How Ryan Day has matched Urban Meyer's success in the same amount of games

With Ryan Day coaching his 92nd win Saturday against Michigan, he matches Urban Meyer's games coached. In that time span, Day has just one less win than Meyer.

Former head coach Urban Meyer congratulates Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day in the final moments of the NCAA football game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. on Nov. 29, 2025. Ohio State won 27-9. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ryan Day’s 92nd game as the Buckeyes head coach ended in a 27-9 victory Saturday, as No. 1 Ohio State overcame No. 15 Michigan for the first time since 2019.

92 is the same number of games former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer spent with the Buckeyes before being succeeded by Day. For Meyer, he went 83-9 from 2012-2018, for Day, he is now 82-10 as the leader of the Buckeyes, one game away from matching Meyer’s win total.

With Day in the prime of his coaching career, winning a national championship last season and now with the Buckeyes favored to become repeat champions, he could soon pass Meyer’s win percentage, becoming the winningest Ohio State coach of all time. Doing so will only further the Buckeyes’ 15+ year stretch of dominance.

Day will have to rise above Meyer’s .902 win percentage by overcoming the next 11 opponents the Buckeyes come across. That would mean gaining a win over No. 2 Indiana Saturday in the Big Ten Championship game, making a national title run in the playoffs and winning it all. That’s only four victories, however, meaning the remaining seven would have to come in 2026.

Looking ahead, ensuring a seven-game winning streak to start next season could be a challenge with the Buckeyes’ difficult schedule. Ohio State has away matchups against Texas, Indiana and Iowa, while hosting Oregon, USC and Michigan.

While looking deep into the playoffs and on to 2026 is intriguing, it is also important to recognize what Day, and Meyer, have done up until this point for Ohio State football.

The 2010s and 2020s era of Buckeye dominance began when Meyer took over the head coaching position from Luke Fickell, who in one season with the Buckeyes as interim head coach, finished with a 6-7 record. Meyer had a tall task in front of him as he attempted to rebound the program after its worst finish in decades.

Meyer completed the turnaround for the Buckeyes in his first season, finishing 12-0. The former Florida Gators coach would continue this success with Ohio State for the next six seasons. In this span, Meyer would go 4-2 in bowl games and win the first-ever College Football Playoff national championship with the 2014 Buckeyes.

After Meyer retired at the end of the 2018 season, then offensive coordinator Day would step up and replace the accomplished coach. In Day’s first season, he mimicked Meyer and went a perfect 12-0. Despite losing in the Fiesta Bowl that year to Clemson, the Buckeyes had found a suitable replacement.

What Day could not copy Meyer on was his undefeated record against Michigan, going 1-4 up until Saturday’s win against the Wolverines. While Day still has a losing record against the Buckeyes’ rivals, he has certainly made up for it with two national championship game appearances, winning it all in 2025.

With similar careers at Ohio State, and both having seven seasons under their belts, Meyer and Day have led the Buckeyes on a generational run.

Now, Day could begin his journey to be the winningest coach in Buckeye history if Ohio State repeats as national champions and rolls with that momentum into the 2026 season.