Even though the Ohio State Buckeyes will seemingly be part of the College Football Playoffs, questions continue to swirl around head coach Ryan Day.
The Buckeyes lost their fourth straight game to Michigan last Saturday, knocking Ohio State out of the Big Ten championship game. Ohio State fell 13-10 to the unranked Wolverines despite being a 19.5-point favorite at home.
The loss dropped Day’s record against Michigan to 1-4. Overall, he’s 66-10 in seven seasons with Ohio State. Despite his impressive win-loss record, calls have grown for Day’s dismissal due to his struggles against the program’s biggest rival.
A top college football insider doesn’t believe Ohio State will fire Day but wouldn’t be surprised if the coach leaves on his own accord.
College football insider believes Ryan Day would leave Ohio State to protect family
During an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Fox Sports college football insider Bruce Feldman speculated that Day might consider moving on to protect his family.
“I think the issue is going to come back to Ryan Day, at some point, doing some evaluation of just everything around him with his family, and from everything I’ve heard, it has been a really, really tough time for them. They’ve been dealing with a lot the past couple of years. And that was before Saturday, and I think that will only get worse,” Feldman said.
“I think he has a great awareness of the importance of mental health, and I wonder if when he sits down after the season and he thinks, ‘Do I want to keep doing this here? Is this the best thing for me and my family?’ I think that, to me, that’s a different question than is Ohio State ready to move on from him.”
Despite the Michigan loss, Ohio State is currently ranked sixth in the College Football Playoff rankings and would be the No. 8 seed in the expanded playoff format, according to ESPN. (The two lower-ranked conferences get automatic byes.)
If these rankings hold, the Buckeyes would face the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the playoffs. Feldman believes Ohio State could still contend for the national championship this year.
“I think they’re the most talented team in the country top to bottom,” Feldman noted. “Just right now, they’re not playing well. There’s going to be a lot of soul searching.”