Ryan Day Might Be the Most Overrated Coach in College Football

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I’m just going to say it.

Ryan Day might be the most overrated coach in college football.

Yes, he has won a national championship.

Yes, his overall record at Ohio State is ridiculous.

But how many times are we going to watch an Ohio State team loaded with NFL talent completely fall apart in a massive game before we start questioning the guy running it?

Saturday night against Texas might have been the worst example yet.

Ohio State entered the fourth quarter leading 23-3.

The Buckeyes were the No. 1 team in the country. Texas could barely move the football. Arch Manning looked uncomfortable.

Then everything changed.

Ohio State became conservative, Texas scored 21 unanswered points, and the Buckeyes somehow lost 24-23. AP No. 1 teams had been 197-0 since 2004 when leading by 20 points in the fourth quarter before Ohio State found a way to lose this one.

And that’s what makes this so frustrating.

We’ve seen versions of this before under Day.

In the 2019 College Football Playoff semifinal against Clemson, Ohio State led 16-0 before losing 29-23.

Against Georgia in the 2022 Peach Bowl, Ohio State led 38-24 entering the fourth quarter and eventually lost 42-41.

Now Texas joins the list.

23-3. Gone.

There’s a pattern here.

When Ohio State gets ahead in these massive games, Day has a tendency to tighten up. The offense becomes more conservative, the aggression disappears and suddenly a team that looked dominant starts playing not to lose.

Since Day’s first full season in 2019, Ohio State is just 6-8 in games decided by seven points or fewer. That’s an incredible statistic considering how much more talented Ohio State is than almost every team it plays.

Of course, everyone will immediately bring up the national championship.

And they should.

Day deserves credit for winning it.

But let’s remember what that season actually looked like.

Ohio State finished the regular season 10-2, losing to Oregon and then suffering an embarrassing 13-10 home loss to Michigan. That was Day’s fourth consecutive loss to the Wolverines.

Then Ohio State benefited from the expanded 12-team playoff and went on an incredible postseason run.

And what kind of roster did Day have?

One that was widely reported to cost around $20 million in NIL money, loaded with players like Will Howard, Quinshon Judkins, Caleb Downs and Jeremiah Smith.

Again, winning four straight playoff games and a national championship deserves respect.

But we’re talking about Ohio State.

Day inherited one of the most powerful programs in college football. He recruits at an elite level. He has enormous NIL resources. He consistently has future NFL players all over the field.

The standard shouldn’t simply be winning 10 or 11 games.

It’s winning the games that matter most.

And far too often, those are exactly the games where Day has come up short.

The Texas loss just reopened a conversation that temporarily disappeared after the national championship.

Maybe Ryan Day is a very good coach who finally had one unbelievable postseason run with an absolutely loaded roster.

Maybe he’s not actually one of the truly elite coaches in college football.

Because after watching 16-0 against Clemson, 38-24 against Georgia and now 23-3 against Texas all turn into losses, it’s getting harder to dismiss these collapses as coincidences.

Ryan Day has won a national championship.

Nobody can ever take that away from him.

But with the talent, money and resources Ohio State gives him every single year, maybe one national championship should be the expectation — not proof that he’s one of college football’s best coaches.

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