Cleveland, OH
How Ohio State used Ryan Day and ‘outside noise’ to propel themselves to win over Notre Dame
SOUTH BEND, Indiana — The Buckeyes had heard the noise. Make no bones about it, they were well aware of what was being said about them.
Lou Holtz said earlier this week while on Notre Dame’s campus that the Irish would win, but the manner in which he said they would do so particularly irked Day and the Buckeyes.
“You look at coach (Ryan) Day, and I coached at Ohio State under Woody Hayes,” Holtz said. “We won the national championship when I was there. I’m proud of that. However, (Day) has lost to Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, Michigan twice and everybody beats them because they’re more physical than Ohio State. And I think Notre Dame will take that same approach.”
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Day made his thoughts known to the national public in the immediate aftermath of the game while on the field with NBC.
His team, though, heard those thoughts for two days.
“A lot of people took a lot of shots at this team over the last 48 hours,” Day said. “I’m really upset about what Lou Holtz said publicly about our team…. I don’t know where that narrative comes from. But it ends tonight.”
Ohio State’s thrilling 17-14 win came on a night when it appeared as if its reign of dominance over Notre Dame would be diminished, if not outright erased.
The Irish had the ball with the game in their hands, and the Buckeyes’ defense made a play to stop a bruising rushing attack. And after a failed fourth-and-one on the prior drive, Ohio State called Chip Trayanum’s number to plunge into the end zone for the winning score.
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“That’s my head coach,” wide receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “I’m behind him 24/7, and I support him in everything he’s saying right now. I feel like Ohio State gets a lot of unwanted hate, and even after this win that we just got, the hate’s going to come on even stronger because we didn’t beat them by however much. But they were a top 10 opponent, we knew it was going to be a dogfight…Whatever coach Day is saying, I fully support him, I fully back him up. Every once in a while, you’ve got to stand up and let people know that this is enough.”
Day was as fired up as he’s been in a public setting since he became the head coach at Ohio State, and in the days leading up to the instant classic at Notre Dame Stadium, he pushed all the right buttons to let his team hear what they needed to.
“We felt like there was a lot of disrespect this week,” Egbuka said. “I’m going to bat just as much as my coach is going to bat for me. I support everything coach Day is saying. He’s raising a phenomenal team. We’re going to go really far this year, the hate’s going to keep coming, the disrespect is going to keep coming, it’s always going to be that way for Ohio State. We’re not necessarily looking to prove people wrong, we might do that in the process, but we’re trying to prove the people who love us right.”
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