10/29/16 - Urban Meyer's Buckeyes hosted Northwestern after their loss to Penn State. Ohio State came from behind late in the second half to win 24-20 over Northwestern, taking the lead with 9:43 to go.

11/3/18 - Urban Meyer's Buckeyes hosted Nebraska after their 49-20 defeat at Purdue. The Buckeyes came from behind to win 36-31 after trailing the Huskers at half.

Anyone has the right to be frustrated, but I've seriously begun to wonder what some have set for expectations. Seasons have ugly wins - even championship seasons (see 9/21/02, 10/5/02, 10/26/02, 11/9/02, 11/16/02, 8/30/14, 10/25/14, 11/15/14). Losses are sometimes followed by dismal-looking wins (see those under Meyer listed above, for two squads that either made the 4-team CFP or won the Rose Bowl).

My honest take is that some have already written Day off and simply are taking each squeaker and each loss to a very good team as evidence to justify their pre-determined conclusion. Day is 62-6 (0.912). He's something like 45-0 against unranked teams. His average final AP rank is 5. Urban's was 4.86. Tress's was 6.11. The simple reality is that had Michigan not deployed arguably the most egregious cheating scheme in the history of college football, it is very likely that Day would currently a) be undefeated vs. TTUN, b) would have won a Big Ten title in every season he has coached, and c) would have made the 4-team CFP in every year he coached. You can argue that we can't say for certain that he would have defeated 23rd-ranked Iowa in 2021, unranked Purdue in 2022, and 24th-ranked Iowa in 2023. I'd argue his track record against teams not ranked top 15 definitively states he would have.

Urban's teams rarely looked perfect. 2012 won ugly, 2013 won without defense, 2014 didn't hit stride until late season, 2015 dramatically underperformed, 2016 had zero offense down the stretch, 2017 and 2018 struggled on defense. Urban was an outstanding coach because he generally won. Day is accomplishing the same. The driving frustration for most is lack of wins vs TTUN 2021-2023 and for those for whom this is truly the sticking point, I'd love to hear your rationale take on why you feel what Michigan did 2021-2023 should be considered legitimate and maintained in the history books. Because for many of you, it sure seems you've legitimized it as damning evidence against Day and have cemented it in your heads as factual.