Mailbox: Some are supportive, but plenty of Ohio State football fans are angry at Ryan Day
Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.
On Ohio State football
To the editor: Oh, no! Punched in the mouth again by Michigan. This loss has be one of the worst in OSU football history. OSU lost to a team without their head coach as well as their best offensive lineman and best cover corner, who were hurt during the game. Just pathetic. Hey, Ryan Day, easy to talk tough when you are feasting on the Western Kentuckys, Youngstown States or a ridiculous Notre Dame team playing with only 10 players on the field during the most important play of the game. Is Day the Ohio version of James Franklin? How else can you explain the four- and five-star talent with all those highly paid coaches consistently losing the biggest, most important games of the season? Certainly they do not have the heart of a champion.
Mickey Geslak, Galena
To the editor: John Cooper, err, Ryan Day is officially on notice.
John Croyle, Columbus
Dear Brian: It should be obvious to Ryan Day that a pass-only QB can’t beat TTUN. He inherited Justin Fields as a dual threat. Every QB since then has not run the ball at all. With this type of QB, TTUN can free up a linebacker to stop the run, which they have done. Our last win came over a terrible TTUN during COVID. Coach Day, get a QB in the transfer portal or play Kienholz, who ran for 1,300 yards in high school.
Don White, Mount Vernon
To the editor: Sad to say, but when you look at OSU's football recruiting the past three years, they rank far higher than Michigan. So, if you have the better players ... 'Nuf said.
Cary Criss, Dublin
To the editor: It's likely by now that a bigly number of online complaints have been made by the Buckeye Nation lunatic fringe (we all know you're out there) about the loss to TTUN. Instead of recognizing the quality of the Buckeyes' performance, they want to moronically criticize and ignore how fortunate we are to have such a high-caliber football team led by one of the winningest coaches currently employed. Surely, all the loudmouth complainers combined couldn't do one iota better or attain the excellence demonstrated by our Buckeyes game in and game out, season in and season out. Congrats coach Day and the entire football team. You make us proud.
Suzanne Martin, Delaware
To the editor: Kirby Smart was 0-4 against Alabama/Nick Saban. Georgia should have fired him on the spot.Kirk McVay
To Kirk: I'm no Bulldog, but my guess is there were plenty of letters to the editor down South demanding that very thing.
To the editor: Terrible of Maurice Clarett calling for coach Ryan Day's ouster. So he couldn't beat Michigan. Is that grounds for dismissal? People here in Pennsyvania have similar feelings about James Franklin at Penn State. A 10-2 mark isn't too shabby. Everyone's a critic!
Matt Engel, Wilkes Barre, Pa.
To Brian: Roman Wilson had three catches for 36 yards and a gift touchdown that was really an interception that was ripped out of his grasp by Denzel Burke. His other two catches were for a whopping 14 yards. Marvin Harrison Jr. had five catches for 118 yards and a legitimate touchdown, including a 44-yard one-handed catch while being tackled by the Michigan DB. Nevertheless, Wilson says Harrison isn't tough enough. In reality, Roman Wilson is a speck on the windshield of Marvin Harrison's career.
Steve McCoy
To the editor: The Game proved that the old adage "Winners Never Cheat and Cheaters Never Win" no longer applies.
Mike Howard, Westerville
To the editor: Day's days are over at OSU. Why? He can't be trusted. He does not get the code of ethics for OSU. Do we have to win? No. But we should always play to win. We do not play it safe. We leave it all on the field. This loss hurt because there was no reason for the loss. You knew after the long recess with the injured player they would go for a quick TD. Day did not seem to understand. It is never acceptable for the best team with the most talent to lose. Good day to Day.
Linda Wilson, Venice Fla.
To Linda: I haven't seen that code of ethics. Does it include staying within the rules while scouting opponents?
To the editor: I've heard the word is they want Ryan Day fired. I think he's done a good job, and the ones who want him fired probably couldn't do a better job than what he has already done. Appreciate what he has done. Yes, I wanted Ohio State to win, but things happened and it is not all Ryan's day fault. l thought they played a good game, even though there were some mishaps. So what? Learn from them. Learn from your mistakes and be better for the next one because I believe in you all. Keep your heads up.
Della Thomas
To Brian: The new iteration of the OSU-Michigan football game is beginning to look a lot like the old ones under John Cooper. Lack of intensity, inability to stop UMs offense in the second half, other team's players making most of the big plays and inability to deliver in crunch time were all hallmarks of the 2-10-1 John Cooper era. Sadly, not only is history repeating itself, but Ryan Day, with his dumbed-down, lack-of-imagination playbook, has added a new wrinkle to this dismal second act. Even my better half, who detests watching football, has figured out that Day plays these games not to win, but trying not to lose. We called this "choking" under Cooper, and Day's performance in this pressure cooker of a game is much the same. Cooper's record in bowl games was 3-8, and with Day now 1-3 vs UM and 1-3 in the CFP, it's time to cut these losses and send Day packing.
Jeff Petsche, Delray Beach, Fla.
To the editor: Georgia vs OSU, 2022: 19 seconds to go. No spike. Ryan Day waits for the timeout. 50-yard field goal no good. ... First half, Michigan 2023 and at least 32 seconds to go: Waits 29 seconds. Timeout, to have the kicker kick his longest attempt ever. Coach Day, I like you but you will never "put a hundred" on them if you keep playing it safe.
Paul Theibert
To the editor: I have one question and one question only: Ryan Day, do you have any clue what “play action” is? This would have had so much effect on the Michigan defense and kept them off balance and would have been the difference in this game.
