Lou Holtz reignites Ryan Day beef with latest comments

The national championship game is almost here Notre Dame football the team will play Ohio State on Monday night. The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish met on the gridiron during the 2023 season in South Bend. It was a great game that Ohio State won in the final game, but you may remember the contest because of what happened before and after with the Buckeye head coach Ryan Day and former Notre Dame head coach Lou Holtz. Now the drama is brewing again.

Ryan Day and Lou Holtz have bad blood over some comments each made about the other. Holtz said some negative things about Ohio State leading up to that game regarding the Buckeyes’ toughness. Ever since Ohio State lost two games in a row to rival Michigan, the narrative began to spread that the Buckeyes weren’t tough. Holtz bought into the narrative, and Day wasn’t happy about it.

Now, the the drama heats up again. Of course, last year’s feud was brought up ahead of the national title game, and Holtz chimed in with some comments of his own.

“If Notre Dame doesn’t win, it’s because we want to save Ryan Day’s job,” Holtz said in a post Wednesday. “Originally I was going to be at the game in spirit, but now I’m going to drag my body.”

After Ohio State beat Notre Dame last year, Ryan Day had a long message for Holtz in his postgame interview. He said he wanted to know where Holtz was and couldn’t believe what was being said about his team. Day too insisted his team is tight.

“I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is now,” Day said. “What he said about our team, what he said about our team, I can’t believe it.” This is a tough team here. We are proud to be from Ohio. And it was always Ohio against the world. It will still be Ohio against the world.”

Despite the loss, Lou Holtz felt that Notre Dame was physically better and was the better team. The Fighting Irish could have easily won the game.

Holtz apologized to Day for offending him and also apologized to current Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman for putting him in a difficult situation.

“I called Coach Freeman yesterday and apologized because I may have put him in a bad position,” Holtz said later on a podcast with Dan Dakich. “I don’t feel bad saying that because I believe it.” And Notre Dame was the better football team…if I was coaching, I would say that. And I’d watch their tape and say, ‘I think you’re better. I think you’re more physical. I think you are more talented. Coach Day doesn’t believe that. Go prove him wrong and prove me right.’ But when I say something and I can’t control the outcome of the game, it’s not fair to Coach Freeman.

Holtz wasn’t done. He then took another shot at Ryan Day by calling out his struggles against Michigan. At that point, the Buckeyes had lost two straight games to the Wolverines. It’s four o’clock now.

“It’s his choice.” And I can understand why he did it,” Holtz said. “He doesn’t want to talk about Michigan, 0-2 (the last two seasons). He doesn’t want to talk about the big game against Penn State and Michigan again. He is a great coach. He did a tremendous job. He is a great offensive mind. Ohio State is a good football team, I don’t think they are a great football team.

The feud is back on, and who knows, it could result in another viral post-game interview.