Opinion: One missed field goal keeps Georgia's Kirby Smart from being Ohio State's Ryan Day

The ball dropped in the Big Apple, the kick hooked in Atlanta, the clock struck midnight on the East Coast, and Kirby Smart claimed a victory that cemented our perception that Georgia's coach stands as a resolute winner.

When Ohio State’s field-goal attempt in the final seconds of the 2022 Peach Bowl sailed left while the calendar rolled into a new year, it affected perception of Ryan Day, too. Day persistently falls short in his biggest games.

But, what if the Buckeyes had made that 50-yard attempt? Then, we'd view Smart and Day a lot more similarly.

Georgia’s dramatic 42-41 comeback victory against the Buckeyes 21 months ago came in a College Football Playoff semifinal, but it served as the de facto national championship. Georgia crushed overmatched TCU nine days later.

Ohio State would have done the same to TCU if it had made the field goal to beat Georgia. TCU’s defense was not equipped to handle the Buckeyes’ firepower that pushed Georgia to the brink.

In that alternate universe, Smart and Day would have one national championship apiece.

Shoulda, woulda, coulda, right?

As the saying goes, if ‘if’ was a fifth, we’d all be drunk. And Day would have as many titles as Smart.

Day doesn’t, so we view each differently. That’s appropriate, because national championships form the ultimate metric of coaching success. But, when I reconsider that New Year’s Eve night, one field goal separates Smart from being Day, and from Day being Smart.

The Buckeyes whipped Georgia for three quarters. Then, Ohio State's star wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. exited with a concussion, and the Buckeyes failed to protect a 14-point lead. Day didn’t have his best coaching moments in the fourth quarter, and that damaged his reputation, especially on the heels of his loss to Michigan one month previously.

I started thinking about Day and his Buckeyes after Georgia lost 41-34 at Alabama on Saturday.

Why?

Because, like Day, Smart persistently beats nearly everyone he faces.

Except that, like Day, Smart consistently loses games against the other premier program in his respective conference.

Smart, though, does not face the same degree of big-game scrutiny that Day encounters, in part because that field goal missed in Atlanta.

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Kirby Smart fizzles vs. Alabama, much like Ryan Day against Michigan

Smart only scaled the Alabama mountain one time. He’s now 1-6 against the Tide. Day, to the great chagrin of Buckeyes fans, is 1-3 against Michigan.

If Day loses to Michigan this season, fuming Buckeyes fans undoubtedly will issue demands to, fire everybody! Other than perhaps a few crazies, no one issued such edicts after Smart’s latest disappointment against Alabama.

Smart’s two national championships provide the ultimate shield. They uphold his reputation in a way that Day’s 11-0 combined record against Penn State and Michigan State does not.

Also working in Smart’s favor: Alabama, while sharing comparable footing with Georgia inside the SEC, is not Georgia’s biggest rival. Smart is 20-4 against rivals Florida, Auburn and Georgia Tech. He’ll go for an eighth consecutive win against Auburn on Saturday.

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Michigan is, literally, The Game for Ohio State, and so what if Day's Buckeyes thumped Sparty 38-7 last weekend?

Day’s .882 winning percentage trumps Smart’s .851 clip, but they’re not on the same plane, because that all-important national championship tally shows two to zip in Smart’s favor.

Anybody can win one national championship. OK, not anyone, but Gene Chizik and Ed Orgeron won one. To win two placed Smart into rarefied air and built a layer of reputational defense against repeated losses to Alabama.

Smart won his first national championship came in his sixth season. He previously lost a national championship – to Alabama, who else? – in Year 2.

Day also lost a national championship to Alabama to culminate his second season. He’s now in his sixth season. His No. 3 Buckeyes are undefeated entering a game against Iowa. And that’s just dandy, but it’ll mean squat if he loses again to Michigan.

One more point in Kirby Smart’s favor in Ryan Day comparison

It’s also relevant to distinguish that these coaches inherited programs in different places of their trajectory.

Day grabbed the keys to Urban Meyer’s sportscar. Comparatively, Smart stepped into a Georgia garage that, for years, housed Mark Richt’s sturdy but unremarkable Toyota Camry. Smart transformed Georgia into a mean machine. He accelerated the program with elite recruiting and by instilling a higher degree of urgency. He also catapulted Georgia to the elite stratosphere while Nick Saban’s dynasty hummed and while LSU produced one of college football’s best seasons ever.

Smart's Bulldogs elbowed their way to the top and then stayed on top for a second season.

Smart’s achievements are undeniably impressive, and they’re superior to Day’s.

And still, Smart melts against Alabama, while he gets red in the face, and he becomes a meme in a cockeyed visor.

Kalen DeBoer proved that Nick Saban isn’t the only Alabama coach who can win a chess match against Smart.

“We had a solution to everything they were going to present to us," Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe said after torching Smart’s defense with 491 yards of offense.

Smart shrugged it off. Asked about his repeated losses to Alabama, Smart offered this gobsmacking response: “What's everybody else's record against them, you know? Has anybody got one better than 1-6 that’s played them (that many times)?”

Imagine if Day spoke so flippantly about his losing record against Michigan. He can’t, because Michigan is Ohio State’s top rival. And he can’t, because a field goal sailed wide of the uprights at midnight.

These two coaches compare in some ways, and, in other ways, not at all. One missed kick relegates Day to a crowded rung of accomplished coaches with no national championships, while Smart belongs to an exclusive back-to-back club that provides him the ultimate credibility and reputation protection, even as he succumbs to the Tide.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network's national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia's Kirby Smart, Ohio State's Ryan Day separated by field goal