This Message Is For Jack Sawyer, Will Howard, and Coach Ryan Day

This message is for Jack Sawyer, Will Howard, and Coach Ryan Day:

There is no greater distance in life than the distance between first place and second place. 

I wanted to give you a speech today about how no one ever remembers the Runner Up. How the only reason some of the greatest plays in sports history, are now forgotten, because they didn’t finish the job.

Marcus Paige off balance 3 pointer for North Carolina with 4 seconds left against Villanova:

Rajai Davis home run in the bottom of the 8th off Aroldis Chapman in Game 7 of the World Series:

Jermaine Kearse bouncing catch in the Super Bowl with a minute left:

You probably don’t even know what I’m talking about, but it would go down as maybe the best catch in NFL history….if they won.

Jack Sawyer’s scoop and score?

I wanted to give you a speech that no one remembers who came in second, but for this team, it’s not true. In your case, every single person in this country will know who came in 2nd place this year.

You are the Ohio State Buckeyes. Everyone wants to see you fail. And when we lost that game at the end of November, 49 states smiled about it.

But the college football playoff committee gave you an eraser. They gave you the toughest path any team would ever have to go through, but they gave you an eraser. And now, after ruining Tennessee’s Christmas, after going on the West Coast to beat the #1 team in the country, and after going to Dallas to beat Texas, you no longer have an eraser, you have a permanent marker.

You are either going to write yourselves into history as NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. Or you are going to write yourselves into history as failures.

And my biggest concern is that the entire world is now telling you how good you are. But think back to where you were a month ago. That’s the shoes Notre Dame is in right now. They beat Indiana, they went down South and beat Georgia, and they beat Penn State – and now they’re being told they have no chance. Feels a bit like the opposite of 2002, doesn't it, Jack?

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The wolf on the hill is never as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill. You are not the champion yet. But the pen is in your hands. WIN. There is no other option.