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Ryan Day irked by calls in game-altering moments in Ohio State’s loss to Clemson
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Ryan Day did his best to tiptoe around criticizing the officiating in Saturday night’s Fiesta Bowl game between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson, and the Buckeye head coach did a pretty good job of it. But reading between the lines, you could tell the first-year leader was upset with some of the critical calls in the game.
Ohio State ended up on the wrong side of a 29-23 decision against Clemson in Glendale, ending their season with a 13-1 record. During a hard-fought battle with the defending national champions, a few calls went against the Buckeyes.
A touchdown pass from Justin Fields to J.K. Dobbins was wiped off the board in the first half. A targeting penalty on Shaun Wade kept a Clemson drive alive and left the Buckeyes without one of their top defenders for the second half. A completed pass for Clemson that was fumbled and returned for a scoop-and-score was later ruled an incomplete pass.
Day was quick to bring up those “game-altering” calls in his postgame press conference Saturday night.
“Certainly were a lot of plays in that game that didn’t go our way and very hard to swallow right now and gonna really have to take a look at the film and see what happened on some of those plays,” Day said in his opening comments. “Because, in a game like this, the margin for error is so tiny, one play can alter the game. And it didn’t seem like we got any of those plays.”
Later in the presser, Day was asked to elaborate on his feelings on those calls.
“We’ll have to look at the film and see what that was, but there were some plays that were called on the field and then overturned and when they overturn it, there has to be indisputable evidence. And if that’s what they deemed it was, then it’s going to be something we have to take a look at.
“The thing about those plays was — the catch that was returned for a touchdown was such a huge play in the game; the play with Shaun Wade that was a fourth down play, was such a huge play in the game; the J.K. Dobbins catch, they were all major plays.”
Twice, Ohio State had a touchdown wiped off the board, and on Wade’s targeting call, Clemson was able to keep the drive alive and put together a scoring drive for its first touchdown of the game.
Day isn’t wrong, those game-altering moments did all work against Ohio State. Sometimes, it happens. The question is whether or not the right call was made in all three of the situations he brought up after the game. And that’s what Day hopes to get an explanation on in the coming days.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB