The Ohio State football program has had some good seasons under Ryan Day. That’s not disputable. He’s won two Big Ten Championships and has played for a national championship. He’s only lost eight career games in the five full seasons he’s coached the Buckeyes.
But we know that good seasons aren’t the bar at Ohio State. National championships are. Jim Tressel won one in his second year. Urban Meyer won one in his third year. We are approaching year six for Day and he has yet to capture one. Not all of it has been his fault, but he still has some blame that he deserves.
The Buckeyes came close in 2020. After destroying Clemson in the semi-final, they looked destined to beat Alabama in the National Championship Game and get the championship that he craved. Instead, the Buckeyes got throttled. So why hasn’t he been able to get over that hump yet?
Day hasn’t made a National Championship Game since. They were a field goal away from making that final game in 2022. Had Noah Ruggles been able to make it, they would have played TCU and they likely would have smoked them. That’s a bit of bad luck.
But the overwhelming reason why Day hasn’t been able to get it done is because he’s tried to do too much. He held on to play-calling for way too long before finally ceding it this year to Chip Kelly. The offense became stale under pressure against the best defenses in the country.
Day’s teams haven’t been tough enough either. The last three games against Michigan and the Alabama game showed us that. They are really close though. This is Day’s best roster since the 2020 team that made the title game against Bama. If he gets there this time, he won’t have to coach against the best coach of all-time.
Day knows that this year is critical to his coaching future. He’s embracing the pressure. That’s something he’s never done before. Perhaps it will result in a title for him.
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Publish date : 2024-07-19 17:00:03
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