Ohio State fans fume at Buckeyes' Cotton Bowl loss - "Fire Ryan Day TOMORROW"

The Ohio State Buckeyes succumbed to a disappointing end to their 2023 campaign as they lost the Cotton Bowl to the Missouri Tigers.

The team's starting quarterback Kyle McCord recently left for Syracuse in the transfer portal. This led to Devin Brown starting for Ryan Day in the bowl showdown.

However, the performance put up by Ohio State was far from what fans had expected. With Brown succumbing to an injury on the field in the first half and being replaced by third-string quarterback Lincoln Kienholz, the team only scored thanks to a 44-yard field goal by Jayden Fielding in the first half.

After a lackluster second and third quarter, the Missouri Tigers began their comeback in the fourth quarter with a touchdown by running back Cody Schrader. Quarterback Brady Cook found Luther Burden for a touchdown, which led to Mizzou winning the game with a 14-3 final score. Fans of Ohio State were not happy with Ryan Day's decision-making and criticized him on social media:

One fan even went as far as to suggest that the program starts searching for a new head coach to replace Ryan Day as early as tomorrow:

"Fire Ryan Day TOMORROW"

Here are a few more reactions from fans criticizing Day and demanding accountability for the bowl game loss:

The last time Ohio State lost back-to-back bowl games was between 2012 and 2014.

In 2012, under former coach Luke Fickell, the Buckeyes lost the Gator Bowl to the Florida Gators with a 24-17 final score. When Urban Meyer took over in 2012, the team was ineligible to participate in bowl games due to a one-year ban by the NCAA.

In 2013, Ohio State finished 12-2 but lost 40-35 in the Orange Bowl to the Clemson Tigers.

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Ohio State's 3 points in the Cotton Bowl are the fewest scored by the team under Ryan Day

Apart from ending the season with a second consecutive bowl defeat, the three points scored was also the Buckeyes' lowest-scoring game during the Ryan Day era. The last time fans witnessed such a disappointing offensive performance was in 2016 when Clemson whitewashed the Buckeyes 31-0.

However, the team did enter the Cotton Bowl without a majority of their star players. McCord left for Syracuse, Marvin Harrison Jr opted out to prepare for the 2024 draft, Chip Trayanum left for Kentucky and Julian Fleming is in the transfer portal. Thus, the task was already challenging for Ryan Day and Ohio State.