In Columbus, it's fair to say that a season isn't a success if you don't beat Michigan. And given the heights the program reached under Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer, there are National Championship expectations at the start of every season. The Ohio State football team fell short of both of those goals this year. They lost a 30-24 nail-biter to Michigan in the final week of the season, and thus, missed out on the College Football Playoff after appearing last year, despite falling short of winning the Big Ten Championship. However, if you're Ryan Day, even though you're surely still sour over the way the season ended, an influx into your bank account would seemingly ease the blow, at least in the 90 seconds immediately following the realization that you have an extra two-hundred grand in the bank.

“Day received a $200,000 bonus for the Buckeyes’ selection to a New Year’s Six bowl game,” according to Nathan Baird of Cleveland.com. “That is $50,000 less than the bonus he would have achieved for a playoff semifinal appearance.”

That's not such a bad consolation prize, right? The Ohio State Buckeyes will still get a chance to play in a New Year's Six bowl game, when they take on the Missouri Tigers in the Cotton Bowl on December 29th. As a result, not only Day, but his entire staff, will be receiving “over $1.78 million in bonuses,” per Nathan Baird.

The greatest gift that Ryan Day could receive is job safety, as many in the media were suggesting that Day should be fired for failing to beat Michigan for the third straight year, the first time Ohio State has dropped three consecutive games to the Wolverines since 1995-97. Until this recent stretch of Michigan success, Ohio State had won 18 of their last 22 games against Michigan, including winning streaks of seven and eight games.