After the Ohio State Buckeyes, the 2024-2025 college football national champions, lost their fourth-consecutive game to archrival Michigan in their final regular-season contest, a postgame brawl ensued. This led analysts, including former NFL linebacker and Fox Sports 1 analyst Emmanuel Acho, to heavily criticize Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day.
Emmanuel Acho’s Big Praise for Ryan Day After Strong Criticism
In November, a postgame fight occurred when Michigan beat the Buckeyes 13-10. Day was in front of Ohio State’s marching band on the sidelines, and the scuffle began when some Wolverines players planted their team’s flag on Ohio State’s home turf.
The head coach did not intervene, prompting Acho to tweet, “Also, Ryan Day, your whole team is in the midst of a brawl, and you’re on the sideline asking ‘What happened?’ Huh!? Get your butt on the field and command your players go to the locker room.”
Also, Ryan Day, your whole team is in the midst of a brawl, and you’re on the sideline asking “what happened?” Huh!?
Get your butt on the field and command your players go to the locker room.
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) November 30, 2024
Now that the Buckeyes are national champions, defeating Notre Dame 34-23 on Jan. 20, Acho is celebrating the team and the coach.
“I learned a lot in Ohio State winning. I gotta say a couple of things. No. 1, shout out Will Howard, you absolutely dominated,” Acho said on “The Facility” on Jan. 21.
“I early on, in the College Football Playoff campaign, said he was one of the worst quarterbacks remaining in the playoffs, and he proved that he was actually, in fact, the best when it mattered most.
“Shout out to you, Ryan Day, you shut everybody up. Hi, I’m everybody. You shut everybody up after the loss to Michigan and everybody started to come out and chastised you. Shout out to you Chip Kelly, shout out to you Jeremiah Smith. … Shout to all of y’all.”
Shout out to Will Howard.
Shout out to Ryan Day.
Shout out to THE Ohio State University.Y’all taught me a life lesson that transcends football. pic.twitter.com/iX4G7jWbiX
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) January 21, 2025
Talking about the coaching staff and players who have exalted themselves by playing for the team, Acho said, “This Ohio State team is truly a team of individuals who chose to humble themselves so they could be exalted.
“I think we could all learn a lesson in life about what Ohio State did on the field, and in an era of individuals who want to make it about me, me, me, me, me and me, Ohio State said, ‘Let’s make it about we.’ And ultimately, ‘we’ are going to hoist the Championship Trophy.”
KEEP READING: Ohio State’s Will Howard Sets CFP National Championship Record Against Notre Dame
This was the Buckeyes’ ninth national championship since the program’s inception in 1890 and their first title win since 2014.
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