Rece Davis raises concerns about Ryan Day's postgame speech after Notre Dame win

After Ohio State pulled off a last-second victory over Notre Dame late Saturday night, Ryan Day made sure to call out legendary Fighting Irish coach Lou Holtz in his postgame interview. Holtz said Day’s Buckeyes teams lost big games because the other teams played tougher, and he took exception to those remarks.

But the way he expressed his thoughts caught the attention of ESPN’s Rece Davis.

Holtz made his comments on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday when Ty Schmit — dressed as Holtz while doing an impersonation — interviewed him. It was meant for humor, but the questions were interesting. Davis noted the humor of the interview and playfully wondered if Day knew which “Lou Holtz” called out his team.

“I’m worried — very, very concerned — about Ryan Day and his reaction after that win against Notre Dame,” Davis said on The College GameDay Podcast. “Which for political fans, in some moments, felt almost Howard Dean-esque in a lot of yelling. But I’m very concerned because of this. I’m not sure Ryan was certain what the target of his anger should be. Because I’m not certain that Ryan knew exactly what he heard. Because what Ryan responded to in the aftermath was a quote that he attributed to Lou Holtz from The Pat McAfee Show.

“But if you stop and think about this: At the moment of the quote, Lou Holtz original article was being interviewed by Lou Holtz. I mean, how do you tell the difference? There was somebody there — Ty Schmit — who was dressed up as Lou Holtz with a mask, doing a magic trick, a dead-on impression? Was it Lou Holtz that said it? Or was it fake Lou Holtz that said it?”

Of course, it was the real Holtz who pin-pointed the reasons for Ohio State’s struggles against top teams. But even if Day knew that, Davis pondered if Holtz wound up in the middle of where his anger should have gone.

Holtz pointed out Ohio State’s two losses to Michigan in his answer. Davis likened his comments about Holtz to if Jim Harbaugh called out the legendary Woody Hayes — who died in 1987 — about something he said about the Wolverines.

“So Ryan, was he so discombobulated by dual Lou Holtzes that he became confused and misdirected his anger?” Davis said. “Does he really know at whom he should have been angry? Or what it that he was really mad at Jim Harbaugh and took it out on Lou Holtz when he should have been mad at fake Lou Holtz. Or did he take it out on fake Lou Holtz when he should have been mad at real Lou Holtz?

“But you know, really, I don’t really blame him because I remember after Michigan beat Ohio State for the first time. And if you’ll remember, Ryan Day taking aim at Lou Holtz was right and made just as much sense as when Jim Harbaugh said after beating after beating Ohio State, ‘Where’s Woody Hayes? Where’s Woody Hayes right now and saying that I only went for two because I couldn’t go for three to score 50 points? I’d like to know where Woody Hayes is right now.’ So you know, I think that made about the same amount of sense — which, okay, the last part didn’t happen. But the truth of the matter is it made about as much sense as if Jim had yelled, ‘Where’s Woody Hayes? We showed him.'”