The Ohio State football program is currently preparing for its upcoming playoff matchup against the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday evening. The Buckeyes reached this point despite a rough loss to the Michigan Wolverines to end the regular season, one that made the seat even hotter for head coach Ryan Day if he isn't able to deliver a championship in the postseason.

Recently, Day got one hundred percent honest on how the team has had to look itself in the mirror following that loss, which was their fourth straight to their arch rivals.

“When you come off of any loss, you want to identify the things that went wrong,” he said, per Chase Brown of 11 Warriors. “Everyone has got to take accountability. If we are gonna move forward, there has to be accountability between the players and the coaches. That's about trust. There's been open dialogue there. We've had some really good meetings in those areas. You got to take accountability. Here are some things we have to do better. Here are the adjustments we have to make based on what's going on.”

Day then spoke on why he believes his team has been up to the challenge of taking accountability.

“Both sides understanding that we're all looking to do the same thing here,” said Day. “I think we got a very, very mature team, so their feedback is critical in this. I thought it's been very, very productive. It allows you to move on quicker, I think. You get it out there, everyone talks through it, here are the adjustments we're gonna make, everybody agrees with it, and then we're all rowing in the right direction.”

Can Ohio State football bounce back?

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While they were able to once again win ten games this season, the brutal loss to Michigan understandably left a bad taste in Buckeyes fans' mouths, especially considering that they didn't exactly get the easiest draw of the first round with the Tennessee Volunteers coming into town.

The new expanded playoff format means that the first round of games will be played exclusively at college campuses, and Ohio State will figure to have both the crowd and the weather advantage when hosting their visitors from the south.

Still, if the Buckeyes don't get off to a strong start, it won't take very long for the tension inside Ohio Stadium to start to build rapidly.