​Ohio State football head coach Ryan Day has long faced a chorus of critics during his eight seasons in Columbus, but he seemed to quiet many of them in 2024 by guiding the Buckeyes to their ninth national championship in program history. Yet, just a year later, some of those questions resurfaced. ESPN recently released its rankings of the top 10 college football head coaches entering the 2026 season. Day’s placement wasn’t a surprise, nor was it a snub. However, one ESPN analyst openly questioned how Ohio State navigated last season following its national title run. ESPN assembled a panel of reporters to rank college football’s top head coaches, and Indiana’s Curt Cignetti claimed the No. 1 spot after leading the Hoosiers to their first national championship; he wasn’t even ranked a year ago. Day came in at No. 3 with 77 points and just one first-place vote, having been ranked No. 2 entering last season.
One voter, Bill Connelly, placed Day significantly lower than the rest of the panel, ranking him No. 8. No other voter ranked him lower than fourth. Connelly explained his reasoning: “Honestly, it’s just really hard to evaluate the performance of a successful Ohio State head coach, as it has been the most consistently awesome program in the nation for decades. I may have dropped Day too far after last season, but I just didn’t think he stuck the landing at all in 2025. When it was time to help that offense shift into gear late and ramp up the tempo and the risk profile against elite opponents, Day just couldn’t do it.” Connelly specifically pointed to Ohio State’s College Football Playoff loss to Miami in the Cotton Bowl. “I’m not an Ohio State fan, but I was yelling at the TV during the Miami CFP game because the Buckeyes just refused to pick up the pace in the second half when they were down multiple scores. They weren’t up for the task late in the season, and it cost them. Eighth is probably too low, but I guess it could be considered a challenge for 2026.”
The Hurricanes carried a 14-0 lead into halftime before Ohio State cut the deficit to three in the fourth quarter. Miami’s defense and ball-control offense helped close out a 24-14 victory and advance to the Fiesta Bowl. The lone voter who placed Day at No. 1 was Jake Trotter, who highlighted Day’s 82-12 record (.872 winning percentage). “Nobody wins more,” Trotter wrote. “Day owns the best winning percentage of any active coach while operating under the game’s most demanding expectations. Two seasons ago, he delivered Ohio State’s first national championship in a decade, leading the Buckeyes on a dominant playoff run. Last November, he finally cleared the one obstacle critics held against him, beating Michigan 27-9 in Ann Arbor. Every preseason, Ohio State is deservedly in the national title conversation.”