Nick Saban sends message to Ohio State, Ryan Day after Michigan loss

Despite their disappointment in how they’ll be entering the College Football Playoff, Nick Saban says Ohio State has got to get it together.

Saban spoke about how the Buckeyes move forward following their upset loss in The Game while on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ on Friday. While he gets their frustration with what happened, he reminded them that they’re still very much playing for a national title later this month in the CFP.

“Well, I think it’s imperative to challenge them to respond,” said Saban.

“I mean, they obviously lost a tough game – no doubt about it – a game that means a lot to a lot of people,” Saban said. “But I would say, look, guys, let’s learn from the mistakes that we made in this game, alright, because we have a really good football team and we’ve got a chance to win a national championship here. So let’s go start doing the things we need to do on a consistent basis to be able to do that.”

Much of that response needs to be how the Buckeyes handle pressure says Saban. He thinks there needs to be more confidence in who they are and what they’re doing rather than focusing on what’s happening with whoever’s on the opposing sideline.

“Ohio State played really free and easy against Indiana, alright. I thought not so much against Michigan. I know exactly why that is,” Saban said. “You’ve got to have conviction in whatever you’re trying to do but you’ve also got to be confident in doing it. Then you’ve got to trust and believe in it that you’re going to go out there and be able to execute no matter who you play.”

“It’s about what you do. It’s not about what the other team does,” continued Saban. “As long as you can stay focused on that, I think you can go play without a bunch of anxiety because you’re confident in being able to do what you’re supposed to do.”

If they do that, Ohio State has as good of a chance as anyone to win the College Football Playoff. ‘If’ is the key word, though, with two weeks still for them to sort that out between now and the earliest that they could kickoff next.

“Hey, I think they’ve got a good team,” Saban said. “I think they got a good opportunity. I think they’ve got to get off the negative b.s. that they’re probably getting criticized for for losing this game and use that as a stepping stone to be able to improve so that they have a chance to win the championship.”