Ohio State football: Successful but not satisfied in Ryan Day’s 1st season

Many places, the question would seem absurd.

Did Ohio State have a successful football season in 2019?

Ohio State is not most places, so Ryan Day took it in stride.

“I think it was a successful season, for sure,” the coach of the 13-1 Buckeyes said Tuesday in his first meeting with the local media since the a 29-23 College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. “I just think that in the first year of this coaching staff and a first-year quarterback and all the different things that came in with the defensive staff, there were so many positive things in the way we played.”

>>RELATED: 5 takeaways from Day’s 2019 debriefing

Ohio State won the Big Ten championship for the 39th time and beat Michigan for the eighth year in a row.

The Buckeyes, who finished third in the Associated Press writers poll, ended a two-year CFP drought but are still looking for their ninth national title.

“Certainly we didn't reach all of our goals, though, and that’s something we got right back in here this past week and talked about,” Day added.

Winter workouts began this week with spring practice set to start March 2.

The Buckeyes will have 15 days of work on the field, concluding with the annual spring game at Ohio Stadium on April 11.

Big Ten Media Days are scheduled for July 21-22 in Chicago, and preseason camp will likely begin around the first of August.

The season opener is Sept. 5 at home against Bowling Green, a game that will kick off another pursuit of the Big Ten title and a playoff berth — with an eye on getting the job done this time.

>>RELATED: Ohio State announces important spring dates

So far, Day likes what he has seen from his team in the two and a half weeks since the loss to the Tigers, a game the Buckeyes led 16-0 in the first half and 23-21 with two minutes to go.

“This team's going to be hungry,” he said. “That was a tough game to swallow, but we’re already moved on looking towards the future.

“But I think the ground work has been laid moving forward. And I think there's a lot of credibility now, and I think there's some real good leadership there. And these guys have tasted it now. They've been in the semifinals here, some of the younger guys. I think they're just going to be hungry moving forward as we get into the next season.”

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