Opinion: Ryan Day is delusional about recent Ohio State losses to Michigan football

It was cold. And snowy. And players had the flu. And what took place in the dark was set to come to light. And it was just a few plays. And the quarterback was the issue. And it was a few more plays. Yada, yada, yada.

Whether it’s from Ohio State fans or head coach Ryan Day himself, there hasn’t been an excuse that the Buckeye contingent hasn’t liked when it’s come to losing to Michigan football.

Yes, the rivalry had been lopsided from 2001 to 2019, but such has been the nature of The Game. Michigan won a ton in the early years of college football, then OSU figured things out and dominated from the 1952-1968. Then the 10-year war happened. In fact, once Bo Schembechler took over the Wolverines, up until Jim Tressel took over the Buckeyes in 2001, Michigan beat Ohio State, 19-11-2. So, one could say the rivalry is cyclical.

But something funny happened on the way to this decade we currently find ourselves in. What was started to be seen as a birthright south of Monroe Country quickly shifted into Michigan’s favor, as the maize and blue have won three in a row.

When Ryan Day took over the machine from Urban Meyer in 2019, he only knew winning in the rivalry. As the offensive coordinator in 2018, he oversaw the biggest rout in The Game in modern history. In his first year as head coach, it looked quite similar. Behind closed doors, Day proclaimed that the Buckeyes would ‘hang 100’ on Michigan — which may have happened if they had played given how depleted the Wolverines were due to COVID (Michigan canceled the Maryland game the week before, though self-proclaimed ‘Buckeye Nation’ like to don their tinfoil hats when discussing the circumstances that surrounded the cancellation).

To some degree, it had appeared that Day had found some contrition after the string of beatings the past three years. “Well, it’s easy to say that it comes down to a play or two, but that’s not really the case,” Day told reporters at Big Ten media days on Tuesday.

But he can’t help himself. He can’t understand why things haven’t gone his way. He doesn’t get it.

A SiriusXM interview from Big Ten media days surfaced in the ensuing days after his turn with the media at-large, and Day is getting roasted in the comments and the quote tweets. Though he had said at the podium sessions that it wasn’t just a few plays, he went on satellite radio and basically said, well, it was a few plays, and OSU should have won The Game — at least in 2023.

“Every year, you’ve gotta look at it and figure out what it was,” Day said. “You look at the first couple years and you try to identify exactly what was going on in that game — and you make changes. And you look at this game and you try to identify, OK, where were we in that game. And why didn’t we finish it in the fourth quarter in the way that we wanted to?

“So you look at all these different things and you make the decision, OK, how far off are we? Are there major changes that have to be made or not? That was a very good team, but we still should have won the game. And we didn’t.”

Ohio State never led in The Game last year. And the previous two years were blowouts. But last year, despite the game being closer than the previous two iterations, Michigan still led wire-to-wire (there was a brief tie), but it had its arm tied behind its back. Head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten, and the Wolverines had their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, Sherrone Moore, pulling triple duty, acting as the interim coach. They also lost their best offensive lineman, Zak Zinter, with the game very much in doubt.

Sometimes, close losses is just how the cookie crumbles. In fact, before Jim Harbaugh took over, Michigan lost most of the recent contests to the Buckeyes by a slim margin. 2016, 2013, 2012, 2006, 2005, 2002, and 2001 were all Wolverine losses by one score. In most of those, Michigan did enough to win — but it didn’t.

That’s how rivalries turn around. Tressel took over in 2001, and won close ones for OSU against Lloyd Carr every year but 2004 and 2007 (Michigan won in 2003).

Additionally, Day doesn’t appear to understand how or why Michigan has won in the past three years. While there have been accusations and open insinuations that it’s all about Connor Stalions and his alleged sign-stealing scheme, the reality is that Michigan won in the trenches.

In 2021, the Wolverines rarely passed in the second half, instead opting to run the ball down the middle with impunity. The defense was aggressive and kept quarterback C.J. Stroud on his toes, but Stroud still had a pretty incredible day, statistically, otherwise. The Michigan defense, led by a current NFL head coach in Mike Macdonald, had the strategy to get the Buckeyes off-kilter enough that they’d find themselves settling for field goals rather than touchdowns.

In 2022, Day got fidgety and kicked surprising punts instead of going for it on fourth-and-short — multiple times. Michigan capitalized, wearing down the Buckeye defensive line. And once they were fatigued, Donovan Edwards scored two 75-plus yard touchdowns as the dagger.

In 2023, Ohio State was better in the trenches for much of the game, but not when it counted. Starting with Blake Corum’s touchdown after Zinter’s injury, Michigan ran all over the Buckeyes on offense, while pressure defensively forced quarterback Kyle McCord into an errant throw, resulting in the game-sealing interception by Rod Moore.

And Day still hasn’t seemingly fixed his problems. His style of play doesn’t exude toughness, particularly on offense. The defense is much improved under Jim Knowles, but opting for a vaunted passing attack over a staunch run game (led by an elite offensive line) has made Ohio State’s brand of football less complementary than it’s northern counterpart. He may have gotten star tailback Quinshon Judkins from the transfer portal, but the only offensive lineman he brought in from the transfer portal is the only one Michigan fans can mention by name, in Seth McLaughlin, due to his horrific failures as the Alabama center in the Rose Bowl.

If Day wants to get a leg-up on Michigan again, he needs to look at what his predecessor, Urban Meyer, did. Meyer had elite offensive lines coupled with elite running backs. The Buckeyes ran more than they passed in Meyer’s first five years, had a balanced year in 2017, and then Day took over the offensive duties in 2018, and running the ball became an afterthought. That year, the Buckeyes ran half as much as they passed, got more balanced with a dual-threat quarterback (Justin Fields) the next two years, but reverted back to lopsided stats with C.J. Stroud and Kyle McCord.

Perhaps Chip Kelly, the new offensive coordinator changes things and finds balance. At UCLA, that was the case. But, given his mental lapses in The Game, how long before Day reverts to panicked decisions and abandons the run again in favor of a sexy passing game?

Day has made changes, yes. But he hasn’t proven that he’s learned any sort of lesson. He hasn’t bulked up on either line, he continues to prioritize five-star wide receivers in recruiting, and cannot seem to fathom why Ohio State has had its birthright stolen from it the past three years.

We’ll see if 2024 makes it four.