​Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day reacts as he celebrates a play against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con I am a poker player… not an especially good one, but someone who enjoys the ritual of sitting down at an upholstered table with seven to nine people I’ve never met before in an overly air-conditioned poker room for the mental and emotional torture of playing cards for three to 10 hours straight. There are a lot of things in my poker game that I still struggle with: my bet sizing tends to be too big (which can chase away opponents when I’ve got a good hand and cripple me when I don’t), I’m often unsure of how to play pocket pairs post-flop if I don’t connect, and I am not nearly smart enough to understand GTO. However, if there is one thing that I can confidently say I am good at, it is playing a short stack. It’s true in a cash game, but especially so in a tournament; when I get low in chips — under 20 big blinds — all of the confusion that the game’s myriad variables create in my head suddenly quiets, and I instinctively know what to do.There is a freedom in playing a short stack, because you really only have one decision to make on each hand: fold or go all-in. While it’s not a perfect analogy, that is essentially how I feel the Buckeyes should approach tonight’s game in Austin. While those sub-20 BB decisions in a poker tournament clearly have consequences (if you go all-in and lose, you’re out of the tournament), the consequences of playing safe and losing are substantially smaller than the potential benefits of playing aggressively and winning. A short stack — like the Buckeyes — absolutely has something to lose, but playing cautiously often means wasting your best opportunities to find success. These decisions for poker players are relatively easy because you look at your cards and your position, and you either decide to live and fight another day or you apply maximum pressure for the biggest possible payoff. The latter is what Ryan Day should be doing from start to finish against Texas; after all, what is there to be gained by playing scared? Obviously, like the poker tournament, if Ohio State loses this game, there will be negative ramifications, but they will still control their own destiny to make the Big Ten Championship Game and College Football Playoff — two of their self-professed goals. Sure, they will have a bit less margin for error in their CFP chase, but everything that matters would still be in front of them. Besides, the Buckeyes have beaten Texas in each of the last two seasons, including the most consequential of the three matchups — the 2025 Cotton Bowl CFP Semifinal. So when it comes to the spectrum of relative pressure in this game, it is almost all on the side of the Burnt Orange. Da