INDIANAPOLIS – Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer was the first to tell Ryan Day he would return for his senior season.
Sawyer – who made the decision before the Cotton Bowl Classic against Missouri – proceeded with a group chat with the other Buckeyes who were contemplating the 2024 NFL Draft. A total of 11 NFL-caliber players stayed in school – a list that includes Sawyer, Denzel Burke, Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, Ty Hamilton, Jordan Hancock, Donovan Jackson, Lathan Ransom, Cody Simon, JT Tuimoloau and Tyleik Williams. Egbuka said those decisions were made on a player-by-player basis, but an overarching goal was nagging at those decisions.
"It just so happened we all came together and we were all thinking the same thing," Egbuka said at Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday. "That was really special to be part of it and to know I was not alone in what I was feeling."
Sawyer was not afraid to lay out exactly what all 11 players were thinking.
"We came back with one purpose and one goal, and that's to beat the Team Up North and win a national championship," Sawyer said.
Can Ohio State have one without the other one? The answer might be yes, but depending on what happens first it could get weird. What if Ohio State beats Michigan but loses in the first round of the College Football Playoff? What if the Buckeyes lose to Michigan but win (or lose) the national championship?
This is the illogical pressure that Ohio State, coach Ryan Day and those 11 players who stayed face heading into the 2024 season. The additions of Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins and Alabama safety Caleb Downs added to that. When UCLA coach Chip Kelly was hired as the new offensive coordinator, all of those expectations somehow went up more.
Ohio State received 21 first-place votes and were a runaway favorite in the Cleveland.com preseason Big Ten poll. The Buckeyes is ranked No. 2 in most preseason polls behind No. 1 Georgia, but this is a 1A-1B situation heading into the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. Sirius XM analyst Ben Hartsock – who played tight end at Ohio State from 2000-03 – knows what the uneven equation looks like now.
"It is national championship or bust," Hartsock told Sporting News. "But a season that doesn't end in a national championship but has at least one over Michigan changes the total algebra."
That makes complete sense, even if outside the bubble of Columbus, Ohio, it might make no sense at all.
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Ryan Day's record and pressure to beat Michigan
Day is 56-8 at Ohio State since taking over in 2019. That .875 winning percentage is the highest in the FBS – better than Georgia's Kirby Smart, who is 94-16 with a .855 winning percentage. Day and Smart are the only two coaches with a winning percentage over .850 at their current school.
Yet Day – who has led the Buckeyes to three CFP appearances and is 39-3 in Big Ten regular-season games – is self aware of what the true margin for error is.
"Every time I've gone into a season at Ohio State — I guess this is going to be my eighth season now, sixth as the head coach – you expect to win every game," Day said. "That's just what it is. If you don't think that's the case, try losing a game at Ohio State. You're expected to win them all."
Ohio State has not won a national championship since the first season of the four-team College Football Playoff in 2014 – yet that urgency is secondary to beating Michigan. The Wolverines have a three-game winning streak in the rivalry – the first since 1995-97 – and Michigan is coming off its first national championship since 1997. Buckeyes' fans see that Big Ten record as 1-3 against the Wolverines and 38-0 against everyone else.
That is due in part to a generational gap in the rivalry. Jim Tressel (9-1) and Urban Meyer (7-0) were a combined 16-1 against Michigan. The Wolverines' other victory in that stretch was against interim coach Luke Fickell in 2011.
Before that, Ohio State coach John Cooper went 2-10-1 against Michigan from 1988-2000. Sawyer and Egbuka were among those who pointed out the swings in the rivalry Tuesday. Everybody who has played in this game knows the history.
"That's always a game that you want to win when you come to Ohio State," Egbuka said. "That's something we seniors know all too well because we haven't done it once. You can't really leave without gold pants."
Gold pants, of course, are a trinket given to every Ohio State player who beats Michigan – a tradition based on the result of the 1934 matchup between the Wolverines and Buckeyes. It holds equal value to a national championship ring – another test for the 12-team College Football Playoff era.
