College football rankings: 10 best coaches without a natty after Ryan Day gets his

Ryan Day joined some impressive company on Monday. After winning his first national title as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, he became the third active coach to win a national title at the FBS level. With Nick Saban retiring, Mack Brown and Jimbo Fisher being ousted and Jim Harbaugh turning his attention to the NFL, the only other coaches with titles are Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney.

Although Day could conceivably leave for the NFL one day, he seems like a guy who will stick around college football for a while like Smart and Swinney. Once again, Dennis Dodd could not have been more wrong about a college football take. While resign when you are already an Ohio legend for the rest of your life? Now that Day finally got over the hump, I am wondering whose turn will it be next...

When I decided to put together this list of 10 college football head coaches who have yet to win a national championship, I went with coaches who have either been around for a while or are at programs that can conceivably make the College Football Playoff with some degree regularity in the near future. To even be among these 10 names is quite the recognition for these college coaches.

While I do not think this first guy is a good coach at all anymore, Ed Orgeron did win a national title...

10. USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley

He may not be very old, but I am afraid that the college game has passed USC head coach Lincoln Riley by. Each season under his watch has seen the Trojans get progressively worse. Ever since he spurned Oklahoma, the Sooners have not been in a great position either. That being said, Riley still leads a traditional power at USC and did lead Oklahoma to the playoff three times before peacing out.

Admittedly, I do not know what it will take for Riley to get USC back to the promised land. It may not be in the cards for him, in all honesty. However, if he stumbles upon the right quarterback and actually has a defense that can stop a nosebleed, USC might be able to make the College Football Playoff out of the Big Ten. Ohio State showed us you do not have to win your league to win the whole shebang.

I am very apprehensive of Riley ever winning a national championship, but he is at a school to do it.

9. Iowa State Cyclones head coach Matt Campbell

Matt Campbell was one of the last names I eventually came to in this exercise. I really love what he has done at Iowa State for the better part of a decade now. With what he did previously at Toledo, this Mount Union guy has shown me enough that he can win big wherever he goes. Right now, I like Iowa State to win the Big 12 next year, but there is a chance the Cyclones make the playoff as an at-large.

While there is a finite ceiling when it comes to resources at Iowa State, I would not be shocked if Campbell is leading a traditional power in a year or two. I think he will ride it out with Rocco Becht before potentially moving on. My guess is he and athletic director Jamie Pollard are a package deal like Josh Heupel and Danny White were leaving UCF for Tennessee. I really like Campbell's upside.

Iowa State is not the place to win multiple national titles, but he can make the playoff in Ames.

8. Kansas State Wildcats head coach Chris Klieman

While Matt Campbell's national title hopes probably exist somewhere outside of Ames, Iowa, I would not be the least bit shocked if Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman beats him to the punch, one way or another. He won prolifically at his previous post at North Dakota State. Klieman replaced a college football legend, Bill Snyder, in Manhattan to glowing success. Can he win it all at K-State?

As is the case with Iowa State, there is a finite ceiling to what you can do at Kansas State. My thought is you need everything to break your way to even be a national semifinalist. I am afraid they would suffer a fate similar to that of 2022 TCU, who actually played for a national championship. My best guess is Klieman leaves Kansas State for a marquee Big Ten job in a few years and wins one there.

For now, I cannot wait for Farmageddon to be played across the pond in Ireland in Week 0, baby!

7. Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin

At some point, when does it stop being a coincidence? Lane Kiffin has shown in his five years at Ole Miss that he can hang with the best teams in college football. If we add his three-year run predating that at Florida Atlantic, we have seen enough evidence to show us all he can take any program to prominence. My concerns with Kiffin are he loses the one he can never afford and Ole Miss is limited.

Last year was the one that Ole Miss needed to make the playoff. Jaxson Dart was a preseason Heisman Trophy contender. Walter Nolen came over from Texas A&M in the transfer portal. You beat Georgia and South Carolina head-to-head. But somehow, someway, Ole Miss ended up finishing 9-3 with three conference losses and no playoff berth. Kiffin needs to level up or he needs to leave soon.

I would not say he faces a ridiculous amount of pressure in Oxford, but he may never win it all there.

6. Penn State Nittany Lions head coach James Franklin

If not now, when? Maybe next year, I suppose... Ryan Day proved to be the Michael Jordan of James Franklins by finally overcoming his demons en route to a national championship game victory. While Penn State showed it more than belonged in the playoff, James Franklin continues to not get the job done whenever his Nittany Lions face a top-five team or enter any game as any bit of an underdog.

