The Ohio State Buckeyes have been under a microscope since losing to the Oregon Ducks, and their 21-17 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers last week wasn’t exactly confidence-inducing. Will Ryan Day and Co. unleash their potential on the Penn State Nittany Lions in Week 10?
Ryan Day’s Record vs. AP Ranked Teams
Since taking over as Ohio State’s full-time head coach in 2019 (he led the team for the first three games in 2018 with Urban Meyer suspended), Day has a remarkable 62-9 record. Even more impressive is that all nine of those losses were to AP-ranked teams, nearly half of whom were in the top three.
His 65.3% winning percentage (17-9 overall record) against top-25 teams ranks third among active head coaches, behind only the Georgia Bulldogs’ Kirby Smart (72.9%) and the Alabama Crimson Tide’s Kalen DeBoer (82.3%).
However, Day’s Buckeyes have notably gone 0-3 in their most recent ranked matchups, falling to Oregon this season (32-31), the Missouri Tigers in last year’s Cotton Bowl (14-3), and the Michigan Wolverines in 2023’s edition of “The Game” (30-24).
Day’s Record vs. Top 10 Teams
The higher up the AP Poll Top 25 you go, the worse Day’s record becomes. Against top-10 opponents, he’s 8-8, picking up a pair of such victories last season against the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17-14) and No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions (20-12).
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Day will hope to break .500 against the Nittany Lions this week, and assuming the Indiana Hoosiers continue their undefeated season, he’ll likely have another opportunity to bring down a top-10 team in the penultimate game of the season.
Day’s Record vs. Top 5 Teams
17-9? Impressive. 8-8? Solid. 2-7? Abysmal.
That’s Day’s record against top-five teams since becoming a head coach, hence the heightened pressure entering Happy Valley this week.
The last time the Buckeyes knocked off a team in the top five was Week 1 of the 2022 season, when they defeated No. 5 Notre Dame 21-10 as a ranked (No. 2) home team. And before that, Day’s only other top-five win came against the No. 2 Clemson Tigers in the first round of the 2020 College Football Playoff.
Ohio State beat the breaks off Dabo Swinney’s squad, 49-28, but were swiftly dispatched in the national championship by Nick Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide, 52-24.
Day’s Record in the Big Ten Championship
While Day has struggled against elite competition, he has led the Buckeyes to a 2-0 record in the Big Ten title game, winning the program’s third and fourth straight in 2019 and 2020.
Neither contest was all that close, with Ohio State winning by double digits in each (34-21 in 2019 vs. the No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers; 22-10 in 2020 vs. the No. 14 Northwestern Wildcats).
With the conference abolishing divisions in 2024, the Buckeyes — theoretically — have an even easier path to the title match, but with a loss to Oregon on their résumé and three teams undefeated in the league (Oregon, Indiana, and Penn State), they’ll need some help to return to the big stage.
Day’s Record in the College Football Playoff
Speaking of big stages, Day has a losing record under the brightest of lights, going 1-3 in the College Football Playoff. Since winning the chip in the CFP’s 2015 debut, Ohio State has had a rough go in the postseason.
First, a Deshaun Watson-led Clemson team obliterated Ohio State in the first round of 2017’s bracket, 31-0, with Meyer at the helm. Then, it took a few years and a pandemic for the program to return, only to fall to — you guessed it — Clemson in the first round once again (29-23).
Day’s squad got revenge in 2021 before Alabama put them back in their place in the title bout. After a year off, the Buckeyes gave their all against the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in 2022 — the same Bulldogs who would go on to embarrass the TCU Horned Frogs 65-7 in the natty — but fell short by just one point (42-41).
Day’s Record vs. Penn State
Although the previous headers may have sent Ohio State fans into a depressive spiral, note this: Day is 5-0 against Penn State.
It’s not as if the Nittany Lions are scrubs, either — no offense to the medical field — as they entered each of those matchups ranked, including standing No. 7 in 2023 and No. 8 in 2019.
However, this week’s duel has a different feel. Not only are both programs ranked in the top five for the first time since 1996, but they are also on opposing momentum swings. The Buckeyes fell to Oregon just two games ago when QB Will Howard took too long to slide.
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Then, off a bye, they played flat against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, winning 21-17. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions have rattled off seven consecutive victories, including a ranked win over the No. 19 Illinois Fighting Illini.
Will Day’s Buckeyes reassert themselves as a national power, or will Penn State seize the moment and put a dent in Ohio State’s playoff hopes? The stakes couldn’t be higher, and the showdown in Happy Valley is poised to shape the landscape of the Big Ten and the CFP.
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