Ranking the 5 college football coaches with the most to prove in 2024

1. Ryan Day, Ohio State

There was a very funny movie a couple of years ago starring Nicholas Cage called The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. After signing one of the top recruiting classes in the country and landing multiple blue-chippers in the transfer portal (including former Alabama five-star quarterback Julian Sayin) that title could double as the headline of Ohio State's 2024 season.

Whether Ryan Day can take all that talent and turn it into a championship could well determine his future at Ohio State, especially if, as expected, Jim Harbaugh jumps to the NFL. Buckeyes fans are tired of losing to Michigan, and if it happens again after Harbaugh leaves, heads will roll, no matter how well the Buckeyes do in their remaining games.

Day inherited the program from Urban Meyer, but even though he's kept Ohio State among the nation's elite programs, he hasn't been able to equal his former boss in bringing a title to Columbus.

Even if Harbaugh does leave Ann Arbor, the Wolverines still figure to be a major player in the Big Ten, and this upcoming season, they'll also be joined by Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA. How this affects the conference pecking order remains to be seen, but it should shake things up from a football perspective, as the Buckeyes and Wolverines are usually able to just out-talent the rest of a league where most members aren't exactly known for their innovative schemes.

There are few places in the country where a 56-8 record would yield anything but undying love for the head coach, but Ohio State is one of them. The time is now for Day to prove that he has what it takes to reach the next level.