Oh well, if there wasn’t enough carnage already, Will Howard has landed his team in a tough predicament. Many teams on the periphery vying to enter the committee’s top 12 from the outset. Teams like Tennessee are battling from the inside to keep their spot secure. Surely the no.2 team in the country is just going about business securely before their imminent championship game, right?

Alarm bells are ringing loud in Columbus, Ohio and the sound is reverberating all the way to Florida. Remember last year when 13-0 FSU were kept out of the playoffs because their QB got hurt? History has potentially repeated itself, and the Ohio State Buckeyes could bear the brunt this time around.

Will Howard went down after a big hit in an attempt to use his feet and rush for a first down. The QB was lying on his back for a while and you could probably hear a pin drop in the stadium. He’s back on his feet and playing as Ryan Day and co. look to topple arch rivals Michigan. 

However, a risk of re-aggravating something does loom. Will Howard’s ill-health at this juncture could set in motion a gruesome end to the Buckeyes season. Such was the sheer volume of discourse around the FSU debacle that it is exactly where minds swayed to after Howard’s hit. CFB insider Brett McMurphy subtly hinted at it in his tweet after the incident. “If [Will Howard] can’t return, wonder how @CFBPlayoff selection committee will evaluate Buckeyes. If there was only some earlier precedent”, he said.

Their current disposition may shock newer fans unfamiliar with last season. But the FSU Seminoles won the ACC last year. Their snub from the CFP marked the first ever time a Power 5 team went unbeaten and still didn’t make the cut. All because QB Jordan Travis got injured in Week 12. Fortunately for the committee, Will Howard is holding up for now. A serious injury would’ve reopened a can of worms they perhaps don’t want to deal with ever again.

They’ll hope just as much as Ryan Day that Howard’s fine after the adrenaline from playing in The Game wears off.

Ryan Day and co. booed by the home crowd against nemesis Michigan

This iteration of the fabled Ohio State-Michigan rivalry presented an opportunity for Ryan Day. The fabled rivalry put two schools similar in stature but not current status this year around. The Buckeyes were heavy favorites going into The Game. So much so that the result was a foregone conclusion according to even those of a Wolverine persuasion. Yet, what’s transpired on the gridiron is a resurfacing of Ryan Day’s demons.

Late in the second quarter, Michigan actually took the lead in Columbus. It was almost unfathomable before the kickoff that the clash will be competitive even. Let alone Ohio State trailing in their own backyard. Boos of discontent reverberated around the stadium. Ryan Day knew how important it was to avoid any form of a slip-up today. It could well prove fatal for his future in his capacity as the Buckeyes’ HC.

As it turns out, the Shoe’s echoes of concern proved to be valid. Ryan Day and the Buckeyes have lost 10-13 in what is easily the biggest loss of the Ryan Day era. They’ve now lost 4 straight to Michigan.  Coach Day outwardly expressed just how much this game means to him. Somehow, someway, The Game was poised on an even keel heading into the in the dying embers. Michigan managed to muster a fatal field goal. This result has perhaps lost Ryan Day all traction he has with the fanbase and his employers. The booing will not fall on deaf ears. Ohio State will still be in the CFP. However, the Sun may well be setting on Day soon.