There are a couple of big clues to evaluate a good football coach. Some of those stem from schematic and X's and O's standpoint, cultural, or game day operations, but one major clue is how a team comes out after a bye week.

Under head coach Ryan Day, the Ohio State Buckeyes have maintain an 8-0 record off a bye week, outscoring opponents on average 46-11. The program has continued to utilize their bye weeks and come out ready to play year after year.

That's the mark of a great coach.

Day is proving week after week, year after year, that he is one of the elite names in college football as a head coach. Early this season, he overtook Knute Rockne with the highest winning percentage in college football history, to which he joked, "Perfect, I'm hanging them up (retiring) tonight!"

The Buckeyes are now set to face the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday fresh off of their second bye week of the season. The first bye was a precursor to Ohio State's trip to Seattle, where they beat the Washington Huskies in Week 5.

Ohio State Buckeyes Defense Looks to Prove Old Coach Wrong Against Penn State The Ohio State Buckeyes have a lot on the line on Saturday, including their perfect record and a chance to prove that their old coach, Jim Knowles, made a ca...

This second bye week came at the perfect time for the Buckeyes. The program had a tough four game stretch in Big Ten Conference play that featured three long road trips, which Ohio State passed each and every test. 

Saturday in Columbus features two teams on totally different trajectories. Each team came into the season with aspirations of hoisting the trophy in Miami in late January. The Buckeyes have answered the call, but the Nittany Lions have fallen off of a cliff.

Ohio State's week 10 matchup has the ingredients to be a very lopsided affair, with whispers circulating that Day is taking this matchup personally.

Not only are the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions considered rivals, but the added element of former defensive coordinator Jim Knowles' abrupt departure from Ohio State for Penn State will be at the front of everyone's minds that will be rooting for the Scarlet and Gray on Saturday.

As the 2024 Buckeyes overtook Ohio Stadium to bring the National Championship trophy home to Columbus, Knowles was nowhere to be found. It was the discovered that he was on his way to Happy Valley to accept the position as the defensive coordinator for Penn State. 

Day reminded everyone this week that there are right ways and wrong way to end a working relationship, and Knowles took the latter. 

There are many reasons why the Buckeyes should come out victorious on Saturday. They are by far the better team, and Ohio State is playing better than everyone in the country. And with Day's  perfect record of the bye week in his career, the Buckeyes should take care of business at home.

Ohio State will be ready to roll on Saturdays and the Nittany Lions are just the next speed bump in the way.