Urban Meyer highlights the best coaching job Ryan Day has done to date at Ohio State

Last season’s Rose Bowl Game turned into an all-time shootout between Ohio State and Utah. CJ Stroud threw for 573 yards as the Buckeyes won 48-45 despite trailing 14-0 after the first quarter.

But that deficit is just one reason why Urban Meyer said Ryan Day outdid himself in that game.

Ohio State won without star wide receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson, who both became first-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Add in the deficit and the fact that it was the Buckeyes’ first game since losing to arch-rival Michigan for the first time in 10 years, and Meyer said they had plenty of reason to get down on themselves.

During the first installment of On3’s “Urban’s Take with Tim May,” Meyer — who coached at both Utah and Ohio State during his career — said he told Day that game was the best coaching job of his time in Columbus so far.

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“Kyle Whittingham was the guy that replaced me [at Utah], Ryan Day replaced me [at Ohio State]. They were hand-picked. Not good coaches, great coaches,” Meyer said. “Two of the best, I think, that are out in the profession right now. Two of the best that’s been around, in my mind, the last 25 years. I knew it’d be a great game.

“I told Ryan, I thought that was [his] best coaching job. You lost the rivalry game and all of a sudden, your two first-round receivers are not playing. At Ohio State, it’s national championship or bust. I’ve been there. It’s really hard to keep that team motivated. And then, you look across the field, you’ve got the Pac-12 champs — a highly motivated team to win that Rose Bowl, a great team, and we fall behind. I think Ryan Day showed his coaching acumen right there. He kept that team — and his staff — he kept them together. The defense struggled, but they found a way to win. I thought that was his best coaching job.”