Who Needs This Win More, Ohio State's Ryan Day Or Oregon's Dan Lanning?

Saturday night's showdown between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon comes with plenty of stakes from each program's National Championship hopes

5. Ryan Day, Ohio State, $10,021,250 / Adam Cairns / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In the new Big Ten, this weekend's showdown between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Oregon comes with all the pomp and circumstance a College Football Saturday can bring.

Look no further than the fact that College GameDay will be in Eugene for this matchup of national title contenders, in what is the biggest test either program has faced so far this season. And while this new era of the College Football Playoff that affords 12 teams the honor of playing for the sports top prize, one blemish on a regular season isn't as devastating as it used to be.

Either one of these teams could lose this game and still find itself hoisting that slender, football crowned idol come January. That doesn't mean the game doesn't come with major stakes though, particularly for each of the program's head coaches.

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Let's start with Ryan Day, who constantly reminds everyone that at Ohio State there's no room for bad days. In Columbus, he and his band of Buckeyes are expected to be perfect on Saturdays. That hasn't necessarily changed even with the changing playoff format, which is why everything Day does is constantly looked at in a microscope..

If he decides not to go for it on a critical fourth down during a game, everyone is ready to pounce on him for being too timid. Conversely if he does go for that fourth down and fails to convert, it's considered a terrible call by Day and he's labeled as in over his head.

That constant pressure is part of the beauty of coaching at Ohio State. The fan base will keep you honest, always. But when the standard is perfection there's also no time to rest. That constant pressure is why Ryan Day and hot seat are synonymous with each other. Why after three consecutive losses to that team up north, one misstep could be a land-mind waiting to blow him back to the NFL.

Until recently, Ohio State owned the Big Ten. Losing to the new Ducks on the block would signal that in the NIL race to keep up with the Joneses, Day and the Buckeyes have already fallen behind their new neighbors. It would also drop Day's record against top five teams to 1-7 all-time, a grim figure that clouds the 56-8 overall record that Day defenders love to cling onto. This game means plenty to him.

On the flip side in Lanning, who is considered one of the best up-and-coming minds in the sport. He may already be there if he had a signature win to tout on his resume. He's 27-5 in three years running the show in Eugene, but is just 2-3 against top 10 teams. His most egregious losses came last year, twice to eventual championship runner-up Washington on the road and then at a neutral site in a Pac-12 championship game.

Those two games seemed to dim the shooting star across a vast college football landscape that is Lanning, at least a little bit as people are now wondering if he can win big games. Until a coach does that, it can be a difficult label to shake. And so Saturday represents a massive opportunity for the 38-year-old coach to get that monkey off his back.

It would also go a long way in cementing that Oregon, as one of the newest members of the Big Ten is actually the team to beat in the conference. No Ohio State. No defending champion Michigan. Not any of the conference's original programs. Oregon.

Answering who needs this win more ultimately comes down to a matter of perspective. For Lanning though, a loss to No. 2 Ohio State in his third year as head coach will hardly have to define him. Day won't get that grace at this point in his tenure. A loss to Oregon could be very well be the beginning of the end for him.