COLUMBUS, Ohio — It’s become an annual cliche from Ryan Day when he says the keys to beating Michigan are running the ball and winning the turnover battle.
He said it last year after Ohio State lost in Ann Arbor. He said it again after Saturday’s 13-10 loss to Michigan, his fourth in a row in the rivalry and one of the biggest upsets in series history.
“We have to run the ball, especially in this game,” said Day, who’s now 1-4 against the Wolverines. “We weren’t able to do that. We tried a couple different schemes, couldn’t quite get into a rhythm on that, and that ultimately, along with turnovers and missed field goals, was the difference in the game.”
Day has known that’s the case for four years. Yet each year, Ohio State gets into The Game against Michigan and folds under the pressure of the moment and the physicality of the Wolverines.
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In 2021, Ohio State lost 42-27. In 2022, it was outscored 28-3 in the second half and gave up 252 rushing yards in a 45-23 loss. In 2023, Michigan was still the better team and ran for 156 yards on an improved Ohio State defense in a 30-24 Buckeyes loss.
The 2024 season was supposed to be different. It was indeed different for Ohio State on defense, but the offense, which is the brainchild of Day, faltered yet again.
Yes, the offensive line had a mountain of injuries to overcome, but Ohio State spent the entire year trying to become more unpredictable and versatile under new coordinator Chip Kelly, only for it to score 10 points and have 77 rushing yards against a middling Michigan team. It was the fewest points Ohio State has scored against an unranked team since 2011, when it lost 10-7 to Michigan State.
It’s Day’s first loss to an unranked opponent. It’s Michigan’s only ranked win in a seven-win season. It was an unacceptable and inexcusable performance by Day, one that ended Ohio State’s chances of a Big Ten championship and pushed it down in the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State didn’t look prepared on offense and was outcoached by Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. And if the result wasn’t enough evidence that Ohio State has a mental block against Michigan, the brawl afterward put an exclamation point on it.
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Ohio State’s loss to Missouri in the Cotton Bowl last year didn’t really matter in the grand scheme of the program. The loss to Michigan that knocked the Buckeyes out of Playoff contention was the biggest game of the season, and Day left the game knowing things needed to change.
There were discussions behind the scenes by players about returning for one more year to beat Michigan. Ohio State went all in on that, bringing back 11 key seniors — including Jack Sawyer, who took the Michigan flag during the postgame brawl. It also added standout safety Caleb Downs (Alabama) in the transfer portal, along with quarterback Will Howard (Kansas State), center Seth McLaughlin (Alabama) and running back Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss).
Ohio State was touted as the champion of the offseason after spending a reported $20 million in NIL to put together arguably the most talented roster in the country. Players spoke openly of national championship expectations, but first and foremost, everything the program did was to beat Michigan.
The result left linebacker Cody Simon, who was one of the 11 returnees who will leave without a pair of gold pants for a rivalry win, crying after the game.
“I’m sorry, Buckeye Nation,” he said. “I let you down.”
Simon has nothing to be sorry about. It comes down to Day.
He stepped away from play calling so he could be the CEO of the program and let Kelly, his mentor and the coach he trusts more than anybody, call the plays. Known for his innovative thinking on offense, Kelly was expected to bring an outside perspective to the program to help the Buckeyes get over the Michigan hump. Instead, the same problems came up.
Ohio State hasn’t beaten Michigan since 2019. (Joseph Maiorana / Imagn Images)
Ohio State couldn’t handle Michigan’s defensive line. Starting left tackle Josh Simmons was out, as was McLaughlin, but that’s not an excuse to run for 77 yards. It’s been four years, and Ohio State doesn’t have an answer for its lack of depth and production along the offensive line.
Not only was Ohio State dominated by the Michigan defensive line, but it never got back to the one thing it had success with: tempo and aggressive play calling in the two-minute drill before halftime.
After a Downs interception gave Ohio State the ball inside the Michigan 20-yard-line in the third quarter, Ohio State shrunk again. It ran for no yards on first down, threw a cross-field pass to Gee Scott Jr. that Michigan stopped for zero yards and then faced a third-and-10 on the 16-yard-line. The Buckeyes ran a halfback draw. It was giving up, deciding to settle for a field goal or hope Michigan was expecting a pass and TreVeyon Henderson could break a big run. He got stuffed for no gain, and Ohio State kicked.
A problem with settling is that Ohio State doesn’t have a kicker it can trust. Jayden Fielding went on to miss the 34-yard field goal, one of his two misses from under 40 yards.
Ohio State was in a similar situation last week against Indiana when it faced fourth-and-10 on the Indiana 35-yard-line and Howard found Carnell Tate for a conversion. The difference is Ohio State knew it was better than Indiana and acted accordingly. There was no mental hurdle.
Ohio State has been aggressive most of the season, but when it needs to make a play against Michigan, it tends to crawl into a shell and play conservatively. That’s on Day.
“When a defense is playing softer and backing up like they did in this game, you have to be able to take the underneath stuff and run the football,” Day said. “There were times when we pushed it, but you can’t force that. You have to be smart with what you’re doing. … You have to execute in other areas. That’s when we talk about balance. If you don’t have balance, this is what happens.”
The touted running back tandem of Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson combined for 67 yards on 22 carries. Howard, who had been such a weapon in the red zone, didn’t carry the ball once inside the 20-yard line and finished 19-of-33 passing for 175 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions and four rushes for 10 yards. (On the same day, the quarterback he replaced, Kyle McCord, threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns in Syracuse’s upset of Miami.)
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Ohio State’s season isn’t over. It will make the College Football Playoff, although there’s uncertainty about whether it will host a first-round game. It has three weeks to bounce back from the loss, and it also has to hope that there aren’t suspensions because of the brawl.
But it’s hard to imagine the sting of this loss won’t hover over this team for a long time.
This wasn’t just any loss. Everything Ohio State did this offseason was done to beat Michigan. But yet again, Day proved he has a Michigan problem — not a Jim Harbaugh problem, a Connor Stalions problem or a Sherrone Moore problem. A Michigan problem.
“Everybody wants to win this game in the worst way — nobody wants to win more than we do,” Day said. “It’s our No. 1 goal every year, so when you don’t do that there’s disappointment and frustration. I don’t blame anybody for being upset. I’m upset more than anybody. Those players are too, and the coaches.”
Michigan has a mental edge on Day, and until proven otherwise, Ohio State fans are going to have questions about whether he is the man for the job.
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(Top photo: Ian Johnson / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
