CBSsports has released its annual ranking of top college football coaches. Ohio State’s very own Ryan Day has come in at No. 6 overall according to CBS. While that is an excellent place for such a young head coach, it is a drop from the 2021 ranking where Day ranked No. 4.
Here’s what CBSsports had to say about Day and why he dropped:
Nobody questions Day’s offensive acumen, but we’ve seen some slippage on the defensive side of the ball in Columbus, and it’s cost the Buckeyes a few games. Day has still gone 34-4 in three seasons, which is an incredible start, but a two-loss season is considered a failure at Ohio State — especially when that second loss wasn’t in the College Football Playoff. Last year also saw Ohio State’s run of four straight Big Ten titles end, and it impacted Day’s standing among our voters ever so slightly.
In three years’ time, Day has certainly made his presence known and skyrocketed to the upper echelon of coaches. With the changes that have been made on the defensive side of the ball, he may very well be moving farther up this list in the near future.
Day was the highest-rated coach from the Big Ten, however, the conference landed a whopping eight coaches in the top 25.
No. 24 – Mel Tucker, Michigan State
No. 23 – P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
No. 21 – Pat Fitzgerald, Northwestern
No. 15 – James Franklin, Penn State
No. 14 – Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
No. 13 – Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
No. 9 – Jim Harbaugh, Michigan
It’s funny how much status a win over the Buckeyes will give a coach. Harbaugh jumped 14 spots from the 2021 ranking.
Rounding out the top-5 are:
No. 5 – Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M
No. 4 – Lincoln Riley, USC
No. 3 – Dabo Swinney, Clemson
No. 2 – Kirby Smart, Georgia
No. 1 – Nick Saban, Alabama
Hard to argue with those names with the exception of one. All have a national title on their resume with the exception of Riley. Sure the former Oklahoma head coach has made three college football playoff appearances but is yet to win or even play in a national championship game. I mean Day has a least won a playoff game. I guess it’s all fodder. Do you think CBS got it right? Where would you rank the OSU head coach?
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