Facing the first regular-season losing streak of his eight years as head coach at Ohio State, Ryan Day acknowledged feelings of anger and frustration permeating the Woody Hayes Athletic Center as another game week began.
The 21st-ranked Buckeyes dropped 10 spots in the AP Top 25 after a humbling 41-28 loss to Oregon on Saturday. That came a week after Ohio State, then ranked No. 2, lost at Southern California 30-18.
Although they are not mathematically eliminated, the Buckeyes (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) are staring at the possibility of missing the Big Ten Championship Game as they share third place in the standings with five other teams.
Ohio State’s College Football Playoff hopes are also hanging by a thread, but Day said he is not ready to turn his attention to other postseason opportunities or preparing for 2027 with three games remaining.
Day said, “I’m not there yet,” and noted the Big Ten has rules regarding a team potentially declining a bowl bid, but he did allow that development is still part of the equation with Northwestern coming to town this weekend. After that, the Buckeyes will go to Nebraska before concluding the regular season at home against archival Michigan.
“How do we want to be remembered knowing that we have these two games and the rivalry game at the end of the season?” Day said summing up discussions with team leaders over the last two days.
“Life is all about how you respond to things. What do we want the outcome to be? To finish the regular season with these three games and walk off that field at the end of the regular season with that win. Then we’ll figure out what goes on from there, but we have an obligation to do that as a team, and that’s it.”
To ascend to starter, Luke Fahey had to jump sophomore Tavien St. Clair, a five-star prospect from Bellefontaine, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)
While Day did not rule out some lineup changes if younger players earn opportunities in practice, he is not planning to make a change at quarterback.
Freshman Luke Fahey started the last two games in place of Julian Sayin, who is not expected back this season after suffering an elbow injury in late October.
Fahey threw for 360 yards last week, though most of that was in garbage time after the Ducks took control of the game with 38 consecutive points from late in the second quarter to the early fourth.
To ascend to starter, Fahey had to jump sophomore Tavien St. Clair, a five-star prospect from Bellefontaine, Ohio.
“Luke is going to be our quarterback this week, and Tavien’s one snap away,” Day said. “And that has got to continue to be his mentality and he has to continue to grow. If we can continue to improve in practice and build enough trust within practice, and we feel like he gives us the best chance to win, we’ll make that move. We’re not at that point right now.”
As the coaching staff tries to figure out how to build a game plan around a new quarterback, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith did say Fahey is at least getting valuable experience.
“As the game goes and he gets in the rhythm of it, I thought he made a lot of good decisions, but that’s what you’re looking at,” Smith said. “There’s always plays as a play caller, as a player, they could tell you, ‘Hey, I wish I had that one back,’ but that experience is everything at that position for sure.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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