Ryan Day made an extremely notable decision to move Ohio State's Senior Day from Week 13 at the "Shoe" with TTUN in town to Week 1, when Ball State makes its way to Columbus. That decision means every Buckeye transfer will be honored before ever taking the field for OSU against a MAC team for kickoff.
CBS Sports' Austin Nivison made a good point about Day's explanation to just get it out of the way before the season, which mentioned Brandon Inniss and Florida State transfer Earl Little Jr. by name: there won't be a connection between the fans and some of the seniors being honored when they plan on being honored.
"That portion of Day's explanation was more eyebrow-raising. How fired up will Ohio State fans be about honoring a player like Little before he even plays a snap for the Buckeyes? They'll be happy that Little is a Buckeye -- no doubt about that -- but the connection between fan base and player won't be fully formed yet," Nivison wrote.
Ryan Day's next step might as well be to get rid of Senior Day altogether. He clearly didn't sound excited about it when he said that the program's leadership sat back and agreed, "Why don't we just recognize all the seniors at the end of the beginning of the year and let them know how much we appreciate everything they've done and then move on with the season?"
If it's an event to just move on from, there's clearly not much energy about it. As Day pointed out, the sport is changing. Perhaps "Senior Day" is the next tradition to go, since the five-seasons-in-five-years rule is about to redefine what a senior even is.
Ryan Day still sold 'The Game' better than Kyle Whittingham did
Day misspoke here. It was a cold statement to explain away what Wolverine fans are calling fear on Day's part. While that's probably a stretch, the explanation to move the game to Week 1 is an odd one. Week 11 with Northwestern in town made the most sense, though Day indicated the brain trust passed on that. Week 6 against Maryland would've been ideal, too. The transfers would've definitely made a connection with the fanbase by then.
Nonetheless, what Day said about "The Game" still honored its spirit. Day never downplayed the rivalry. All Kyle Whittingham, his coaching staff, and his players have done is try to say it's just another game.
In the grand scheme, downplaying Senior Day is sad but understandable in this cold, unfeeling world we live in. Downplaying the preeminent rivalry in all of college football is a cardinal sin. Even when it comes to mishaps, the Scarlet and Gray get the win over the Maize and Blue in the gridiron realm these days.
Of course, Day is now set up to look just as bad as Whittingham with a loss. Downplaying "The Game" and losing, and changing up your whole schedule to focus on "The Game" and losing are both horrific looks.
We'll see what coach will eat their words on November 28.
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