Rece Davis explains what could cause Ryan Day 'real discontent' with Ohio State fans

Every coach faces frustrated fans at some point in their career. However, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has run into more heat than usual, lately. OSU has lost its past three meetings against Michigan. Consequently, losing the Big Ten.

However, Ohio State has a rare opportunity in front of it for the upcoming season. Michigan lost head coach Jim Harbaugh to the NFL, the College Football Playoff is expanding to a 12-team format and Ohio State has found massive success in the transfer portal.

The ingredients are there for Day to deliver a delicious treat for Ohio State fans in 2024. On Thursday, College GameDay host Rece Davis revealed how important it will be for Day to capitalize on the opportunity.

“I don’t believe there is real heat, nor should there be, on Ryan Day,” Davis said. “There are discontented factions of fans that every school in America has if you don’t win every game and cover every spread and raise the national championship trophy.

“That said, there might be some real discontent if Ohio State let’s say doesn’t win the Big Ten, goes to the playoff and either loses a home game in the first round or loses in the quarterfinal, and you spent whatever the total ends up being and you don’t get more out of it than you had.”

Ohio State shows growth in the offseason

While there’s no official total, Ohio State’s spending has been heavy in the transfer portal. The team has added six players in the transfer portal, boasting the No. 15 transfer class, according to On3’s Transfer Portal Team Rankings.

Ohio State’s incoming group is headlined by former Alabama safety Caleb Downs. In the 2023 campaign, Downs was the SEC Freshman of the Year and the SEC Newcomer of the Year.

The standout DB also earned first-team All-SEC honors. He became the first Alabama freshman to lead the team in tackles in program history with 107. Downs isn’t the only Alabama player who is heading to Columbus.

Former Alabama commit Julian Sayin transferred to Ohio State two days after Downs. Unlike Downs, Sayin never played a snap for Alabama. Nonetheless, he boasted rare potential. The 6-foot-2 prospect was the No. 1 overall QB in the 2024 cycle, according to On3 Industry Rankings.

Davis believes Ryan Day can’t afford to fail with so much talent on next season’s roster.

“Not that Ohio State isn’t, by definition, always all in on winning. They are. But, this feels like they’ve gone to a higher stakes table and said, ‘Hey, we found some more money, and here’s some more we’d like to push into the middle to win it all right now,'” Davis said.