Sawyer played at Pickerington North High School in a suburb of Columbus. That led to an uncommon thought process – or sense of pride – which factored into the decision to come back.
"Not only did I let Ryan Day down, but I let the city down," Sawyer said. "For me, it's all about coming back. A lot of us feel the same way. We weren't going to come back without having one more shot at doing this the right way."
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Pressure on Ryan Day to win a national title at Ohio State
Day is right. High expectations are part of the job description at Ohio State,
"Now, our guys, they know what the expectation is," Day said. "You've heard some of them say what their goals are. We're not going to shy away from that. We want to win the rivalry game, be right in this stadium right here and win this Big Ten championship, win a national championship. We know that."
Day was quick to point out the immediate focus is on the preseason as a foundation. Howard is battling with Devin Brown for the starting quarterback job. Kelly will tweak the offense. The defense enters a make-or-break year with third-year defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. Ohio State's nonconference schedule is Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall – and the first ranked team on the schedule will either be Iowa on Oct. 5 or Oregon on Oct. 12.
This is the 11th time since Cooper took over in 1988 that the Buckeyes have started either No. 1 or No. 2 in the preseason polls. The Buckeyes did not win a national championship in any of those previous 10 seasons, but they were 8-2 against Michigan. The losses were in 2003 and 2022 – a 45-23 loss against the Wolverines which broke the Wolverines' 22-year drought at Ohio Stadium.
Last year, Michigan safety Rod Moore intercepted Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord on the final drive to seal a 30-24 victory.
"It's easy to say it comes down to a play or two, but that's not really the case. What we need to do is leave no doubt," Day said. "No doubt. Don't leave to one play, don't leave to one call, don't leave it to one stop."
The new era of college football might change that perception. A one- or two-loss Big Ten team can get in the College Football Playoff now, and the scramble between the Big Ten and SEC for multiple playoff bids and a first-round bye could be just as important as winning that regular-season game against Oregon or Michigan. Hey, Texas lost to Oklahoma and still made the CFP last season.
Will Day benefit from that if the Buckeyes fail to accomplish those goals this season? Smart has the benefit of two national championships at Georgia in 2021 and 2022. Michigan will have at least a small honeymoon with first-year coach Sherrone Moore after Jim Harbaugh left for the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL. Day will have no such luxury.
"Ohio State is at the tip of the spear but they are not the tip of the spear," Hartsock said. "That's unfair. That is unreasonable because 99 college football programs would kill to get where Ohio State is, but it's still not good enough. It was that way when I played, but the world is more connected now."
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Will Ohio State live up to hype in 2024?
The combination of returning players, transfer portal additions and another five-star recruiting class led by receiver Jeremiah Smith has created a roster that Tressel and Meyer have said might be the best in Ohio State history. Those two legendary Ohio State coaches each won a national title – a standard Day can match in 2024.
Hiring Kelly – who was the offensive coordinator for New Hampshire when Day was the quarterback – will be the most-scrutinized move. Day relinquished play-calling duties, a move that did not come easy. That also is a consequence of the losses to Michigan and the pressure to get back to the top of the Big Ten.
The hidden key, however, is those players who returned for this monumental season.
"Coach Day is man enough to sit up and tell you that's part of the job he signed up to do," Sawyer said. "Me being a guy that would go to war for him any day regardless of the topic, he gets wrongly criticized on a bunch of stuff."
Those players who returned are out to prove Day right, and in turn he seems out to reward that faith. He said "we owe it to the players who came back" when it comes to living up to those expectations set forth this season.
"It was a big deal. We haven't had that since I've been at Ohio State," Day said. "They led the way on that. We used a few guys in the portal and a few guys in recruiting and then we went to work building the coaching staff the right way. They're focused right now. They are not caught up in the emotions of the expectations."
