Ryan Day silencing his critics as Ohio State soars with success
Ohio State Coach Ryan Day walks along the sideline during a timeout against Illinois Saturday October 11, 2025 at Memorial Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The coach that the haters love to hate is closing in on yet another milestone in his career, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Ohio State are the reigning National Champs, beat No. 1 Texas to start the season, and finally ran through that team from up north at the Big House. However, the Buckeyes are trying to accomplish something they haven’t done since 2020, which is win a Big Ten Championship.
Day is attempting to lead the program to a 13-0 start for the first time in his career, and all eyes will be on tonight’s matchup against No. 2 Indiana for Big Ten supremacy. The Buckeyes and the Hoosiers are the last two undefeated teams in the country, and that makes some fans feel like they’re playing for a National Title. Day understands the magnitude of this pivotal battle, and he expects Curt Cignetti to have Indiana ready for revenge after last year’s blowout loss at the Horseshoe.
“You can tell they’re good evaluators of talent, and then when you watch them play, they’re well-coached, they have a plan on how they want to attack you in all three phases and they’re not going to beat themselves,” Day said. “You combine all of these things together, and you’re looking at a program that has really made a lot of noise here in the last couple of years, and I certainly have a lot of respect for what Coach Cignetti has done.”
The Buckeyes have a prolific offense, and a tenacious defense, but Day still feels they’ll have a slim margin for error against a Hoosier team that’s also electric on both sides of the ball. There’s no denying this is the Buckeyes’ biggest test of the season, and Day is eager to take it to the gridiron.
Ohio State has a Heisman contender at quarterback in Julian Sayin. Jeremiah Smith is the best wideout in the game fir a second-straight year. Tight end Max Klare is the perfect safety net, and very productive. Bo Jackson is an All-Big Ten rusher, and he has monsters in front paving holes for him to run through.
Linebacker Sonny Styles is the tone-setter for the top defense in the FBS. Not to mention All-American safety Caleb Downs is special in run support, and pass coverage.
So Day can’t wait to unleash all of their talent on the Hoosiers. He anticipates a dogfight, but remains confident in his players. They appear ready for the spotlight too. After all, the Buckeyes are used to getting the opposition’s best every week in Big Ten play.
“This conference is a good conference, and every year it gets better, and now the fact that there’s 18 teams in it from coast to coast, it’s harder to win the conference,” he said. “So yeah, we wanted to get to Indy, it’s been too long, and it’ll be important for me.”
The Buckeyes are on a quest to put together one of the best seasons ever, if they can knock off the Hoosiers to secure that top seed in the Playoffs, and a first round bye. No doubt it will go a long way in Day finally getting the respect he deserves. All of Day’s critics want to see him fail, but he continues to shine and keep them in their little mouse holes with success.
With a win tonight, he can potentially silence his haters for good.
