Joel Klatt crushes narrative against Ryan Day as he hails Ohio State's standards 

Ryan Day accomplished Monday night what Ohio State fans had been expecting since he'd taken over for the Buckeyes. He arrived at his first national championship win, a road that had suddenly smoothed after what might've been its biggest bump yet. He threw his coaching headset into the stands behind his team's bench in the late stages, a metaphorical move of lifting a weight off his shoulders.

Just about two months earlier, Day had lost his fourth straight matchup against Michigan, a setback that brought many to question the safety of his position.

"The narrative surrounding Ryan Day is always like, 'Oh, he's coaching for his job!'" Joel Klatt said Tuesday on his podcast, 'The Joel Klatt Show.' "I think that's garbage. I really do. He's one of the great coaches in the sport, and, now one of only three guys that have actually won the national championship that is currently coaching in college football."

Georgia's Kirby Smart and Clemson's Dabo Swinney are the only other active head coaches to have won a national title. Day's situation is arguably more tense more often than both of theirs — and anybody else's.

"I don't that there's another program — at least right now — that has higher expectations of their coach than Ohio State," Klatt added. "Ryan is expected to win every single game he plays. ...That's just the standard, and anything below that, there's speculation on his job."

Why Ryan Day has such a tough job

The Buckeyes haven't had fewer than 10 wins in a full season since 2011, when the program faced some turmoil with Jim Tressel's exit. The consistency has created expectations around Columbus that are enough to stress any coach out. Ryan Day has put together a 70-10 record during his time in charge at Ohio State.

"Part of what makes Ohio State special as a program — and special in the terms of, they don't have down eras — is the standard. And, in a lot of ways, the fans drive that standard," Klatt said.

"That's the expectation of the 100,000 in the seats and the millions around the country and world that are Buckeye fans. The standard is greatness. The standard is win, win every game. That's what they feel like they should be able to do it," he added.

Klatt pointed out that Ryan Day and Ohio State's coaching staff are well-aware of those expectations, just like Urban Meyer was before them. That same standard is what drove the Buckeyes' arch-rival, Michigan, to turn to Jim Harbaugh and eventually win a national title. It spurred Ohio State into responding in the same manner this go-round.

"Ryan's not trying to run away from the standard," Klatt concluded. "He's trying to meet the standard."

On Monday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, he sure did.