The Ohio State Buckeyes earned their place and proved they belonged not only in the College Football Playoffs, but as perhaps the betting favorites to win the national title from here on out. That’s not all the Buckeyes — and their head coach Ryan Day — earned on Saturday night.
Day himself reached a contract threshold and earned himself quite the pay day for a few hours worth of work against Tennessee.
Ryan Day Pockets $150,000 for Advancing in College Football Playoffs
No, the payout isn’t directly because he beat an SEC team or anything like that. Day earned $150,000 for advancing to the College Football Playoffs quarterfinals, as stipulated in his contract.
MORE: Ryan Day Contract, Salary, Net Worth
Previously, just for making the playoffs, Day had earned $100,000. This now pushes his total bonuses to $250,000 for the season. But he’s not done there it would appear.
Ohio State now faces off in a rematch against Big Ten foe Oregon Ducks. The Buckeyes previously lost to Oregon — in Eugene — by a single point and on a miss-timed slide from QB Will Howard.
If the Buckeyes were to defeat Oregon and advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals, Day would pocket another $250,000 on top of the $250,000 in bonuses he’s already received this year.
Ryan Day Offers Fiery Message for Buckeye Believers
Call it money, call it pride, call it passion — one thing Day is not short on is excitement off the field. Whether it’s ‘analysts’ calling for his firing or current and/or former players going to bat for him, Day has seen his fair share of scrutiny during his tenure in Columbus.
Such is life as the head coach of THE Ohio State University. But, following their victory over Tennessee, Day fed into it and gave his supporters a bit of a jolt, even more so than their throttling of the Vols.
“We gotta win three more,” Day said after the game.
Of course, he means winning their quarterfinal match against Oregon, squaring off against the winner of the Texas-Arizona State game, and ultimately knocking off whoever comes out of the bottom of the bracket in the National Championship.
That would put the Buckeyes at a whopping 16 games played in 2024, the most for any college football team of all time. Only the Texas Longhorns and Penn State Nittany Lions could play more this season — and that’s if they make the national title game, as they’re the two teams who survived and advanced in the first round who also played in their conference championship games.
Day and his Buckeyes will be in action against Oregon on January 1, 2025, at 7:30 pm ET from the Rose Bowl.
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