Ryan Day compares today's college football to age of the dinosaurs: 'Either you adapt or you die'

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Ryan Day doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands. He’s the head football coach at Ohio State, which boasts one of the most prolific and demanding programs in the game’s collegiate ranks, and he’s tasked with upholding a standard of excellence through a storm of uncertainty that surrounds the sport.

Even when he does have a few hours to spare, it’s not hard to imagine why his job his still top of mind. The college football calendar doesn’t stop for anyone, after all.

Day told reporters Tuesday that he recently had some time to kill while traveling for recruiting visits that his son, RJ, was taking as a quarterback in the 2027 cycle. That’s when Day indulged in “The Dinosaurs” documentary on Netflix.

“If you want to feel insignificant, watch that because it talks about how the dinosaurs were on earth like 250 million years ago,” Day said at the podium after spring practice. “Over that time, the world changed, the climate changed, the earth changed. Some dinosaurs figured out how to continue to adapt, and some died. I guess that's a little extreme, but I think it's kind of the way it is in college football.”

Day said that last part with a bit of a smirk, and the analogy caused the assembled media to break out into laughter. But the eighth-year Buckeyes head coach and one-time national champion was being serious.

He continued: “The people who know how to adapt are going to continue to move on. And the ones who don't, they die. So as frustrating as it all is, as much as we all want to just pull our hair out and throw our hands up and realize that this is all extremely crazy — even being with some of the NFL personnel last Wednesday [at pro day], when they look at you and say, 'You are insane to be in college football.' They're right, but either you adapt or you die.”

College football has transformed since Day took over for Urban Meyer as Ohio State’s full-time head coach in 2019. NIL and the transfer portal have both changed the ways rosters are built and retained. Revenue sharing has entered the equation as well.

These days, significant roster turnover is often inevitable. While the Buckeyes have had veteran-heavy teams the past two seasons, which factored into their 2024 national title run, they’re bearing the brunt of that upheaval this time around. Ohio State lost more than 30 players to the portal this offseason, including offensive lineman Tegra Tshabola — a two-year starter at right guard — and running back James Peoples, the team’s third-leading rusher in 2025.

That group of departing transfers is comprised of several reserves, but some of the backups that left were expected to play roles at Ohio State, such as wide receivers Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter as well as cornerbacks Aaron Scott Jr. and Bryce West.

“This is another phase of it,” Day said, referencing the sport’s evolution. “Bringing in a whole half of your team is new. They've never played a down of football here, and we're not allowed to lose a game.

“So we're going to adapt, and we're not going to die.”

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