Kirk Herbstreit reveals how much danger Ryan Day was in after loss to Michigan

Ryan Day‘s job security at Ohio State became a hot topic across the college football world in the days immediately following a fourth-straight loss to bitter rival Michigan in the regular-season finale Nov. 30.

Less than two months later, all hot seat speculation involving the Buckeyes head coach has been put into a deep freeze after Ohio State (14-2) rolled through the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff to claim its first national championship since 2014 with Monday night’s 34-23 win over Notre Dame from Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Of course, according to ESPN broadcaster and College GameDay analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a former Buckeyes quarterback and alumnus himself, Day’s job status in Columbus was never in doubt among the true Ohio State decision-makers.

“Anytime you win a national championship, in the NFL it’s like winning a Super Bowl, you jut go into a different galaxy, you go into a different stratosphere. And I don’t think (Day) was every at trouble at Ohio State. I think rational minds behind the scenes – the president, the athletic director – they were all-in, even before this four game run,” Herbstreit said on Tuesday’s The Pat McAfee Show. “But what they put together is historic. It’s the first 12-team Playoff that we’ve seen, it’s a team coming off a very heartbreaking loss. You guys obviously talked about this, but they talked about the four games, getting the four (Playoff) games and it not being over. And it’s pretty easy after you lose a fourth time to your rival to fall apart. Guys move on, get ready for the league (NFL), do whatever you’re going to do.”

Following the shocking 13-10 setback vs. the rival Wolverines to end the regular season — Day’s fourth-consecutive loss in The Game — Ohio State found a way to pull together in the following week while Oregon and Penn State battled it out in the Big Ten Conference championship game. The Buckeyes rallied and went on a historic Playoff run, rolling through double-digit victories over Tennessee, the No. 1-ranked Ducks, Texas and the Fighting Irish by a combined score of 145-75.

While Day certainly deserves plenty of credit for that, Herbstriet was quick to praise the veteran-laden Buckeyes roster.

“I tell you, Ryan Day did a great job, … (but) if he didn’t have so many veterans, and if you go around that defense: JTT (JT Tuimoloau), Jack Sawyer, Tyleik Williams, Ty Hamilton – and that’s just front four. Cody Simons, Sonny Styles, Jordn Hancock, Caleb Downs has become a guy they rely on, Lathan Ransom, Denzel Burke,” Herbstreit continued. “(Most of) these guys have been around four years, and they’ve won some big games, they lost to Georgia a couple of years ago, lost to Michigan. And I just think there was a buy-in, and that’s what made it so special.

“It’s not just Ryan Day, though you’re happy for him and his staff, but those veteran players that said, ‘Guys, we can do something off of this loss.’ If he didn’t have that veteran presence in the locker room, I don’t know if they accomplish this. So I think those players, those seniors, deserve a ton of credit for pulling together and getting it done those last four games.”

Ryan Day takes accountability for Michigan loss, reflects on playoff run

When Ryan Day and Ohio State fell to Michigan in November, college football fans and pundits alike believed the Buckeyes were cooked, with their dreams of winning a national title up in flames.

It was a tremendous embarrassment for Day and company, but instead of sulking and hanging their heads ahead of their chance at redemption in the College Football Playoff, Ohio State made it their mission to change the narrative. Win a win over Notre Dame in the National Championship Game, they’ve become immortal, and accomplished exactly what they set out to achieve.

It’s not lost on Day how far his team came over the past six weeks and change, and he reflected on the matter during his postgame press conference, taking the responsibility for Ohio State’s loss to their hated rival, while giving all the credit for the turnaround to his players, as a coach should.

“I wouldn’t say it was a reset. It wasn’t like, at the end of the year, we were broken. It wasn’t that way. We had an awful day. I don’t know how else to describe it. We had an awful day. I just said, ‘We could never do that again.’ I think it’s the job of the head coach to take the responsibility when something goes bad like that,” Day said, regarding Ohio State’s loss to Michigan in November. “But then, on days like this, make sure that everyone understands that it’s the warriors and guys on the field that deserve all the credit. Not the coach. The coach gets too much attention sometimes. I want to make sure that these guys are the ones that are getting the attention.

“But in terms of the Playoff, it’s very, very different. It’s extremely different than what we’ve gone through in the past. This is much more like the NFL. Guys are not in class. But our team has come together so well over the last month and a half. There really isn’t any school. All we do is spend time together. It’s like being around a family. This is the tightest group of guys that I’ve ever been around before, and to think that we’re not going to be together again is not something that I’m looking forward too. You know, I’m going to miss these guys. They’re great people.”

Steve Samra contributed to this report.