Ohio State Football: Ryan Day doesn’t respect The Game

The Ohio State football program has played The Game as the last game of the season pretty much since the birth of the rivalry. The Buckeyes and Wolverines have played that game at noon ever since I’ve been alive. Apparently, Ryan Day wants to change that.

Day mentioned during Media Day on Wednesday that the Big Ten should look at changing that game from the last game of the season with the conference getting rid of divisions. Because of that, there’s a chance that the Buckeyes could play TTUN twice in a row.

I have to be honest, I’m appalled by that suggestion. The Ohio State football team playing TTUN during some other week is blasphemy. Every single fan of both programs looks forward to that weekend every single year. I know Buckeye fans have it circled on their calendars this year.

This is what people were worried about when the Buckeyes hired a coach not from Ohio to lead the program. All of the other coaches the Buckeyes have had have been from the state and grew up around the rivalry. Day is from the Northeast so he didn’t grow up in it.

Day has done a lot of good things for the program in recent years. He’s made three College Football Playoffs and has a National Championship Game appearance. But he better understand the rivalry really quickly. If he doesn’t, he could be staring at a third-straight loss to TTUN and could be out of a job.

I like Day as a person. He’s done a lot for mental health advocacy around the program and Columbus at large. He’s a leader of men and the players love playing for him. This is a major concern for me though. If he doesn’t understand why this game needs to be played at the end of every season, can he understand how to get an edge?

I hope Day reverses course on this thought. It’s a bad look.