Saturday will be the first time that Jim Knowles faces the Ohio State football team since he left in the offseason. Knowles left the Buckeyes to become the highest-paid coordinator in college football at Penn State. That hasn't gone so well, as they have lost four straight games, and James Franklin was fired.
The Ohio State Buckeyes host Penn State at noon on Saturday. They are still preparing for a fight from the Nittany Lions, as Ryan Day still believes this team has a lot of talent. Knowles has talent on defense that he will be bringing to Columbus, as well.
Day was the one who hired Knowles at the start of the 2022 season, and he wanted to keep him after winning the national championship. Day made it pretty clear that he and Knowles don't exchange Christmas cards after he decided to leave Columbus.
Ryan Day hints that he and Jim Knowles are not friends after he left Ohio State
Day was asked about Knowles, and he gave an answer that seems to indicate that he wants to put Knowles' defense in the dirt on Saturday.
"Like any relationship, when it breaks off, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but there really hasn't been much communication. He did a great job when he was here, helped us win a national championship, kind of left it at that. Then it was, 'Hey, we gotta go make a replacement and move on from there.' Yeah, that's kind of how it is. It was abrupt, but we certainly respect the work he did when he was here."
The fact that there hasn't been much communication isn't surprising, considering how things ended. Day seemed to indicate that he was caught off guard that Knowles wanted to leave in the first place. It seems that he wants to show him that he made the wrong choice leaving the Buckeyes.
Ohio State is going to be motivated to stick it to their old coach. It wouldn't be surprising for Ohio State to put up a massive amount of points in this game. The line has been steadily climbing throughout the week, so Vegas seems to expect some fireworks, too.
Day knows how Knowles is going to try to attack his offense, so he's in a unique position to game plan against him. This could be one of the few blowouts that have happened in this rivalry.