain. See, we ain’t gonna discredit OSU’s season run. They played amazing. Their defense has been close to perfect, and the offense brought in just enough points to make the cut.

But let’s be honest, this won’t be saving them from the Vols or the Ducks game. See, Nick Saban pointed it out perfectly back on College GameDay. You have seen the Hoosiers vs OSU game, right? Did you notice the confidence the Buckeyes had going into that showdown?

Yeah, where was that against Michigan? It kind of felt like Ryan Day was overthinking like a teenager, and that alone managed to wipe out the win from the books. How do you explain the many missed field goals? This was kind of like watching Ole Miss go up against the Gators and Jaxson Dart throwing random passes throughout the entire game. No,w see, we won’t say that Day has “no chance” of winning against the Vols. At the end of the day, Tennessee is just like Alabama.

Against the Vols

In the sense that they sink and swim with their quarterback. If you can get that rare 100% from Nico Iamaleava, then OSU has no shot. Take that Vandy and UTEP games. Not only did Vols manage to blow them out, Nico was pitch-perfect.

The biggest problem this guy has had was with turnovers. In the last few games, this guy has improved a LOT. And this will spell trouble for OSU. Now, if we look past the offense, the Vols have been notorious this season for one major thing: In almost every single game, they have held back their opponents to around 15 points.

That is a big deal when you factor in that they went up against teams like Oklahoma, Alabama, and Kentucky. Can Day turn this game around? He has a shot, but if he wants to win to stand a chance to face off against the Ducks (again), then he has to bring back the same confidence he had when he ended Indiana’s undefeated run.