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When you consider Lou Holtz is best known for spending more than a decade as the head coach at Notre Dame, it wasn’t too shocking to hear him say he thought the Fighting Irish would beat Ohio State in their matchup on Saturday. However, it was pretty easy to be shocked by the rant Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day went on after the game—a tirade Holtz has now chimed in on.
Prior to the contest, Holtz appeared on an episode of The Pat McAfee Show held in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus in South Bend for an interview with a fake version of himself where he firmly stated “Notre Dame is a better football team than Ohio State” and specifically called out Day for losing to teams like Alabama, Michigan, and Georgia thanks to the lack of physicality on display.
It looked like there was a good chance No. 6 Ohio State was going to come up short against No. 9 Notre Dame, but DeaMonte Trayanum spoiled the upset by punching the ball into the end zone with a second left on the clock to help the Buckeyes walk away with the 17-14 win and remain undefeated on the season.
When Day got the chance to chat with NBC after the game, he immediately set his sights on Holtz, saying “I’d like to know where Lou Holtz is right now. What he said about our team, I cannot believe” before continuing to unload on the head coach over his comments.
On Tuesday, Holtz got the chance to respond during an appearance on Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich where he revealed he’d reached out to Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman to apologize for giving Ohio State some bulletin board material.
However, he wasn’t interested in walking back the comments in question, saying:
“Ohio State’s a good football team. I don’t think they’re a great team. He can go after me all he wants…
I honestly felt that Notre Dame was a better football team and more physical and I’m sorry that Coach Day was offended by it. I hope he goes on and has a wonderful year.
I don’t think they’ll be a great football team. I really don’t.”
I can only assume Day is ready to move on and focus on the rest of the season, but it’s pretty clear Holtz stands by what he had to say even if the outcome didn’t end up going in Notre Dame’s favor.