Defending a national title is never easy, but it’ll be even tougher for Ryan Day after his coaching staff was gutted this offseason. Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly left for the Las Vegas Raiders, and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles made a lateral move to Penn State, forcing Day to elevate key members of his offensive staff and to call on a former NFL head coach to run his defense.
Matt Patricia hasn’t coached at the college level since he was a GA at Syracuse from 2001-03, and he was out of football altogether last season. Now he’s Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, and he’s going to get thrown into the fire with a Week 1 matchup against Arch Manning and the No.