The Ohio State football program has now lost four-straight games to arch-rival Michigan, and if you thought the seat was hot for Ryan Day according to Buckeye fans before, it may have reached a nuclear level now. The Buckeyes were favored by three touchdowns according to most betting sites, but the team looked tight and unprepared, and the game plan about as vanilla as it could be in a 13-10 loss on Saturday.
Since Saturday, many national and local media members have pontificated on where the marriage between Ohio State and Michigan stands, and what better way to find out than to ask the guy in charge of hiring and firing decisions, new Athletic Director, Ross Bjork.
The Columbus Dispatch reached out to Bjork, and he threw staunch support behind Day in a statement sent to the local Columbus newspaper.
“Our full focus right now is on the College Football Playoff and making a strong run,” Bjork told the Dispatch. “We have a ton to play for. We have a great team made up of talented players and great young men. Coach Day does a great job leading our program. He’s our coach.”
Bjork agreed that the performance of Ohio State against Michigan the last couple of years will be analyzed, but likes the direction of the program.
“There’s a ton of stability across the board within the program,” Bjork said. “We’re always in the top five under his leadership. We’re right there. We have great fan support, great donor support. There’s going to be plenty of time to dissect what happened in the rivalry game the last couple years. But right now, we have to keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s focus on the values of the program, focus on why we lead the young men, focus on the mission and the playoff.”
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told The Dispatch on Sunday that football coach Ryan Day has his full support despite the loss to Michigan. https://t.co/W1SdzC2fAC
— Columbus Dispatch (@DispatchAlerts) December 2, 2024
We’ve of course seen a lot of support thrown behind coaches in the past from athletic directors and administrators only to see things go in a different direction, but something about Day’s situation seems different, especially with all of the other wins he has piled up.
The fact remains, he has a Michigan and national title problem and that’s about it. Some would argue that’s enough, but it looks like he might get more time to cure those ills.
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