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The Ohio State football team let two out of their three major goals of the season slip away last weekend. The Buckeyes have a loaded team this year, and their goals were simple: beat Michigan, win the Big Ten, win the national championship. After losing to the Wolverines last weekend, Ohio State missed out on going to the Big Ten title game. Still, that one goal that is still out there for Ryan Day and his Buckeyes is a big one.
Ryan Day and the Ohio State football team have now lost four games in a row to Michigan. The Buckeyes had an opportunity on a silver platter last week to end their rivalry skid as Michigan is in a down year, but they couldn't get it done.
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Friday, and he was asked what he would say to the team if he was Ryan Day.
“I think it's imperative to challenge them to respond,” Nick Saban said. “I mean, they obviously lost a tough game, no doubt about it, a game that means a lot to a lot of people. But I would say, ‘Look, guys, let's learn from the mistakes that we made in this game, because we have a really good football team, and we got a chance to win a national championship here. So let's go start doing the things we need to do on a consistent basis to be able to do that.'”
Ohio State did not play like they typically play on Saturday. Day is getting a lot of blame for that. Saban wants to see the Buckeyes play with more confidence going forward.
“You know, I thought Ohio State played really free and easy against Indiana,” Saban said. “I thought not so much against Michigan. And I don't know exactly why. You got to have conviction in whatever you're trying to do, but you also got to be confident in doing it, and then you got to trust and believe in it, that you're going to go out there and be able to execute it no matter who you play. It's about what you do. It's not about what the other team does. And as long as you can stay focused on that, I think you can go play without a bunch of anxiety, because you're confident in being able to do what you're supposed to do.”
There's no doubt about it, last weekend's loss was disastrous. Ryan Day isn't going to get a better opportunity to beat Michigan than that. However, this Ohio State football team can still win it all.
“I think they got a good team,” Saban concluded. “I think they got a good opportunity. I think they got to get off the negative BS that they're probably getting criticized for, for losing this game, and use that as a as a stepping stone to be able to improve, so that they have a chance to win in the championship.”
Ohio State will not play for the Big Ten title this weekend, and they will wait for the selection show on Sunday to see who they will get in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
