Ohio State football inspires new catchphrase for coach Ryan Day in rout of Tennessee

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The blowout had reached a crescendo inside Ohio Stadium when Ohio State senior leader Jack Sawyer pulled his coach close and shared some celebratory words.

“All ‘Day’ long,” Sawyer told Ryan Day, as the Buckeyes coach engineered a masterful resurrection, two weeks after suffering the most embarrassing defeat of his career.

Sawyer won’t claim ownership for the phrase. He credits Ohio State’s media relations manager Jerry Emig for using it first, days before the Buckeyes blasted Tennessee 42-17 on Saturday in the College Football Playoff’s first round.

“I kind of like that,” Sawyer recalls thinking when he heard Emig uncork the line.

Sawyer wants to make it stick. Ohio State’s performance against Tennessee gave that a chance of happening.

“I’d go to war with him any day,” Sawyer said of his embattled coach. “… I’d commit to him a hundred times over, if I could. This is a huge win for him.”