“We’re In An Austin Powers Movie” – Ryan Day Says Golf Cart Crash Quickly Brought Him Back To Earth After National Championship Win

It was the golf cart crash heard around the world.

Shortly after Ryan Day and THE Ohio State Buckeyes won the College Football Playoff National Championship game (beating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34 to 23), the head coach came crashing back down to Earth… literally. If you missed the viral video of the golf cart ramming right into a concrete wall, you simply have to see it.

The woman driving – God bless her – was just trying to get Ryan Day and some of his players to their press conference. She was probably a little nervous knowing that she was sitting next to the coach that just won a national championship. So like the Fighting Irish, she let the moment get the best of her and absolutely embarrassed herself.

As a man nearby continuously shouted at Ryan Day telling him he “deserved the win,” the woman first put the golf cart into reverse to try and clear enough room for the elongated vehicle to make the turn and head down the corridor. She thought she had backed up enough, though as she and everyone else in the cart soon found out… she had not.

The golf cart (specifically the front right wheel) slammed into the concrete wall, sending everyone that was riding for a loop and a belly laugh. Ohio State QB Will Howard – who was sitting behind the woman – thought the wreck was the funniest thing that’s ever happened. And in his defense, it just might be.

Though the cart wasn’t moving very fast during the turn, the collision did enough damage to render the golf cart useless afterwards. I’m no expert in golf cart repair, but I’d guess that the front axle is going to need some realigning. The woman driver tried to power through, putting the cart back in reverse and turning the wheel with all of her might… but it was no use.

Some lady just crashed the golf cart carrying Ryan Day and Will Howard in the Mercedes-Benz tunnel after they won the National Championship pic.twitter.com/o3UqM5ZhrO

— Patrick Greenfield (@PCGreenfield) January 21, 2025

Just a brutal look.

Ryan Day has since talked about that viral moment in a couple of different interviews, and one the players that was riding on the cart even said that the Ohio State head coach suffered a bit of whiplash from the impact. When Day joined The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the show’s host asked him about how it felt going from on top of the world to right into a wall.

The head coach noted that – as crazy as it might sound – the crash actually helped him stay in the moment:

“You’re stressed during the game. You finally take a deep breathe. So we get on the golf cart to go to the press conference and we are just gunning it through the field, just dodging people. I’m grabbing on (tight) and then we took the corner and hit the wall.

If you look back, (QB) Will Howard is laughing his tail off and so is (LB) Cody Simon. And I’m looking around like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me right now.’ It’s just amazing how you come right back down to Earth 20 minutes after (winning the title).”

Ryan Day also told Fallon that he immediately thought of the iconic scene from Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery:

“I said, ‘We’re in an Austin Powers movie right now.'”

Hilarious.

Nothing can shake that post-victory haze better than a minor, slow-moving crash. If a coach’s job is to motivate his players to be able to run through a brick wall, at least Ryan Day will always have that crash video as a reference point.

There was a lot of commentary online about the golf cart crash when it happened, as you might imagine. If you are a fan of Austin Powers (like Ryan Day apparently is), your mind probably went right to the iconic “three-point-turn” scene where Mike Myers’ character found himself in a similar predicament.