To be quite frank, Penn State was the best program to never make the College Football Playoff even once in the four-team format. Expansion probably helped the Nittany Lions more than just about anyone in college football. While Franklin did lose defensive coordinator Tom Allen to Clemson, he retains offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki for another season. Plus, his team looks to be loaded.

Once Penn State loses Drew Allar, Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, I will worry about Franklin.

5. LSU Tigers head coach Brian Kelly

Let me make this perfectly clear. Brian Kelly does not have a lot of time to win a national title at LSU. He left Notre Dame for Baton Rouge three years ago under the belief that you could never win one leading the Irish. Well, Marcus Freeman was two possessions away from doing just that on Monday night. Kelly has had Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier as his quarterbacks. No more excuses!

The proverbial Brian Kelly pop year came and went last season. While I do think LSU has the potential to just win it all anyway, it may be more of the one-off sort of thing like Ed Orgeron did with the greatest college offense known to mankind back in 2019. Being in the SEC hurts Kelly's chances of winning a conference championship. However, a 10-win season probably gets LSU into the playoff.

No matter how LSU makes the 12-team field, the Bayou Bengals would be a very dangerous team.

4. Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer

I go back and forth on if Kalen DeBoer will win a national title at Alabama. Most of the time, I side with him being able to win a national championship, but it will probably only be of the singular variety like the Crimson Tide did under Gene Stallings in the early 1990s. Replacing Nick Saban was a brutal ask for anyone, but DeBoer has the coaching chops to make it happen at this college football behemoth.

Resources and coaching acumen are not what will due him in. My greatest concern about DeBoer is if he continues to implement a very Washingtonian "our kinda guys" sort of mantra. This is Alabama. You can have steak and lobster doused in caviar for every meal if you want. I understand that it will continue to be different under DeBoer than it was under Saban, but this can no longer be small-time.

If Alabama does not win a national title in the next three years, it will not happen again until the 2030s.

3. Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning

I may have my beef with Oregon's soft football culture, but I am rooting so hard for Dan Lanning to eventually bring the Ducks to the promised land. He was the rockstar defensive coordinator under Kirby Smart when my beloved Georgia Bulldogs finally broke free in 2021. He has the right je ne sais quoi to eventually make this dream a reality in Eugene. Lanning just needs to get better on defense.

The crazy part in all this is his offense has not been the problem. Kenny Dillingham did great work with Bo Nix in 2022 before taking over at his alma mater of Arizona State. Will Stein has not skipped a beat as the Ducks' new offensive coordinator for the last two years. Dillon Gabriel kept the good vibes going before he and the Ducks devolved into a pumpkin in the Rose Bowl vs. Ohio State weeks ago.

If Lanning does not win a national title in the next five years at Oregon, the Ducks will never win one.

2. Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman

Look at Marcus Freeman! He has catapulted towards the top of this list after one great season and a national championship run. While I have my reservations about Notre Dame ever really beating an Ohio State when it counts, Freeman has raised the bar to a national championship being the true standard at Notre Dame. Since Ryan Day is not leaving Ohio State, Freeman is here or to the NFL.

What I like the most about Freeman's chances of winning a national title at Notre Dame is all the Irish need to do is go 10-2 or better each season to have a great shot of making the tournament. From there, we have seen that he is cool, calm and collected in every postseason game he plays. A lesser head coach would have lost to Georgia or crumbled under the pressure of playing Penn State close.

The future is so incredibly bright for Freeman as a head coach. I cannot wait to see what comes next!

1. Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian

Without debate, the next head coach up to join the likes of Dabo Swinney, Kirby Smart and Ryan Day has to be Steve Sarkisian. In four years, Sarkisian has guided the Longhorns to the playoff in back-to-back seasons, first as a Big 12 champion in 2023 and then again as an SEC at-large in 2024. Right now, Texas might be the team to beat in the SEC next year. They do have to play at Georgia, though...

Assuming Arch Manning is as good as his surname and five-star status say he is, Texas could be the favorite to win it all next year. My favorite thing about Sarkisian is he does not seem to be afraid of being the hunted, nor does he not want to put in the work as the hunter. The only way Texas does not win a national title in the next three years under Sarkisian's watch is if he leaves for an NFL franchise.

If Day, Smart and Swinney get some company as soon as this time next year, Sarkisian joins the party.