Ohio State Football: Day proving to be a top five coach already

Ohio State football coach Ryan Day is proving to be one of the best in college football. Here is where I think he ranks.

Ryan Day has been spectacular as head coach of the Ohio State football team so far. So spectacular, in fact, I think he is already a top five coach in the country.

Day has this Buckeye team dominating, averaging 49.7 points per game offensively and they are only allowing 8 points per game defensively. They are also winning games by an average margin of 41.71 points per game – truly showing that their competition does not even compare.

So far, all these numbers are better than last year’s numbers too. The 2018 Buckeyes scored 42.4 points per game and allowed 25.5 to their opponents. They also had a big loss to Purdue and barely beat Maryland.

Are the improved numbers because of Day? He might not be the only reason, but I think he deserves a lot of the credit.

He has this offense looking unstoppable and the staff he has hired to run the defensive side of the ball has cleaned up all the glaring errors the Buckeyes made on that side of the ball last year.

Day has also done well on the recruiting trail as the Buckeyes have the No. 3 2020 class according to 247Sports.

With all this evidence, where do I have him ranked among the top college football coaches in the country? I think he’s top five.

Right now, two coaches are considered the top two in the country – Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney. You just can’t argue against their resumes, Saban’s six national championships and Swinney’s two.

So, who is ranked after them?

Right now, I have to say it goes Georgia’s Kirby Smart is No. 3, Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley is No. 4 and then Day is No. 5.

Smart has done a fantastic job with that Georgia program since his first season in 2016, winning an SEC title in 2017, and his team nearly won a national title that year if it wasn’t for Alabama pulling it out in overtime.

Riley has also done a great job at Oklahoma.

He helped the Sooners get to a College Football Playoff during the 2015-16 season as an offensive coordinator with his offense ranking seventh-best in the country that year.

Then as head coach he got Oklahoma back to the CFP during the 2017-18 season when the Sooners lost in two overtimes to Georgia. He then got them back there last season and they lost to Alabama in the semifinals.

Day obviously doesn’t have the experience to match those guys right now. However, I think he is already better than some high-profiled coaches like Washington’s Chris Petersen, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and even LSU’s Ed Orgeron. Just because of how this team is playing so far.

So as of right now I think Day is the fifth-best coach in college football. But if the Buckeyes get to or win a national title game this year he could very easily move up a spot or two.