The anti-Day crowd has made so many bad takes in this thread that you are starting to turn me into one of his staunchest supporters. I am only partially joking.
This following take is not bad, it is simply incorrect:
Actually, through their first five years, Ryan Day is
exactly Kirby Smart. Ask our resident Georgia fans what they thought of Smart when he kept losing big games to his rivals during his first five seasons. Then Smart wins it all in years six and seven and is odds on favorite to threepeat in year eight. Now ask Georgia fans how high they want to build his statue.
Kirby Smart is an aberration. Most coaches who win an NC do so within their first four seasons at that school. The complete list is here:
LINK. Dabo Swinney is another aberration, as he won his first NC at Clemson in year eight and his second in year ten. I have no reason to think or even believe that Ryan Day will buck the trend like Smart and Swinney, but at this point I have to hope that he does so. My hope will run out in three years – if Day hasn't won it all by the 2026 season, then I will firmly join the anti-Day camp.
I've given my thoughts on Ryan Day earlier in this thread:
LINK. Ryan Day is not a risk taker – he doesn't go for the throat early (Clemson 2019; scUM 2023) or sweep the leg late (Georgia 2022), and this has led to three career-defining losses. Sometimes risk aversion is the byproduct of intelligence, sometimes of cowardice. You decide.
Now I want to give a different perspective on Ryan Day. I'm not Ryan Day's boss, but if I were I would consider the following to be his job duties, in order: (1) prepare players for the NFL; (2) generate money for Ohio State and its media partners; and (3) win football games.
The purpose of a college is to prepare its students for their chosen careers. Ryan Day and his staff are essentially professors of football, so their primary job is to prepare their players for the NFL. Ryan Day and his staff do a great job of preparing players for the NFL, and that is one of the main reasons why talented high school football prospects want to attend Ohio State (just like talented high school computer programer prospects want to attend Stanford).
Of course, college football is a business and player development requires money – for assistant coaches, for a recruiting staff, for training facilities, and these days for players themselves. Ryan Day generates a lot of money for Ohio State, and thus Ohio State has a lot of money to invest in its football program – it's a successful business model.
So if Ryan Day succeeds in his first two job duties (develop players; generate money), then he will naturally succeed in his third (win games). Day has won games at an incredible rate and he will continue to do so. The question remains: Will Day ever the big game and transform himself from a good steward into a renowned king?
A few more thoughts on The Game itself....
After the Minnesota game, I had this to say about Kyle McCord:
After The Game, I feel even more strongly that McCord = Boeckman and that Ohio State will have a new starting quarterback in 2024. McCord showed no real improvement throughout the season and he does not possess the athleticism to overcome his mental mistakes.
After the Michigan State game, I had this to say about Xavier Johnson:
Johnson had another nice game yesterday, with 3 plays from scrimmage for 22 yards and 2 kick returns for 42 yards. It's really cool to see the X-Man having some success, but where have all the five star recruits gone? Marvin Harrison Jr is the best player in college football and Emeka Egbuka gets somewhat of a pass this year due to injury, but in his fourth season Julian Fleming has still not progressed beyond mediocrity (26 receptions, 270 yards, 0 TDs this season; 80 receptions, 990 yards, 7 TDs for his career). Sure, Brandon Inniss and Carnell Tate look like future stars, but former top prospects Jayden Ballard, Kiyon Grayes, Kojo Antwi, Noah Rogers, and Bryson Rodgers have a combined zero receptions on the season. Tight end Gee Scott Jr has a grand total of 19 receptions for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns through four seasons.
One final thought. After the Notre Dame game, I wrote this:
I understand that football games are win/lose events and that there are no bad wins or good losses. I also understand that football is a game of inches and that one or two plays can swing the outcome of a game. In the Notre Dame game, everything went right on the final drive and Ohio State pulled out a miraculous victory; in the scUM game, the potential game-winning drive ended with an interception. Now reverse the situations – the Notre Dame ends with the pick, the scUM game with the last-second touchdown. Do your opinions of Ryan Day and Kyle McCord change? Should they, or are they still the same guys?
