Josh Pate offers "humble" advice to Ryan Day

Ryan Day has seemingly spent most of the 2024 college football season on the hot seat. The Ohio State Buckeyes coach entered the year with questions about his job security. He appeared to be in real danger of being fired after suffering a 13-10 loss to the Michigan Wolverines, marking the Buckeyes' fourth consecutive loss to their fierce rivals.

Day has turned things around in the College Football Playoff, though, as Ohio State has beaten the Tennessee Volunteers, Oregon Ducks and Texas Longhorns by a combined score of 111-52.

They face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday. Ahead of the matchup, Josh Pate offered the Buckeyes coach some advice:

"Here is a piece of advice to Ryan Day. I'm not going to give Chip Kelly, Jim Knowles much advice. They don't need it. But one humble, very humble, piece of advice to Ryan Day.

"If you guys win this coin toss, defer. Find a way to take the ball in the second half. Again, that's free. Jerry Emig does not need to send me anything. I don't need you to send them a bill. I'm giving that to our friends in Columbus free of charge."

Check out Josh Pate's advice to Ryan Day below (starting at the 10:29 mark):

Pate eventually predicted that the Buckeyes would win their ninth national championship and first since 2014. It would mark the first title of Day's career and seemingly guarantee his job security for a few more seasons.

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Stephen A. Smith called for Deion Sanders to replace Ryan Day just last month

Ryan Day appeared to be in real danger of losing his job less than a month ago. Stephen A. Smith went as far as calling for the Ohio State Buckeyes to hire Deion Sanders as his replacement. On ESPN's First Take, the sports media personality said:

"I understand that $37 million is a lot of money when it comes to Ryan Day. If you can get your hands on Deion Sanders to bring him to the Ohio State, you pay the $37 million.

"They'll pay the driver $37 million to ride him out of town. I just had somebody text me and say that, OK? That's how much money they got in Columbus. That ain't a lot of money to overcome. You can come up with the money to do that."

Check out Stephen A. Smith's comments on Ryan Day and Deion Sanders below (starting at the 5:55 mark):

Smith's suggestion appears to be highly unlikely, as Day has likely done enough to retain his job. Meanwhile, Sanders has been linked to the Dallas Cowboys coaching vacancy, but it's unclear if he plans to leave the Colorado Buffaloes.