The transition between 2024 and 2025 has been a brutal one for college football fans. What say? The Bowl games, one after the other, came off with huge blows for the so-called “strong” programs. Like, did you ever expect that the Rose Bowl would hand only thorns to Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks?

First, it was Oregon, and now it’s Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. Both programs fell prey to the questionable college football playoff ruling. At least the analyst feels so. Interestingly, amidst the hoopla, at least some got to enjoy the cream. That’s none other than Ohio State Buckeyes HC Ryan Day. 

Kirby Smart and Georgia Bulldogs join the list

Initially, when the Sugar Bowl got postponed due to the unfortunate attack in New Orleans, fans got impatient. Now after the Bowl game, atleast Georgia fans might be wondering, ‘Were we excited for this!?’ That’s because Notre Dame Fighting Irish crushed Smart’s program landing a 23-10 defeat in the rescheduled matchup.

There have been a lot of misses by Georgia. For instance, the Bulldogs running back Trevor Etienne fumbled, which denied Smart’s program at least three points. Besides that, quarterback Gunner Stockton gifted Marcus Freeman’s boys 7 points. But if the faults are kept aside, the former linebacker-turned-analyst, Emmanuel Acho, noticed a strange trend. 

On January 1, Acho posted a tweet without knowing Smart and Co.’s fate. There he wrote, “Each team coming off the bye week has trailed by 14 points before they blinked.” He then gave examples of the program that underwent the ugly fate, “Oregon down to Ohio State 14-0 Arizona State down to Texas 17-3 Boise State down to Penn State 14-0,” followed by a blank space. Finally, he got the time to fill them.

But never in his wildest dream had he thought that he would have to put Georgia’s name. So on January 2, he tweeted, “CFB teams coming off a bye week: Georgia down to Notre Dame 20-3 Oregon down to Ohio State 14-0 Arizona State down to Texas 17-3 Boise State down to Penn State 14-0.” Now this new 12-team CFP is quite wild!

None of the top four seeds, you know, the conference champs, are even in the semifinals? That’s gotta be a red flag. Sure, winning your conference is a big deal, but let’s be real—sometimes these teams get complacent after that bye week. Turns out, all that rest can actually backfire, as the supposedly ‘well-rested’ teams aren’t exactly dominating—seems like too much of a good thing can actually hurt ’em.

The analysts who were fearing that the bye weeks team would go off track after they were kept away from the gridiron for a while were right. First, it was Lanning, who got defeated by Day’s Ohio State Buckeyes 41-21. And now it’s Kirby Smart. But at least someone could benefit from this situation by getting a second chance. And that’s Day. 

Analyst’s wisdom rings true amid coaching challenges

While the college football world might be upset seeing the ugly fate of Smart and Lanning, atleast Ohio State fans are thanking the universe. We all knew how Day walked on thin ice when it came to his head coaching job. The fans were geared up with a torch and pitchfork to remove Day from his HC position. So much so, that his buyout figures of $37.2 million started to do rounds. But at least Day could pacify them as they showed Lanning and the Ducks what defeat actually tastes like.  

That’s because they were very much into the hustle and bustle as they had to face off against the Tennessee Volunteers. They even grabbed a big 42-17 win against Josh Heupel’s army. This game handed them enough juice to boost themselves up against Lanning’s Ducks.

Here we must understand that Day must not be the most-liked coach. But his fourth trip to the College Football Playoff, and he just coached in his sixth playoff game. So, he has been in this situation before. Plus, the Buckeyes’ freshman wide receiver, Jeremiah Smith, played an immense role in activating the Buckeyes offense unlike any other.

For a coach facing intense scrutiny, having a player like Smith to lean on has been a game-changer. Now the rage that Ryan Day had been experiencing so far got transferred. This time Kirby Smart lands in the hot seat after getting outcoached by Marcus Freeman. That’s when you are reminded of what Emmanuel Acho said: “In college, the only way to get better at playing football is to play football!”