Playoff spot secured, Ryan Day's shot at redemption sets up as the stuff of legend

With Ohio State in the College Football Playoff, Ryan Day has a chance to go the full Kenny Powers.

Remember the scene where Powers makes his Mexican League debut? Running out to the mound draped in an American flag with middle fingers in the air and doing a crotch chop?

If the Buckeyes win the national championship, and beat Michigan to do so, Day will have earned the right to drape himself in an Ohio flag, run out to midfield and do all of this as “Hang On Sloopy” blares over the PA system:

For a year now, Day has had to ruminate on Jim Harbaugh’s dig that he was born on third base thinking he hit a triple.

“There’s a time and place to talk about that, and it’s not now,” Day said in the leadup to The Game.

Day was obviously hoping to blow off that pent-up steam sometime around 4 p.m. on November 26. Instead, Jim Harbaugh coached circles around him in a 45-23 loss that led many Ohio State fans to call for his head even with a 45-5 career record.

So, how’s Jan. 9 in Los Angeles sound?

There will be a whole lot more steam for Day to blow off this time around. Even more at Harbaugh, who wants the Michigan flag planted at Ohio State’s midfield put in a museum. Beat the Wolverines in L.A., and Day can tell Jim exactly where he can put that flag.

Perhaps some of us in the media will get a taste after crowing Michigan as the Big Ten’s new model program. The Buckeyes could make that reign last all of 2 months.

And though he certainly won’t flip the bird to his own fans — literally or proverbially — Day will certainly derive a great deal of satisfaction in getting the last laugh after they chanted for Urban Meyer to come back during FOX’s Ohio State-Michigan postgame show.

Day and the Buckeyes have a chance to write the most compelling story of redemption in the relatively short history of the College Football Playoff.

Buckeyes’ path with few parallels

The only storyline that even comes close is 2017 Alabama’s run to the title.

Like the Buckeyes, the Crimson Tide lost to their biggest rivals in the regular-season finale, costing them a shot at the conference championship game. Alabama needed outside help to get into the CFP as it sat home on championship weekend.

Ironically, that help came from the Buckeyes, who beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship to knock the Badgers from the Playoff picture.

Bama took advantage of its new lease on life. The 4th-seeded Tide upset Clemson in the semifinal, then beat conference rival Georgia for the national title.

That’s literally the potential path for the Buckeyes — upset the top seed, then beat a conference rival to win it all.

But that’s also a very superficial comparison. Georgia may be Alabama’s conference rival, but it’s a pretty modest one that’s only gained heat over the past 5 years. The Crimson Tide aren’t even Georgia’s biggest rival in the state of Alabama.

This is like if the path to the Alabama’s 2017 title would have run through Auburn.

There is no precedent in college football history for a matchup with the gravity of a Michigan-Ohio State national championship game.

Perhaps the only thing that comes close is the so-called 1969 Game of the Century in which President Richard Nixon declared the winner of the then-heated Arkansas-Texas rivalry game as national champions. But even that was a regular-season game that ignored the bowls still to be played.

The dream (and nightmare) scenario

The bitterness experienced by every Buckeye following a second straight loss to the Wolverines would be replaced by an elation never before felt.

Of course, there is also a more sinister possibility.

Imagine the unmatched horror of losing to The Team Up North twice in the same season — topped off by a Michigan title.

When Ohio State lost to Indiana in 1987, Earle Bruce called it “the darkest day in Ohio State football (history).” It’ll seem like a tea party if the Buckeyes lose to Michigan again. Given the alternative, most Buckeye fans would surely prefer bowing out against Georgia.

That, of course, is a distinct probability.

The Bulldogs are favored by 6.5 points on the opening line, and the betting public may be tempted to push that to a touchdown or beyond. But that’s a concern to spend the rest of December thinking about.

For now, all the feelings for Ohio State are positive. This is a time to celebrate. Hope has replaced despair. There is a chance to do something that’s never been done. Not even in the storied history of Ohio State football.

Considering the mood just a week ago, that’s remarkable. But every redemption story begins with a setback. And the greater the setback, the bigger the comeback.

In this case, potentially the greatest ever written.