Ryan Day And James Franklin Should Make Ohio State vs. Penn State A Loser Loses Their Job Match

Talk about an unstoppable force vs an immoveable object. I mean, one of these living, breathing Spider-Man pointing at eachother memes has to walk out of the Top 5 matchup victorious on Saturday, right?

If you think both fan bases are fed up with their coach’s inability to win a Big Game right now, check in on the losing team’s bars, message boards, and donors around 4 pm tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong, 95% of teams in college football would kill to have had the success that Ohio State has had under Ryan Day, or the Penn State has had under James Franklin…..but one more loss against a Top 5 team might be the straw that finally breaks the camels back here. One coach will be heading home to their fan base Saturday afternoon with a definitive conclusion: I can beat the bad teams. I cannot beat the good teams. 

Ryan Day is essentially 1,000,000 - 0 against unranked teams and teams he should dominate. He’s also essentially 0 - 1,000,000 in toss up games where the other team has a pulse. EXCEPT WHEN PLAYING PENN STATE. So if the Buckeyes lose this toss up game against Penn State tomorrow….yikes. Anyone with a brain knows Ohio State has lost their edge since transitioning from Urban Meyer to Ryan Day….but a Loss tomorrow makes it official that we’ve regressed and that Ryan Day truly was born on 3rd base, but that he’s never been further from home.

James Franklin on the other hand has established his identity very clearly: he can beat anyone and everyone, unless they’re wearing Scarlet & Grey or Maize & Blue. And for a while, that is praised at a school that gets to hang around the Top 10 every single year until they can’t win the big one. But after this long, now it becomes a monkey on his back so heavy, that if he can’t do it at home tomorrow, at 7-0, against an Ohio State team that isn’t as good as everyone thought they’d be…..it might just break his back. It will permanently stamp an already pretty well-inked henna tattoo that says he has hit his ceiling at Penn State, but he’s simply not a good enough coach to take them to a National Title.

So with that being said, why not make it a Loser Leaves Town Match? I’m sure both fan bases would agree after the result that the loser needs to be fired because their program is being held back by their coach….so why not make it official beforehand? Why not make it a little more interesting? I’m watching the game with a 24 hour stand in of the torn down Joe Paterno statue on the line….

….but I want both coaches sweating a little bit too. I like the 12 team playoff, but one thing I hate is that both teams probably still make it in on a Loss. If we were still in a 4 team playoff this year, this game would end the National Title hopes of the loser. And perhaps their head coaching tenure at the end of the season at their current spot, too.