Ohio State has done its best to play somewhat nice with all of the Big Ten drama over the last month. It has toed the company line for the most part while also making it perfectly clear that it is one of the programs that wants to play football sooner rather than later. The Buckeye program has expressed confidence in the safety measures, monitoring, and protocols but hasn’t outright railed against the collective conference despite having arguably the most to lose money-wise and on the field.
Now, it appears head coach Ryan Day wants some answers, a plan, and a push to start playing real football games this fall. He released a statement on Thursday afternoon looking for answers from the Big Ten and standing behind his staff, players, and the program’s desire to get moving on playing.
It’s the furthest really anyone aligned with the program has gone in criticizing the Big Ten, but it’s clear time is running out and things need to start aligning in order for things to happen on time.
Next … The complete statement from Ryan Day
Ryan Day statement on returning to play
“While I understand the Big Ten Conference’s decision to postpone the football season because of health and safety considerations, the communication of information from the Big Ten following the decision has been disappointing and often unclear. However, we still have an opportunity to give our young men what they have worked so hard for: a chance to safely compete for a national championship this fall. I couldn’t possibly be prouder of how this team, our medical personnel, athletic director and president have stayed together and managed through this extremely difficult time with so many unanswered questions.”
“The Big Ten medical subcommittee has done an excellent job of creating a safe pathway toward returning to play in mid-October. These young men and their parents have asked so many questions that I do not have an answer to, but the one that hurts the most is “Why can these other teams and players play and we can’t?” Duke is playing Notre Dame, and Clemson is playing Wake Forest this weekend. Our players want to know: why can’t they play?”
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