Paul Finebaum credits Ryan Day for blocking out noise, leading Ohio State to win vs. Tennessee

Going into the College Football Playoff the pressure was mounting on Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day. In particular, there was more than a little outside noise coming from the talking head around college football, like Paul Finebaum.

That pressure on Day has stemmed from his fourth straight loss to the Michigan Wolverines in the regular season. So, finding a way to put on a dominant performance in the College Football Playoff went a long way in silencing those critics.

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While making an appearance on SportsCenter the day after the game, Paul Finebaum credited Ryan Day for Ohio State’s performance and blocking out the noise to beat the Tennessee Volunteers.

“What I was so impressed with was the resiliency of Ohio State.” Paul Finebaum said. “They heard the noise, especially from the pundits, like me, about Ryan Day’s future and they blocked it out. That was what was so impressive. They just went right to it.”

Going into the game, Tennessee was confident it would give the Buckeyes a game. That didn’t end up happening, though, with a final score of 42-17.

“Tennessee is a good football team but you wouldn’t have known it last night because Ohio State beat them in every facet of the game — except one,” Finebaum said. “Tennessee actually did the most trash talking coming in. They had almost 35 or 40 percent of the fans. It did not make any difference because of what Ohio State did on the field.”

With the win over Tennessee, Ryan Day has moved to 67-10 during his time as the head coach at Ohio State. That record now includes two wins in the College Football Playoff, with the other coming back in 2020 under the old four-team format. Coming off five straight seasons with AP Top 10 finishes, the win over Tennessee came despite outside noise questioning if he could get over the hump.

“Credit to Ryan Day,” Finebaum said. “He blocked it out as well. He did not let it get to him. The Michigan loss was nowhere to be found and now they have a chance, again, to make a run.”

Now, Ryan Day is headed to the second round of the Playoff with a trip to the Rose Bowl. There, the top-seeded Oregon Ducks await the Buckeyes. It’s a game that, when the two sides met earlier in the season, the Ducks won in a thriller. Now, Day is looking to pay Oregon back for that loss.