Ryan Day reveals he did not sleep on flight home breaking down Texas film

In a regular week, Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day likes to give his team a day to enjoy a win and reset for the next week. However, heading into a College Football Playoff semifinal against the Texas Longhorns, Day wasn’t able to do that for himself after the Rose Bowl win.

Ahead of the Cotton Bowl, Day shared that he put on Texas film on the flight home from California and wasn’t even able to sleep.

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“I took the first two hours of the flight and went through the film,” Ryan Day said. “Made a bunch of notes so when we got in here the next day, we knew — we ended up getting home at about 5 a.m. So, it was a quick turnaround, but we wanted to get all that out of the way so that when we’re in here, we could get going. But after those two hours, jumped on Texas and just went right into it.”

After suffering a frustrating loss in the regular season finale to Michigan, Ohio State has been on a tear under Ryan Day. The Buckeyes were dominant in two Playoff wins over Tennessee and Oregon. Now, Ohio State is facing another major challenge against a Texas team that ended the season as the runner-up in the SEC.

“Kind of running on adrenaline a little bit, didn’t really sleep on the flight. A lot of people were knocked out. I wasn’t. I was grinding on that film trying to figure out how to get a head start because sometimes your best thoughts are when the head hits the pillow at night or when you wake up in the morning, fresh,” Day said.

“So, sometimes I like to get that picture on my mind. Here’s a redzone, here’s a third down, here’s how they’re trying to attack you. Right before you go to bed you just write something down and when you wake up fresh in the morning. Some things come to you. So, I tried to get my eyes on it, and then slept for a few hours and got back in here.”

Across from Ryan Day is going to be Steve Sarkisian. The Texas head coach is known as one of the best offensive minds in all of football, regardless of level. So, just as Day wants to be ready for the game, Sarkisian undoubtedly will also have something unique for the Cotton Bowl.

Ohio State will be back in action on Friday, January 10th at 7:30 p.m. in the Cotton Bowl against Texas. A win would send the Buckeyes to one final game with a national championship on the line.

Paul Finebaum addresses how Ryan Day has answered the critics

Ryan Day has dealt with numerous critics during the time he’s been at Ohio State, with those mounting amid his struggles to beat Michigan. However, ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum believes he’s done a good job answering those critics during this Playoff run.

“Everyone wants to point at Stephen A. Smith or Greg McElroy or me or somebody else, but it was their fan base. His fan base turned on him. And don’t forget the noted Poet Laureate of college football, Kirk Herbstreit. He’s the one that really started it all on Selection Sunday by saying it could be a bad thing for Ohio State to play at home, because it could turn toxic. That’s when the narrative began about Ohio State in the playoffs,” Finebaum said.

“Certainly, we already knew it from the Michigan game on. As far as how Ryan Day has handled things, it has been exemplary for somebody that has been as disliked by his own fan base as he has. He has just turned the other cheek. He’s ignored it. He’s adjusted, and he’s coaching at the highest possible level right now.”