Stephen A. Smith: Ohio State 'can get rid of' Ryan Day if they lose to Tennessee

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believes Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has more pressure on him than anyone involved in the 2024 College Football Playoff.

Day’s bunch famously fell to Michigan during the final week of the regular season, but thankfully for Buckeyes fans the team already locked up their spot in the 12-team dance before their loss to the Wolverines. While Ohio State only lost twice in 2024, and Day’s record is borderline impeccable outside of Michigan, the cries for a replacement have only continued to grow.

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How can Day stop the noise? By winning a national title. That’s what Smith believes, as he explained on Wednesday’s edition of First Take.

“I don’t get to watch as much college football as you two do. I defer to y’all. I’ve watched a few games this year. I’m going to agree with Paul on this one, with Ohio State, but I’m going to take it a step further,” Smith explained. “I watched that game against Michigan. I watched him lose 13-10. You cannot be Ryan Day, who has lost three straight to Michigan with Jim Harbaugh, come back against Sherrone Moore, lose to Michigan, and then the first, advanced 12-team playoff format, you end up losing in the first round, and keep your job. I know it sounds crazy, because the brother is like 66-10 against everybody else, you know? I mean, the guy’s record is his record. But when you lose to Michigan, and you ain’t in the national championship picture, in the age of NIL, when you had $20M on your roster, I think they can get rid of him. I think they can get rid of him.

“Now I’m not saying this — please Paul, don’t get me wrong, I’m just using this as a hypothetical example or whatever. But somebody that you believe can recruit like a Primetime Deion Sanders. I’m not saying him literally. I’m saying, I don’t put it past Ohio State to go and look for somebody like that. Because we want to make sure of two things, we want to beat Michigan, and we want to be in the national championship picture. We don’t want to be backing in. We don’t want to be looking up. Oregon now is the No. 1 seed. They’ve come in, and they’ve taken over — Dan Lanning and these boys doing what they do. They don’t want to be deferring to anybody. It’s supposed to be about them or Michigan. Ryan Day has messed that up.

“If you don’t win, and you get bounced out in the first round — I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m not advocating for it, because overall, his record is impressive enough to keep him. But it would have surprised me at all if Ohio State said, ‘Man, we need to move in a different direction.’ I think he’s the one under the most pressure.”

Alas, the journey begins this weekend for Ryan Day and Ohio State, as they’ll welcome Tennessee to town for an all-important showdown. If the Buckeyes don’t win, Stephen A. Smith believes they could be looking for a new coach, and it’s tough to argue with that sentiment after breaking it down.