One of college football’s most iconic coaches has once again taken aim at the Buckeyes.
Former head coach Lou Holtz made multiple comments towards Ohio State during the podcast “Don’t @ Me” with Dan Dakich of Outkick.
Holtz first criticized the Buckeyes, arguing they didn’t deserve the hype because Texas outgained them in yardage, despite an Ohio State win.
“I don’t think Ohio State’s a great football team,” Holtz told Dakich. “I know the schedule is very, very good, but when you’re at home and you’re outgained by well over 100 yards, you just can’t look at it and say, ‘OK, we’re great. We won the game.’ They are 1-0 and that’s the objective they had going in that game, but they’re not a great football team.
However, not all of Holtz’s remarks about the Buckeyes were critical. He praised the defense for holding the nation’s No. 1 team to just seven points despite the loss of former defensive coordinator Jim Knowles in the offseason.
“I would not be overwhelmed about facing Ohio State, although I was surprised that they lost Knowles, their defensive coordinator — I thought there’d be a big drop off on their defense, but Ohio State’s defense played outstanding football.”
Holtz said he even wrote a letter to Day after Ohio State’s national championship win but never received a reply, continuing to praise Day’s record while voicing skepticism about a conference he believes lacks strong teams.
“Ryan Day can do whatever he wants. I did write him a congratulatory letter, but I never heard back from him. I’m not sure he could write but in any event, he’s obviously a good coach. He’s a good recruiter, he’s a good coach,” he said. “You look at his win-loss record, it’s really tremendous. But let’s not get overwhelmed, because the Big Ten doesn’t have that many great football teams in it this year, but we’ll find out.”
