Ryan Day discusses Ohio State championship, golf cart crash on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Ryan Day’s appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon continued a week-long celebration and touched on Ohio State’s championship victory over Notre Dame, the rise of the team’s success after the Michigan loss, the golf-cart crash….

Day was a guest on NBC’s late-night talk show and Fallon didn’t let Day go without asking about a post-game crash that occurred with Day, quarterback Will Howard and linebacker Cody Simon as passengers.

The driver of the cart veered right into a concrete wall inside a tunnel at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans after the Buckeyes defeated the Fighting Irish 34-23 in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

“You’re stressed during the game, you finally take a deep breath, so we get on the golf cart to go to the press conference, and we are just gunning it. And then we took the corner and hit the wall,” Day said. “If you look back Will Howard is laughing his tail off and so is Cody Simon, and I’m looking at it like, ‘you gotta be kidding me right now’. It’s just amazing how you come right back down to earth like 20 minutes after.”

Day, with trophy in hand, also reflected on the path taken after the Buckeyes lost their last regular season game to rival Michigan.

“I think there’s so many people that can learn from this team. … There was a point there where a lot of people doubted us, and the resilience of these guys to come back and win and finish, I think there’s a lot of life lessons to be learned there.” Day said.

“We get caught up in these things,” Day said as he pointed to the trophy. “But really at the end of the day, it’s about the lessons these guys are learning. And for people to watch this team overcome, to me that’s the story of the team.”

In college football's first 12-team College Football Playoff, the Buckeyes' run included a December home win over Tennessee, revenge against No. 1 Oregon, Jack Sawyer’s 83-yard touchdown return after a sack against Texas, and Jeremiah Smith’s 56-yard fourth-quarter catch against Notre Dame. It culminated on Jan. 20 when the Buckeyes became national champions for the first time since 2014.

Buckeyes fans celebrated en mass both in Atlanta and in Columbus, where fans gained access and stormed Ohio Stadium.

Students again lined up outside Ohio Stadium around on Sunday to get a chance to experience the Championship Rally on the field. Other celebrations included appearances by Howard and Sawyer, along with linebacker J.T. Tuimoloau at Raising Cane’s, trophy presentations at the Meijer on Polaris Parkway, Giant Eagle on campus and Kroger in Plain City.