Nick Saban isn’t shy about sharing his thoughts. Throughout the season, he has gone on some long rants on various college football topics. He had another one on Friday night. Ahead of the Indiana vs. Notre Dame matchup, the College Gameday crew was talking about tomorrow’s matchup between Tennessee and Ohio State. The Buckeyes head coach, Ryan Day, has gotten a lot of hate from fans after their season ended with a 13-10 home loss against the Michigan Wolverines. The former Alabama coach had some strong words for the fans who are hating on their head coach.
Nick Saban Slams Ohio State Fans
Nick Saban doesn’t understand why some fans are upset with Ryan Day. While the Buckeyes did not win the Big Ten, they are in the College Football Playoff. They have a shot at a national championship. Only a small percentage of programs get this opportunity, and Ohio State is one of them. Saban gave a long rant, calling out fans who were not backing their head coach.
“They have an opportunity to win the national championship. Everybody oughta be supporting the hell outta them so they have the best opportunity to do it and quit all this negative bull(expletive).”
“Every coach has to define how he wants to do it and I have a lot of respect for Ryan Day and how he’s tried to do it. For me, I always wanted to get every player in the organization to reach his full potential. So it wasn’t so much about the outcome. It was about what you had to do to make everyone better.”
“But a big part of that was insulating the players from external factors: criticism, internet. I used to tell the players all the time, ‘Why do you care about what some guy puts on the internet, who is a fat guy in his underwear living in his mother’s basement?'”
Nick Saban certainly doesn’t mince words. It is crazy to think fans of Ohio State are mad at a coach who is giving them a shot at a national championship. However, I do think the legendary coach is missing the point on why so many fans are frustrated.
Ryan Day In Big Games
If there is one thing that Ryan Day has done well at Ohio State, it is beat the inferior opponents. The Buckeyes have rarely gotten upset by an unranked team. This is commendable. We’ve seen many occasions, even this season, where unranked teams defeat a powerhouse program. However, the criticism of the head coach comes in the biggest games. Under Day, Ohio State is 4-6 against top-five teams. Until they beat Penn State this year, the program was on a four-game losing streak in these games. If we expand this out to the top ten teams, he is 12-8, which is good but not great.
Day has gotten his team in the College Football Playoff before, but he is only 1-3. To make matters worse, fans have had to watch four straight losses against Michigan and their archrivals win a national championship. This latest loss was embarrassing, as the Wolverines were a mediocre team for most of the season. This is where fans get upset. It’s great to beat the nobodies and get a ranked win every so often. However, at some point, a coach has to win big games. The rosters have been too talented to get knocked out so early.
Final Thoughts
Day is likely coaching for his job. If they get bounced by Tennessee on Saturday, the cries for him to be removed will only get louder. Nick Saban hopes that the fans in Columbus will be 100% behind their head coach, at least while they are still in the hunt for a national championship.
