Ohio State Football coach Ryan Day gestures during an April 7, 2025 news conference at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ohio State Buckeyes' Ryan Day Gets Eye-Opening Recognition

Originally posted on Ohio State Buckeyes on SI
By Dylan Feltovich | Last updated Jul 21, 2025 2:00 PM ET

As the Ohio State Buckeyes prepare for the 2025 college football season this summer, the hype surrounding the program continues to grow prior to week one.

ESPN's Bill Connelly ranked the best head coaches heading into the 2025 season, with Buckeyes' head coach Ryan Day standing as the No. 1 coach.

Bill Connelly ranked the best coaches in College Football…

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/8nm0kN1MsP
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) July 21, 2025

The rankings are based off ESPN's SP+, which is a "tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency." Day comes into the 2025 season with the highest average SP+ rating of 30.4, giving him a coaching rating of 15.8. Last year, he led the program to a National Championship victory despite losing two regular-season games to Oregon and Michigan, proving that his name should be at the top of list in regards to head coach rankings in college football.

However, Day and the Buckeyes have an uphill battle to defend their title, as Ohio State lost a significant amount of production to the 2025 NFL Draft. The SP+ model has the blue-blood program as the No. 2 team in the final preseason rankings , just one spot below head coach Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs.

The Buckeyes are set to kick off the 2025 season against the Texas Longhorns in a highly-anticipated matchup between two powerhouse teams.

This article first appeared on Ohio State Buckeyes on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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