As a postgame brawl was ongoing — Ohio State taking umbrage at Michigan planting a victory flag at midfield of the Horseshoe — the Fox camera caught Ryan Day off to the side, wearing a look on his face that suggested, “What is happening?”
It may prove to be the enduring image of this epic upset/collapse, depending on which side of Toledo border you reside.
Again.
“I’m still trying to digest everything that just happened,” a shell-shocked Day said after his fourth consecutive defeat to the Wolverines. “[I have] a locker room full of guys who are just devastated … There are a lot of guys who are crushed right now. There is nothing you can say at this point. You have to take the ownership of that and it starts with me.”
The Buckeyes (10-2) will head to the College Football Playoff and may still go on to win a national championship this year but perhaps — perhaps — only that can answer for this disaster by Day. And the route to a title will be more arduous — no bye after failing to win the Big Ten (again), and maybe even a first-round road game.
Michigan is headed to a meager bowl game at 7-5, but everything has been salvaged for first-year coach Sherrone Moore. They arrived as 19.5-point underdogs with a former walk-on, cancer-surviving quarterback who rarely throws the ball more than 10 yards in the air.
Ohio State countered with a reported $20 million roster full of returning stars and transfer portal kings, not to mention a coaching staff bolstered after hiring UCLA’s head coach (Chip Kelly) to call plays. It came with all the prerequisite focus that the Scarlet and Gray put on this rivalry — refusing to say the word “Michigan,” X’ing out all the “M’s” on campus, having Day compare his previous three defeats to the tragic death of his father.
And yet in the end it was The Team, The Team, The Team from Up North.
Again.
“As you know, it isn’t easy to accept,” Day said. “I have to take the ownership and I am the one who makes the final decisions.”
The second-ranked Buckeyes can’t blame this one on Jim Harbaugh. It can’t blame this one on Connor Stalions. They can’t chalk it up to, say, not being able to handle some all-time great such as Aidan Hutchinson or maybe that the law of averages finally played out and Michigan finally got one.
This is four straight and this should have been a mismatch, a complete lopsided affair. The talent differential was stark. The seasons headed in different directions.
Michigan quarterback Davis Warren — the aforementioned walk-on with an inspirational story — completed just nine passes for 62 yards and two picks. His longest went just 18 yards, caught by a receiver, Peyton O’Leary, who entered the game with just eight receptions and originally signed to be a lacrosse player at Massachusetts.
That sounds like a story out of the MAC.
Yet in the end The Game was the game — won by brute force and not recruiting rankings, by will and want, not NFL draft status. When the end of the season comes and the temperatures drop and the winds kick up, there aren’t a lot of tricks to be had.
Michigan was again tougher, straight-up tougher. The Wolverines outrushed the Buckeyes 172-77, always the greatest predictor of success in this annual clash. Kalel Mullings had 116 yards all by himself.
How Day hasn’t been able to address this, even acknowledging injuries to the offensive line, is what will haunt him until he does.
“We just couldn’t control the game in the run game,” Day said. “The overall execution wasn’t good enough.”
There was more, of course. Two interceptions, two missed field goals and zero sacks didn’t help. And a horrific 12-men-on-the-field penalty on Michigan’s final drive gave the Wolverines a first-and-goal and the chance to kill more clock.
The nerves and pressure were at times one-sided, perhaps a sign not just of the losing streak but the unhealthy intensity Day puts on this game.
By the end it was all too clear, even to disbelieving eyes everywhere. Ohio State was shut out in the second half and its last first down came with 5:59 in the third — the Michigan defense just shutting everything down as boos rained down on the Buckeyes and their coaches.
Meanwhile, Michigan pushed and pushed and overcame their own errors and turnovers and limitations and won again. Next year they welcome the No. 1 overall recruit and have upped their NIL recruiting game to match the money in Columbus.
If there ever were a year for Ohio State to run it up, whip it up and celebrate it up, this was it. Ohio Stadium was packed and looking for revenge.
By the end they were screaming at Day, who despite a 66-10 record is somehow on a hot seat that only a national title can cool.
“Everyone wants to win this game in the worst way,” Day said. “No one wants to win it more than we do. It’s our No. 1 goal … I don’t blame anybody for being upset.”
That includes the Ohio State players who took great exception to Michigan trying to “plant” a flag on their logo postgame. A wild melee — complete with punches and pepper spray — ensued.
Whether you find it Michigan’s fault for the flag antics or Ohio State’s fault for showing more fight after the game than during it hardly matters. That it could happen again is what will linger beyond the volleys of “classless” behavior.
“Those guys are trying to put a flag on our field and our guys weren’t going to let that happen,” Day said. “This is our field and we are obviously disappointed we lost the game, but we have some prideful guys on our team [that] just aren’t going to sit back and watch that happen.”
“They got to learn how to lose, man,” Michigan’s Mullings countered.
The losing to Michigan part they have plenty of practice at, and until Ryan Day learns how to win this game, even with a stacked roster, perhaps nothing can spare him.