BREAKING NEWS: Ryan Day Has Been Officially resign ohio state Passing out $375.9million pay out…

COLUMBUS, Ohio — How different this postgame scene must have felt for Ryan Day, the embattled head coach of Ohio State, who stood in almost the exact same place three weeks ago, on Nov. 30, as everything about his team and his tenure seemed to crumble following a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan. Screaming players, their eyes reddened from pepper spray discharged by local police officers, careened past Day in search of medical attention. Belligerent fans, their patience eroded by Day’s confounding game plan, hurled profane insults in his direction. Wounded seniors, their careers forever blemished by an inability to beat The Team Up North, brawled on the midfield logo when the Wolverines attempted to plant their flag. Chaos reigned as Day grew roots at the 24-yard line, his disbelief and disenchantment melding into temporary paralysis.

So much had changed when Day returned to that location late on Saturday evening, in the aftermath of a College Football Playoff game against Tennessee, whose fans had stormed into Ohio Stadium with fervor and left long before the fourth quarter expired. Emboldened, perhaps, by the nauseating possibility of a $20 million roster disbanding with nothing but cash to show for it, Day and his coaching staff authored and architected their finest performance of the season: a 42-17 dismantling of the Volunteers that simultaneously extended Ohio State’s season while vaulting the program back into the national championship conversation. So comprehensive was Saturday night’s victory over a respected SEC opponent that the Buckeyes opened as betting favorites against No. 1 Oregon in the quarterfinals, a Rose Bowl redux of the instant classic those teams put forth at Autzen Stadium in mid-October. On that night, the Ducks prevailed by a single point.