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.
Justin Fields on what the fake punt call says about Ryan Day. pic.twitter.com/CjsImP4l5Q
— Tony Gerdeman (@TonyGerdeman) December 8, 2019
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.