The Ohio State football team accomplished an awful lot this past season. It went undefeated during the regular season, won the Big Ten Championship, beat its arch-rivals for the seventh straight time. and appeared in the College Football Playoff. That’s a good year no matter how you slice it.
But it ultimately finished short on the goal of winning a national championship. Making the final four in any season is great, but when you get there, there’s still work to do. The Buckeyes laid it on Clemson early in the game and raced out to a 16-0 lead, but then some breaks and momentum plays went the wrong way.
At the end of it, Ohio State was left asking “what if” as celebration ensued on the Clemson sideline after a flukey interception in the end zone to seal it. The Buckeyes outgained, out possessed and outplayed the Tigers for a majority of the game, but the final score of 29-23 is all that mattered in the end.
If you think it was a turn the page type of affair, then you were sadly mistaken. Head coach Ryan Day and the football team was honored at halftime of the game against Minnesota on Thursday and Day made it clear how he felt about what happened in the desert night out in Arizona.
“That game out there in Arizona didn’t sit well with any of us,” said Day to the Value City Arena crowd. “I just want everybody to know in the room right here — that game did not sit well with us. And you have my word we’re not going to forget about that game. And our guys have already been working hard, working hard with coach Mick (Marotti), and we’re going to do everything we can to keep that game in the back of our minds so next year we come back even stronger.”
You can get a listen to his comments to the crowd below thanks to the Twitter feed of Colin Hass-Hill.
You tell ’em Day. Sometimes there’s nothing like failure to spur a team on to greater heights. Some of our best lessons in life are learned through defeat. Not only is Day preaching about remembering what happened in the Fiesta Bowl, but the staff has also installed a sign in the weight room with the final score emblazoned on it.
Hopefully it all works as motivation towards an even bigger year in 2020.
