Ryan Day on 2022: ‘The expectation is to win them all’ | College Football Enquirer
Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s comments about his expectations for the 2022 season, and debate if an undefeated season is a reasonable expectation for the Buckeyes.
Video Transcript
DAN WETZEL: Ryan Day, Ohio State. Obviously, this team is loaded on offense. Loved his comments. Loved his comments. We should win every game. That's pretty much-- I'm paraphrasing. But we should win every game. 11 and 2 is miserable. We should win the Big Ten, go to the playoff, and try to win the national championship.
We have a new defensive coordinator. We should be a top-10 defense. There is no we're going to try a little harder, boys are boys are hitting hard, we've been good in the weight room. Expectations? This was like the Bucknut fan board.
[LAUGHTER]
Undefeated. Top-10 defense. You got a top-10 defense, you're going to go undefeated. You might even beat Bama.
PAT FORDE: Because they're guaranteed to have like a top-five offense.
DAN WETZEL: They're gonna be a top-five offense. So I thought this was like, wow, just lean into it. And--
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: --refreshing, right?
PAT FORDE: Yeah. No, I mean, he threw it down. He really did. And you could almost taste the bitterness from losing last year at home to Oregon, but then especially, obviously, to Michigan and just getting punked in the second half by Michigan. I mean, you can almost feel that. And at one point,
Ryan Day said-- I think it might not have been at the podium but like off on the side when they did side break-out things that, yeah, we experienced what it's like to lose that rivalry game, and we never want to feel it again. It's like, well, I mean, I know you're used to beating Michigan. But to think you're never going to lose to Michigan again, I don't know. But just the level of expectation, the level of bitterness from last year, the level of urgency, I think, this year because I think he knows how good his team is.
He was pushing, and so are his players too. I mean, CJ Stroud, I talked to him, and he basically said, you know, I don't really think I did anything great last year. It's like, wait a minute, you were a Heisman finalist in your first year playing college football. Yeah, you know, I just didn't really feel like I did anything great. And it's kind of like that whole mindset now of there's only one thing that we consider great, and that's winning every game and winning the championship.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah, I don't know what-- I mean, duck better when Ojabo and Hutchinson were coming at him?
PAT FORDE: Yeah, right.
DAN WETZEL: He could have played better in the Michigan game, I will give him that. But, yeah, he accomplished plenty.
PAT FORDE: Yeah, he was phenomenal.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah. No, I thought it was very-- and, look, you look at the schedule. Look, it's a Big Ten slate. You got Michigan. You got Penn State. You got Michigan State. You also have a non-conference game against Notre Dame at home. I mean, it was just-- this team should be really, really good. They've got everything.
They're going to need-- the thing I thought they really lacked last year, the offensive line was not great. And I thought they were-- I hate using this term because every one of these guys would beat the living crap out of me, obviously, but there was a softness, Pat. They got pushed around. They got pushed around by Michigan. They got pushed around by Utah.
PAT FORDE: Yep.
DAN WETZEL: They got to be tougher in the trenches. And defensively, they just did not have the Bosa brother or Chase Young kind of guy that just came up huge on the edge and just was too much for somebody to handle.
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: Michigan had those guys. Ohio State did not.
PAT FORDE: That was a huge differentiating factor right there.
DAN WETZEL: Yeah. And so they have to get tougher. Ohio State cannot get pushed around. I mean, just the program cannot not be tough.
PAT FORDE: Yeah.
DAN WETZEL: This is Woody Hayes' program. That can't happen again. Now how do you solve that and all those things? I don't know. These are all tough guys. You're not sitting at the top of the Ohio State depth chart. But they have to get tougher. And if they can do that, yeah, I think they're sitting there at a national title game taking on Alabama or something.