Mike Cirner
To the editor: I have been a fan since about 1957, and can share some thoughts about the situation. Many of us calling for the termination of a coach who cannot win the big one are not saying to just get rid of him. My opinion was to see, behind the scenes, if a great candidate would be available to replace him. Some have pointed out that the “big one” is sometimes other teams, and he lost to Clemson and Georgia in playoff games. Being close but still losing is not acceptable. Every year now, Day has a better recruiting class than the enemy but continues to lose to them. Now we have kids like the one from Northmont going up there, which makes me recall Charles Woodson and Desmond Howard, who did the same thing. This will only get worse now because of the annual loss in The Game. Day reminds me of John Cooper. He also recruited a great bunch but lost regularly. In 1996 they lost The Game at home, and that was their only loss. They went to Rose Bowl since they had won the league anyway and upset Arizona State, ending their perfect season. Many of us lobbied to make OSU national champs, but having lost to that team up north cost them. My hatred of the enemy stems from 1969, when Woody had a team that had blown everyone away until the game up there. We need to beat them, and if Ryan Day cannot do it it is time to find a a coach who can win it.Thomas W. Billing, Springfield
To Thomas (and others, but not the ever-forgiving Della and Suzanne, though they are free to read this): The end-of-the-world thing with Ohio State fans is getting old, and they are missing that this is a golden era of Ohio State football. Yes, Day is 1-3 against Michigan but he has faced Michigan teams that were better than those Urban Meyer faced. Day is 56-7 at OSU with no hint of scandal, and the rest of the nation is laughing that Buckeye fans consider him a failure.
To the editor: The tragedy (to all of us rabid Buckeye fans) of the 2023 football season will always be how a national-championship caliber squad ended up with a mediocre quarterback. There is no way that Kyle McCord has the talent to beat Michigan, even on his best day.
I attended the spring game, and McCord looked bad. Devin Brown could not beat him out at that time, which doesn't say much for his status, either. The 2023 Bucks have a stud running back room anchored by TreVeyon Henderson, elite receivers in Harrison and Egbuka who will end up as first-round NFL draft picks, and a much-improved, now elite defense.
The stud wide receivers deserved a quarterback who could deliver the ball to them, especially on big strikes down the field. The defense held TUN to 23 points. We'll charge the first seven points to McCord and his early pick, which unfortunately set the tone for the game.
That total would have won the game for the Bucks without the McCord error in judgment. Whose fault is it that McCord had to start in the first place this season? Is it Quinn Ewers' fault for bolting to Texas after a useless year when all he did as a Buckeye was cash in on his NIL million? Is it Ryan Day's fault for not going straight to the transfer portal in the offseason in search of a quarterback upgrade from McCord and Brown? Failure to get a transfer signal caller may be the real indictment here.
Day's end-of-season opinion of the talent of McCord was certainly evident in the TUN game, when the Bucks wasted valuable time trying to run the ball late in the fourth quarter, when they should have been saving clock and passing to catch up. If I was Gene Smith, the blame for having to play McCord would fall on Day, and he'd be out at Ohio State.
Here's hoping Lincoln Kienholz is ready to play in August 2024. I don't want to watch another season of McCord. Lincoln looked promising in his short appearances in the Michigan State and Minnesota games.
Ray Eichenberger, Reynoldsburg
To Ray: McCord was not great vs. Michigan, but he was not horrible, either. The focus on him has made folks forget that Ohio State's defense has forced Michigan to punt only once in a second half of the past three games. That is bad, and that's not McCord's fault.
On Michigan football
To the editor: If you are to believe Jim Harbaugh that he knew nothing (about the sign-stealing scandal), then I believe he should not have been suspended. But his coordinators definitely should be suspended because of their proximity to the sign-stealing guy on the sidelines. My problem is, what about the hundreds of kids they cheated out of a fair chance to win the game? Nice role model to send your child to play for.
Al Jewell
To Al: That's not how it works. The head coach gets the big bucks, so he's responsible for his coaches and their actions. It's on him to, at some point, ask how in the world his coaches know exactly what the other teams' signs are week in and week out, and how they have pre-printed, laminated sheets with the other teams' signs. That would strike any honest boss as unusual.
On college football
To the editor: FOX Sports should be ashamed for using Gen. Eisenhower’s message to service men on the eve of the D-Day invasion to promote a football game. I am as big of an OSU fan as anyone, but this is an insult to the veterans who made, in many cases, the ultimate sacrifice on that special day. It is, after all, a football game, not life or death.
John Stumpf, Worthington
A new rule change this year in college football is they continue to run the clock for any first down except in the last two minutes of both halves. They said it was to protect the players. Hogwash! They needed more advertising time without lengthening the game, so they took away playing time. They say there are eight to 10 fewer plays in the game now. Let’s say nine fewer plays at 30 seconds per play is 270 seconds, or 4:30 more of advertising time without lengthening the game. It’s all for the money. If they were for player safety, all football fields would be natural grass.
Garry Boyd, Lancaster
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Readers have opinions on Michigan football cheating and want Jim Harbaugh fired
Readers unhappy with Ohio State football, officiating, newspaper deadlines
Ohio State football's Dallan Hayden could be a treat to watch next year
1 yard and a cloud of dust is a bad strategy for Ohio State football
Readers unhappy with Peacock, Bigfoot, streaming and Dispatch negativity
Peacock, Ohio State football run game have readers upset
Readers still reacting to Ryan Day, Lou Holtz and 'Ohio against the world'
Readers have opinions about Columbus Blue Jackets, journalism ethics and more
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Mailbox: Plenty of Ohio State football fans are angry at coach Ryan Day
