Ryan Day addresses pressure to win championship given NIL figures, Michigan loss

Coming into the 2024 regular season, there were massive expectations on Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes. That was, in no small part, thanks to the amount that it was reported the program spent on NIL. However, even with that money spent, the Buckeyes still lost two regular season games, including to Michigan.

Ohio State bounced back, though, and made a run in the College Football Playoff, eventually living up to expectations by winning the national championship. Following the win, Ryan Day shared some of his thoughts on how this Ohio State team was able to overcome that pressure from NIL and how the regular season went to win a national championship.

“I think that this Playoff system allowed our team to learn and grow and build,” Ryan Day said. “You can whatever you want about — people talk a lot about how much money guys were making in NIL, different things like that, that was just because NIL was available. You know?”

It had been reported that Ohio State spent around $20 million on the football program through NIL for the season. A large portion of that was to retain players who were already at Ohio State. However, the Buckeyes did also add some major transfers, like Will Howard, Caleb Downs, and Quinshon Judkins.

“The majority of our team came back. These guys have been here for a long time. Certainly, Will was a huge addition, Caleb was a huge addition. Don’t get me wrong,” Day said. “But when you hear that number that doesn’t mean a whole lot other than the fact that the market value for our guys in Columbus and Ohio State is pretty high. That’s really what it means. So, when that got tagged on us early, there was a lot of pressure put on our players, but that’s nothing new at Ohio State.”

Ohio State dropped a close game to Oregon before finishing the regular season with a fourth straight loss to Michigan. That game kept the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten Championship Game and put a ton of pressure on the program to succeed in the Playoff after those preseason expectations were so high for Ohio State.

“I think the difference is we finished the season the right way and we grew, we built, and we responded to tough times. Isn’t that what life is all about? These guys learned a bunch of life lessons but they’re gonna go down in Ohio State history as one of the greatest teams to ever play at Ohio State. After all the things that have been said throughout the year, these guys are going to be cemented as one of the best stories in Ohio State history and one of the best football teams ever. Only nine teams have ever done it and three in over 50 years. These guys, right here. There was a point when not a lot of people had that vision,” Day said.

“But these guys did and they saw it through and Ohio State may not be for everybody but it’s for these guys and I’m proud of them.”