While Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day and the real Lou Holtz may still have beef after some unfortunate comments earlier in the season, “Fake Lou Holtz” of The Pat McAfee Show (aka crew member Ty Schmit) made amends with Day while broadcasting live from Columbus on Friday.
“I love Columbus … I didn’t mean to chap your *** like that and I felt so dang bad afterward,” Schmit as Holtz told Day.
“If you took disrespect or you thought I was making a mockery of you or your program, I apologize and I’m sorry we ever even got in that situation.”
https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1715408756182540513
Schmit interviewed the real Holtz while dressed as fake Holtz doing a next-level impression in late September ahead of a matchup between Holtz’s Fighting Irish and Day’s Buckeyes. In that interview, the real Holtz questioned the toughness of Ohio State before the Buckeyes responded with a win.
This week, Day finally explained how he heard about the absurd setup in the first place.
“There’s certain points in your life where your’e challenged in certain ways, and you stand up for the things you believe in,” Day said. “Afterward, I saw all the fun that was being had … and I thought it was hilarious.”
"Afterwards I saw all the laughs that were being had and I thought it was hilarious"
You won the game @ryandaytime #PMSLive https://t.co/ht0gJqwLEe pic.twitter.com/ecmZWedYy2
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 20, 2023
Following OSU’s win over Notre Dame, Day went hard at the 86-year-old Holtz in his postgame interview.
"I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHERE LOU HOLTZ IS NOW. WHAT HE SAID ABOUT OUR TEAM, WHAT HE SAID ABOUT OUR TEAM, I CANNOT BELIEVE. THIS IS A TOUGH TEAM RIGHT HERE. WE'RE PROUD TO BE FROM OHIO. AND IT'S ALWAYS BEEN OHIO AGAINST THE WORLD. IT'LL CONTINUE TO BE OHIO AGAINST THE WORLD." pic.twitter.com/6xUN3R2WOb
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 24, 2023
Day elaborated on those events in his interview on PMS.
“As a coach, sometimes you’ve got to show emotion too,” Day explained. “There were a lot of things being said that week that we took personal. And that’s OK. That’s OK to take things personal.”
"You do everything you can to put your team in a situation to be successful..
There was a lot of things that were being said that week that we took personal"@ryandaytime #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/eO335FIrX6
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) October 20, 2023
The college football world is still feeling the reverberations of the Holtz on Holtz interview. Day came off more measured this week but is obviously still bothered by Holtz’s insults.
Now that everyone has doled out their apologies, hopefully everyone in Columbus and South Bend can move on.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.