Firing Day would be the wrong answer

I have seen this movie before. And if you are over the age of 40, so have you.Ohio State loses to Michigan. Ohio State loses to Michigan again. Then the Buckeyes lose again to Michigan in a game they have no business losing. Ohio State fans freak out.It is the story of the last four years. It is also the story of the early 1990s.In 1993, 1995 and 1996 Ohio State lost to Michigan in games it was supposed to win. There was a 22-6 win over Michigan in 1994 mixed in there, but 1993, 1995 and 1996 hurt so bad it's been mostly forgotten.The 1993, 1995 and 1996 Ohio State teams took a combined record of 30-0-1 into those games and came up empty all three seasons.In 1993 Ohio State was 9-0-1 and ranked No. 5 when it lost 28-0 to unranked Michigan (6-4).In 1995, Ohio State was 11-0 and ranked No. 2 when it lost 31-23 to No. 18 Michigan (8-3).And in a game with some similarities to this season, in 1996 No. 2 Ohio State (10-0) lost 13-9 to No. 21 Michigan (7-3) when the Buckeyes were held scoreless in the second half and the famous Shawn Springs slip occurred.The first response from a fairly significant portion of OSU's fan base in either situation has been the same. Fire John Cooper. Fire Ryan Day.That there would be "Fire Ryan Day" chants coming out of some sections of Ohio Stadium after Ohio State's 13-10 loss to Michigan last Saturday was as predictable as the Buckeyes' offense was for much of that game.And the flaws the most vocal part of Ohio State's fan base accuses Day of are often the same ones they saw in Cooper."He doesn't get the rivalry. He's not an Ohio guy. He gets tight when they play Michigan," are three of the top complaints you've heard in the last week that also were popular in the 1990s."He doesn't get the rivalry," is the essence of the mentality of those Ohio State fans who insist nothing is more important than winning the Michigan game. Their obsession with winning that game is Henry VIII's fixation with producing a male heir level.Day is 66-10 in his six seasons as Ohio State coach and is probably a Marvin Harrison Jr. concussion against Georgia away from a national championship in 2022.But after a 56-27 win over Michigan in 2019 his first season, the Buckeyes have lost four times in a row to their biggest rival.The latest loss came on a day when they were expected to exact some revenge for three straight losses in The Game but fell on their faces.That loss brought Day's record to 1-4 against Michigan and 47-1 in the other Big Ten games he has coached the Buckeyes.He's like a chef who produces excellent meals applauded by his customers night after night in his restaurant but has somehow found himself apologizing for burning the Thanksgiving turkey four years in a row.But is that 1-4 record against Michigan a fireable offense? No. Would it become one if Ohio State goes one and done in the College Football Playoff? It shouldn't be.Three Big Ten football coaches in the last 50 years have won 48 or more of their first 53 Big Ten games – Urban Meyer (49-4), Bo Schembechler (48-4-1) and Day (48-5). Pretty good company.Ohio State has won 13, 11, 11, 11 and 10 games in the five full seasons Day has coached and was the College Football Playoff runner-up with seven wins in the Covid-shortened 2020 season.It seems incredible that there is a discussion about his job security with that record. But such are the expectations at Ohio State. If OSU doesn't win the national championship this season and loses to Michigan for the fifth straight time in 2025, the calls to push Day out will only get louder.