Ohio State may not have won the national championship last year, but college football analyst Josh Pate believes head coach Ryan Day’s program sits atop the sport.
In a video posted to his YouTube channel, “Josh Pate’s College Football Show,” Pate cited Ohio State’s recruiting and development as reasons for putting the Buckeyes over programs such as Georgia, Indiana, Oregon and Texas.
“I think Ohio State is the top program in the country,” Pate said. “Ohio State is 37-6 over the past three years. They’ve got a national championship mixed in here. They are a top-five recruiting program in the country. They are a very, very high-value portal program — translation, they don’t need to flood themselves with a bunch of transfers because they recruit and develop very well, but when they do need to, they can be very selective and very effective in the transfer portal.”
The Buckeyes have had consistent success on and off the field under Day, and won the national championship during the 2024-25 season. Under Day’s leadership, Ohio State is 82-12, and won the Big Ten championship in Day’s first two seasons. Pate also praised Day’s ability to hire quality assistant coaches.
“And they’re just excellent at staffing,” Pate said. “I don’t know that many programs at all that are doing it better. Just think about what’s happened the past three years at Ohio State. You had two coordinator turnover situations, just this past year it happened. You lose Chip Kelly, who was a foundational piece of that (title) run, and then you elevate from within. But then also you go and get Matt Patricia because Jim Knowles moves on, and if anything, they improved defensively, which is just really hard to do. That is supreme organizational structure there.”
