Ryan Day has a lot of explaining to do after Ohio State's 30-18 loss to USC at Los Angeles Memorial Stadium on Halloween night.
His excuse that the team didn't support true freshman quarterback Luke Fahey in his QB1 debut in Columbus only goes so far.
Day is the one who recruited this team and brought on the two former NFL head coaches who are running things on both sides of the ball. He's the one who hired Arthur Smith to be the offensive play-caller and Matt Patricia to be the team's defensive coordinator.
These results are on him. After the uninspiring effort against the Trojans, most pointed out that Day's big-game coaching performances don't live up to his salary or the talent level in Scarlet and Gray.
At this point, the narrative is skeptical about whether Day can coach this roster, without starting quarterback Julian Sayin, to the results that should be expected, even down the team's Heisman candidate signal-caller.
CBS Sports' Shehan Jeyarajah noted that this team doesn't even have the type of NFL-caliber talent that past Buckeyes rosters have had. Jeremiah Smith is the only player in the NFL draft prospect rankings' top 50.
"This is a good roster, but nothing like the championship-level ones," Jeyarajah wrote. "Critics have long claimed Day was born on third base. This is the moment when we discover if he's able to coach up a deficient roster."
To be clear, teams don't necessarily need to possess overwhelming NFL talent to do great things. The 2010 Auburn Tigers had six players taken throughout the following three drafts and only two first-round picks.
Auburn had Cam Newton as the difference-maker, though. Sayin wasn't transformational on his own, but he was the key to JJ Smith doing historic things. He had 10 receptions against USC, but Smith didn't look like the game-changing talent he's been all year. Smith had his second-lowest receiving yards in a game against the Trojans. His lowest came against Indiana, the game Sayin went down.
You see where this is going.
Ryan Day losing Julian Sayin may have exposed his fatal flaw
Day knows how to recruit quarterbacks well. All of his starting quarterbacks in the last decade have had stints in the NFL.
His ability to develop quarterbacks is now a legitimate question. Perhaps he can right the ship with Fahey or Tavien St. Clair in the next month. St. Clair not being ready and Day needing to roll with Fahey is disqualifying in its own right, frankly.
Who is the future of this program under center? If it's not someone on the roster already, is he going to need a transfer portal option to save the day again, à la Will Howard in 2024?
The Buckeye brand sells itself in many ways. There may be someone out there who could leverage it the same way, alongside GM Mark Pantoni, who also happens to be more of a game-day strategist and quarterback whisperer.
Day needs to gain control of this narrative quickly. The USC loss was a doomsday scenario in the way it played out.
Lose again, or God forbid two more times, or to TTUN, and the calls for a new leader in Central Ohio will grow even louder.
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