"Amazing how you come right back to earth" - Ryan Day opens up about golf cart accident after winning the natty

Ohio State coach Ryan Day finally got over the hump when he led the Buckeyes to a thrilling 34-23 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to win the national championship last Monday. Amid the frenzied celebrations, Day, quarterback Will Howard and linebacker Cody Simon were involved in a crash when the golf cart transporting them to their news conference hit a wall in the stadium.

During Monday's segment of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," the national champion coach opened up about the accident (2:03).

"Well, you're stressed during the game, you finally take a deep breath," Ryan Day said. "So, we get on the golf cart to go to the press conference and we're just gunning it through the field, just dodging around people, and I'm holding on and then we took the corner and hit the wall.

"And if you look back, Will Howard's laughing his tail off and so is Cody Simon and I'm looking like, 'You gotta be kidding me right now.' It's amazing how you come right back down to earth like 20 minutes after that. I said, 'We're in an Austin Powers movie right now.'"

Outgoing Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, who was in the cart with Ryan Day, revealed during last week's segment of "The Pat McAfee Show" that he thought the Buckeyes coach suffered a neck injury during the accident.

“That was so funny, so bad for the poor girl; she was like ripping through people on the field and just yelling at people," Howard said. "And then all of a sudden we get to this corner, and she, like, almost gets close to the wall, and then she starts reversing, and then she puts it back in drive and just crashes into the wall.

"And Coach Day, I don’t know what happened, but I think his neck, like, got messed up. He looked like he was shaking up for a second. But doing all right now.”

Ryan Day addresses critics on 'Jimmy Fallon Show'

Ryan Day has been the subject of divisive discourse ever since the Ohio State Buckeyes lost 13-10 to their rivals, the Michigan Wolverines, in December. During Monday's segment of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," he had a powerful message for critics (2:50).

"We went out to LA in the Rose Bowl and played No. 1 Oregon and we won that game," Day said. "And then we went to the Cotton Bowl, and in one of the most iconic games in Ohio State history, just an unbelievable play by Jack Sawyer with a sack-fumble at the end of the game to win.

"And then to finish with the national championship trophy. But there was a point there where a lot of people doubted us and the resilience of these guys to come back and finish and win."

Ryan Day has turned around the conversations regarding his tenure as Ohio State coach with the Buckeyes' thoroughly dominant national championship win.