Last Saturday, football fans got to witness one of the best games of the season. Two strong contenders for the national title faced each other. Ohio State and Oregon entered the field undefeated. If you saw the game live, you can definitely feel the excitement while you read the article. The thrilling matchup kept fans on the edge of their seats until the very last play. Ryan Day’s team lost their first game of the season by 31-32.

Week by week, college football is getting intense, and winning is a must. If we look at the Buckeyes’ performance so far, they have dominated their opponents and secured their wins with huge margins. However, people are still questioning Coach Ryan Day’s record against the top 5 teams. Despite this setback, 49ers legend Colt McCoy has expressed his support for the Buckeyes. He strongly believes that their recent defeat won’t affect Day and his team much.

ESPN College Football recently shared an interview with two former NFL players, Colt McCoy and Greg McElroy. They discussed the current position of Ohio State and

how they might still be the best team in the Big Ten after losing to the Oregon Ducks. McCoy acknowledges Day’s leadership qualities throughout the season and the exceptional talent he has in his team.“Ohio State, I don’t think this; I mean, this loss hurts, but I don’t think this loss like they’re a good football team. They’well coached across the board, and they have really, really good talent, basically at every position, right, like on offense.” He further highlighted receiver Jeremiah Smith’s performance and added, “I mean, Jeremiah Smith may be the best receiver that I’ve, like, watched with my own eyes, especially at a young age. I mean, the dude is ridiculous. Now he made like two one-handed catches that kind of changed the game. But just, just an overall like, stud. And then they have other guys tape the Bucha. Like, those guys make plays too. So skill-wise, they’re good.”

McCoy further shed light on the Buckeyes’ running back duo, which he believes is the best in college football. “And then they have the feel, in my opinion, the best one-two punch at running back in the country, right, with Judkins and Henderson. And their offensive line is good. And Chip Kelly can run any run scheme there is, right? When I was watching their tape, it’s like, Okay, we got inside zone, outside zone, gap schemes.”

Furthermore, McCoy was complimentary of the kind of plays Ohio State runs, including tosses, sweet to the field, reverses, etc. Above all, Will Howard has been doing a nice job, and against the Ducks, he played exceptionally except in the dying moments of the game where their drive was halted by a questionable penalty call. Having said that, Ryan Day has shown some vulnerabilities against top-ranked teams. Is it a concern? Let’s look at it.

Could Ryan Day have prevented the loss?

This is not the first time that Ryan Day has come short against a top-ranked team. Against top-5 opponents, Ryan Day’s record is 1-7. That is not a good look for a coach looking to win the national championship. Does he get out-coached against big teams? Well, we show one such instance on Saturday.

In a close game like Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Oregon Ducks, every detail is crucial. Similarly, in the last game, several key moments at the end stopped Day and his team from registering their sixth victory of the season. In the final quarter, the Buckeyes aimed to reach the field goal range for a chance at a game-winning kick. However, Oregon’s head coach, Dan Lanning, was smart and intentionally sent a 12th player onto the field to draw a penalty with the clear aim of disrupting Ohio State’s momentum and preventing any significant gains.

The penalty was just five yards, and the clock was ticking, which cost Ohio State four crucial seconds. Ryan Day had an opportunity to call a timeout. But he did something unexpected and accepted the penalty, and because of this, time continued to tick away. Are you aware of the rule? or is it just Lanning who was aware of this rule, which led to another instance of Day being out-coached?

We can’t blame Lanning at all for exploiting this loophole. In fact, Day should have a solid understanding of the rules to improve his decision-making in situations like this. What is your take on Day’s decision? Let’s us know in the comment box below.