Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN talking about a bevy of topics relating to college football with one focused on Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day. There is a ton of expectations every year for the Buckeyes and especially Day where Saban was asked if he feels bad for the 45-year old head coach.

Nick Saban relates to Ohio State football's Ryan Day on big expectations

Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban (left) greets Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day before the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Hard Rock Stadium.
Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports

Saban would totally be on the side of Day where he even said that he relates to having high expectations for a college football program which is expected to win every game. He would go as far as to say that Day is a “really good coach” and that he will “do a really good job with his roster.”

“Look I’ve lived this life for 17 years, for 15 years we were expected to win every game,” Saban said. “So it’s hard for me to take the position to put that kind of pressure and that kind of expectation on any coach, Ryan Day included. Because you never know what’s going to happen, you never know if the quarterback is going to get hurt. You don’t know if you’re going to lose the corners on defense, you can’t cover anybody. So you have to be able to improvise and adjust and do the best you can. I personally think Ryan Day’s a really good coach, I think he’ll do a really good job with his roster.”


McAfee would bring up a simple stark statistic that proves to him that the expectations some people have for Day and the Buckeyes are too much as he has a 56-8 record with the team. There is no doubt that the record is outstanding results for the program, but there is some that care about the hardware which the Ohio State football team has brought home two Big Ten titles.

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Nick Saban said more credit should be given to Ryan Day

His team would make it to the national championship game in the 2020-21 season, but funny enough, lost to Saban and the Crimson Tide. Still, Saban would praise Day and say that while people can overreact about the results, the current team that is being hyped up was formed by him as people should credit the Buckeyes coach.

“I’m a process oriented guy, I keep saying that,” Saban said. “So you keep thinking about what you have to do to get the result, not be a fan and say if you don’t get the result we’re going to fire you. That’s hard for me to do, because I have too much respect for coaches, what they do to build a program. You know if he has the best roster, who got the roster there, who’s responsible to get them there, he got them there. So that counts for something.”

At any rate, the Ohio State football team looks to achieve the ultimate goal which is a national championship as they look to build off of last season where they went 11-2, 8-1 in conference play. They open the upcoming season Saturday, August 31 against an in-state college football team in Akron.

While people will have their own power rankings, the Buckyes are No. 2 in the coaches poll and AP Top 25.