So far, Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes have been indomitable. After all, give it a thought. The man who was almost on the verge of losing his job, gifted fans a winning streak. They showed Tennesse Volunteers, Oregon Ducks, and Texas Longhorns who they are. Now they are all geared to bag the 2025 College Football National Championship title. They would be facing off against Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 

So, as per the projections playoffs, neither team would’ve even gotten in. Meanwhile, now that Day’s program has broken every theory wrong, they might be on cloud nine. However, here comes a warning that is going to keep the Buckeyes grounded. But the Ohio State fans choose to remain hopeful.   

A new challenge for Ryan Day’s Ohio State

Looks like tough times are ahead of the Buckeyes. Already, they have been the unlucky ones when it comes to getting blown out by the officiating crew. The stats are surely going to give you chills! As per the reports, there has not been a single holding penalty called on an Ohio State opponent this year. Their opponents only get 3.7 penalties called on them per game. In the 2024 season, there have several games where the penalties should have been called for Day’s squad. Josh Pate further came up with some stats on the Buckeyes’ struggling fate. He tweeted, “It’s legitimately insane how badly Ohio State gets screwed via officiating. There are 134 teams in FBS…Ohio State is 134th in opponent penalization.” Now if you think that’s all Day’s boys had to go through, this season, hold on!

There is some bad news. As a fan/ insider posted on Reddit, “Same crew that worked the Penn State-Boise State Fiesta Bowl.” The final game will feature a referee crew consisting of an SEC all-star crew headlined by Steve Marlowe. Yes, folks, it’s the same Marlowe who worked Penn State’s win earlier in the CFP over the Boise State Broncos. Now that’s enough to give Ohio State fans nightmares. 

As another Reddit user reminded, “I just looked it up, and PSU-Boise combined for 23 penalties and 188 penalty yards in that game.” As we must remember, the Nittany Lions gave Boise State 10 penalties for 98 yards. But looks like Ohio State fans are manifesting positive things for Day and Co.   

Fans share their take on the officiating crew before Ryan Day’s big day

Now what made the College Football Committee pick up the referees for the final game? It’s said that since neither Day’s program nor Freeman’s tribe belongs to the SEC, they took this decision. This has been for the sole purpose of not giving rise to any bias. The Buckeyes were forced into a four-quarter battle — plagued by nine penalties — with the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl. But to a fan, this is what adds that suspense to the game, “It’s a way more enjoyable game to watch too tbh. I agreed with the majority of the flags we got called on us in the cotton bowl but man did those flags make that game a bear to watch.”

Another OSU fan believes that the better team should be at the winning end. For that even if they will be to control the reins harder on the inferior team, that’s okay. After all, they know how Day’s boys are the best, “Yeah this is how the better team wins every time. They need to tip the scales back towards the inferior team. Would be extremely disappointed to watch a title game controlled by the refs.”

“That’s what I saw in the Texas game. More calls, but against the Buckeyes. No holds against Texas though,” commented a disappointed fan after the Ohio State got marred by penalties against the Longhorns. Another Buckeyes fans are scared of their fate since the SEC referees, the greatest example being Matt Loeffler penalized Texas Longhorns eight times in the first half against Georgia. So he wrote, “SEC crews have had heavy trigger fingers all year. We don’t care how well you can adhere to the rulebook to appease your bosses. Let the boys play.”

While another plan comes off all chilled out. He is not bothered about the penalties thrown at Ohio State unless and until some goes Notre Dame’s way as well, “Don’t matter as long as I’m seeing the same calls go for both sides.” Now let’s see what fate has in store for Ryan Day’s boys.