"This is a way of life" - Ryan Day once shared his first impressions of Michigan - OSU rivalry with Urban Meyer

Ohio State coach Ryan Day redeemed himself with a dominant national championship win last week when the Buckeyes trumped the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23 last Monday. The Buckeyes coach was in the eye of the storm when the Buckeyes lost 13-10 to their rivals, the Michigan Wolverines in November despite being 20-point favorites for the game.

During a 2020 "CFB on Fox" interview with former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, Day shared his first impressions of the great rivalry between the Buckeyes and the Wolverines (6:54).

"It's everything," Ryan Day said. "It started when I first got here. My son went to the bus stop the first day and there was a kid wearing a blue shirt and they start getting into it. The first day in school and I said, 'Okay, we're in it now.' I remember growing up and watching the unbelievable battles that went on here, the rivalry and then I learned.

"You have to live it every day and that's how you respect the rivalry because there's a respect. You know the players up there (Michigan), the coaches, a lot of respect there but at the same time, this is real, this is a way of life and it means everything to us, it's our identity. So, with our players and staff living it every day is critical."

Ryan Day addresses OSU's growth after Michigan loss

When Ohio State lost to Michigan in November, Ryan Day was one of the most under-pressure coaches in college football heading into the college football playoffs.

During Monday's segment of the "Tonight Show" with host Jimmy Fallon, Day spoke about his team's recovery after the disappointing loss to Michigan to winning the national championship (2:50).

“We have an unbelievable group of guys that decided to come back and forgo going to the NFL,' Ryan Day said. "And there was a point at the end of the year where there's nobody who thought we were going to do this. And there's a group of guys that did, decided they were going to, and they started with a home game against Tennessee. We got some momentum going there. We went out to L.A. in the Rose Bowl and played No. 1 Oregon and won that game.

"And then we went to the Cotton Bowl, and 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 a national championship trophy," Day said. "But there was a point there where a lot of people doubted us, and the resilience of these guys to come back and win and finish, I think there's a lot of life lessons to be learned there."

Ryan Day completed his redemption arc in record time after losing to the Wolverines in November and his Buckeyes team rampaging through the college football playoffs to win the national championship barely seven weeks later.