Which coach needs to win Saturday's top-10 showdown more: Ohio State's Ryan Day or Penn State's James Franklin?
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00:00 Lastly, I think there's a narrative going around this game, or
00:03 at least a question of which coach needs the win more.
00:07 I find that interesting because James Franklin, again,
00:11 has not beaten Ryan Day yet, and he's not won at Ohio Stadium.
00:17 And Ryan Day is what, is 51 and 6?
00:21 That's his career record, and he is- >> 51 and 6, he's 34 and 2.
00:25 >> Midnight field goal away from being in the National Championship game.
00:30 To me, it's obvious, if you're talking about this particular game, and
00:35 again, this game, even if Penn State loses, they still have Michigan in two weeks.
00:40 So they're at home, so there's that opportunity, is still there.
00:44 But if you wanna talk about who, ask the question, who needs this win more,
00:50 James Franklin or Ryan Day?
00:52 To me, it's obvious that it's James Franklin.
00:55 >> From the Ohio State perspective, why is the answer Ryan Day?
00:59 >> [LAUGH] You answered the question by asking it,
01:03 because it's from the Ohio State perspective.
01:07 I have a hard time disagreeing with you.
01:11 I think some of the hyperbole around Ryan Day's on the hot seat,
01:18 or can't win the big game, or whatever.
01:21 But the guy's 51 and 6, and he hasn't lost to anybody that you're like,
01:28 how did you lose to them?
01:31 >> He doesn't have a nine overtime Illinois game.
01:35 >> No, and by the way, he's churned out a Heisman
01:40 finalist several years in a row here.
01:44 I think the standard at Ohio State,
01:48 it's different because they make it different.
01:55 It's not because other schools don't try to do the same thing that they do.
02:02 A lot of what Ohio State puts on, well, a lot of what is put on Ohio State
02:07 externally has a lot to do with the fact that they put it on themselves.
02:12 Ryan Day says it all the time, we're not allowed to lose around here.
02:16 You can't lose, period.
02:18 And when you make it public and very clear that you have three goals every year,
02:24 beat the team up North, go to and win the Big Ten Championship game and
02:29 win the National Championship.
02:30 When you talk about those expectations publicly all the time,
02:34 that becomes what you're measured by.
02:37 And so when you fall a little short of that, even if you have an incredible win
02:42 in the Rose Bowl in a non-college football playoff game, right?
02:46 But an instant classic, one of the all-time great Rose Bowls with the best
02:51 individual bowl performance for a receiver in the history of every bowl game, right?
02:57 What Jackson Smith and Jigba did that day.
03:00 When you lose to Michigan at home a year after they kicked your butt up in Ann
03:05 Arbor, and Ryan Day would say we played tough.
03:09 He didn't question his team's toughness, but they got beat up a little bit last
03:13 year.
03:13 At the line of scrimmage again, they couldn't stop the run.
03:19 They played unbelievable football against Georgia.
03:23 And you could make an argument that taking the targeting call away,
03:29 when Marvin Harrison was literally knocked unconscious in the end zone.
03:35 Taking that away from Georgia may have helped Georgia climb back into the game.
03:41 And ultimately, the Buckeyes still had a chance to hit a field goal as time
03:45 expired to go to the national championship.
03:48 And I don't think there's a fan in the world that expected TCU would beat Ohio
03:52 State if they would have played each other in national title game.
03:55 So to get back to your question, I agree with you, right?
04:01 I'm trying to look at this objectively.
04:03 James Franklin probably needs this game more than Ryan Day does.
04:06 How many times can you be in the same division
04:09 and not get over the hump of a team you've been chasing forever?
04:15 But I would argue that because what Ohio State is trying to accomplish,
04:22 and they have so many of the same players from where
04:26 they were that close last year, this team is going
04:29 to look really different next year.
04:32 Not bad, but different.
04:34 And they're going to have a lot of inexperience at some critical spots.
04:40 I think the pressure is on Ohio State to get it done this year.
04:43 And to their credit, I think they've done a pretty good job of staying
04:48 in the moment of like, look, we don't have to be good enough
04:51 to beat Penn State this week.
04:53 We're just playing Western Kentucky.
04:55 Let's just get better.
04:56 Let's go beat the Hilltoppers.
04:58 Let's just go play Maryland.
05:00 And then we'll see what we can do about being at our best this week.
05:04 And then we'll figure it out for next week.
05:07 And I think this team looks a lot better than it
05:09 did in week one against Indiana.
05:11 I'll say that for sure.
05:12 There's always pressure on the coach at Ohio State to win.
05:20 And I don't agree at all with Coach Harbaugh when he said
05:24 Ryan Day was born on third base.
05:29 But I mean, Ryan Day certainly inherited a juggernaut.
05:33 And he has proven plenty capable of continuing
05:37 to perform at a really high level, especially
05:39 as the landscape around college football has changed.
05:42 I think Ohio State wishes they had some NIL stuff in place a little bit
05:45 sooner to maybe go get a couple of offensive linemen
05:48 that they really, really wanted.
05:51 I'm not trying to dunk on Josh Simmons.
05:54 He just played at San Diego State last year.
05:56 And he was good.
05:57 But I watch him play, and I don't feel like he is elite.
06:01 Donovan Jackson, the left guard this year,
06:03 supposed to be an All-American, not playing like it.
06:06 Josh Fryer, right tackle, not playing great.
06:08 And Ohio State doesn't have a lot of depth on the line right now.
06:11 So there are some areas where the Buckeyes can continue to get better.
06:15 But Ryan Day has--
06:18 I think he's embraced this role of, I need
06:21 to light a fire under this team.
06:22 And a loss to Penn State would be really tough to swallow.
06:26 Certainly wouldn't wreck their season, because I think everybody right now
06:31 was going, well, what if Penn State, Michigan, and Ohio State
06:34 all go one-on-one against each other and win every other game?
06:36 Then what happens?
06:37 It's like, well, let's just get to that point first.
06:40 Let's see what happens.
06:43 So objectively, I agree with you.
06:45 James Franklin needs it more.
06:48 But you're going to have a hard time convincing somebody
06:50 from Ohio State that James Franklin needs it more than Ryan Day does.
06:54 That's fascinating to me.
06:55 It really is.
06:56 - Yep, it's a weird world we live in, that's for sure.