We’re not telling you anything you don’t know, but Justin Fields and Ryan Day seem like a match made in college football heaven. To be fair, both needed each other to some extent when the flirting started.
Fields got lost behind Jake Fromm at Georgia and seemed to be an afterthought (we still wonder why). Day, on the other hand, had to come to grips with Heisman finalist Dwayne Haskins having such a stratospheric one-season in Columbus that he went off to be a first-round NFL draft choice. Joe Burrow transferred out of the program, and it seemed nobody really believed Tate Martell was the answer.
Need, meet desire and interest on both parts.
What happened then was truly remarkable. In Fields’ first year, he acclimated himself to a new culture, new playbook, new city, and found his own way to New York as a Heisman Finalist. Day, as a first-year head coach showed resolve, masterful game-planning, and the ability to manage his star quarterback through all that goes along with a first-year at a big-time school, not to mention the nursing of an injury.
As they both return, there aren’t too many combinations of head coach and quarterback out there that are much better, and ESPN agrees.
David Hale from the worldwide leader in sports programming ranked the best quarterback/head coach combinations (subscription required) in college football and — as you’d expect — “FieldDay” is right among the best.
Next … What ESPN says about the Day/Fields combo
No. 2 – Ryan Day and Justin Fields
What Hale says
“Ohio State won the Big Ten and nearly knocked off Clemson in the College Football Playoff in Day’s first year as a head coach and Fields’ first season as a starting QB. That’s a pretty strong debut, and the relationship between coach and QB was at the heart of the Buckeyes’ success.
After a rocky freshman campaign at Georgia, Fields went in search of a new home, and he said that he instantly hit it off with Day, and by season’s end, Fields said that he was closer to his head coach than any man except his father.
That’s the foundation for a 2020 season where Fields is an early favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, and Day’s Buckeyes are as well-positioned as any team in the country to win it all.”
So what combo is No. 1 according to ESPN? You can probably guess it. It’s none other than Clemson’s Dabo Swinney and Trevor Lawrence. You can read the rest of the rankings by going here (subscription required).
Next … What we say
Our take
You can take your pick between Day/Fields and Swinney/Lawrence really. Dabo might be a little more proven, but that’s being unfair to Day who has shown that he’s not afraid of the big lights. He’s aggressive and has a great offensive mind. And while Fields might be a tad bit better on the ground, Lawrence doesn’t get enough credit for his ability to make things happen with his legs.
In the end, I think Fields gives a play-caller a little bit more flexibility in game-planning, but we might just see that the measurables Lawrence has at the next level translate a wee-bit better. That’s still only theory though.
Coaching-wise, Swinney is great, but I think we’ll see that Day is a little better with the X’s and O’s as things play out. He’s a star in the making and his experience is the only thing holding him back in the court of public perception.
That, however, is changing very quickly.
