Ryan Day Says Ohio State 'Stuck Together' Through Adversity During CFP Title Run

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day believes the adversity his team faced during the 2024 season fueled its quest for the national championship.

Following the Buckeyes' 34-23 win over Notre Dame in the CFP National Championship Game on Monday in Atlanta, Day spoke about how the team "stuck together" throughout the tribulations.

"It's just sticking together, having each other's back," Day said. "Faith is huge with these guys. We built a foundation early in the season, and we knew we were going to have to withstand some storms along the way. We did, we stuck together, we hung in there like a family does when things get hard and we came out the back end."

The Buckeyes finish the season 14-2 with their only losses coming against Oregon and archrival Michigan. Ohio State was able to avenge the loss to the Ducks in the Rose Bowl, but the loss to the Wolverines came against a Michigan team that finished 8-5 and has now defeated the Buckeyes in the last four iterations of "The Game."

The loss to the Wolverines knocked the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten Championship Game and relegated the program to the No. 8 seed in the CFP. This meant that they were the lower seed in three of their four games in the playoff and had to defeat a gauntlet of opponents that included Oregon.

Ohio State was playing its best in the postseason, outscoring opponents 145-75 across the four games. Day's comments show that the regular-season losses and the criticism that came from it served as motivation that the team used to emerge from the field as champions.