ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Two years ago it was the snow.
Last year it was because Michigan knew the signs.
What will it be this time?
On Saturday, the Michigan football team beat Ohio State for the third year in a row to finish a second-straight regular season undefeated and earn a trip back to what’s starting to feel like their second home: Indianapolis.
Unlike the last two meetings, when Michigan ran the Buckeyes off the field, this year’s game was competitive from start to finish. The Wolverines never trailed, but every time they had a chance to pull away, Ohio State was right there with an answer.
But when the final seconds ticked off those beautiful new Michigan Stadium scoreboards, it was the Maize and Blue once again partying on the field.
So, Ryan Day, what’s it going to be?
In 2021, Michigan probably did benefit from the light snowfall that fell during The Game. Hassan Haskins had no problem running for five touchdowns, but the conditions weren’t as favorable for an aerial Ohio State offense led by C.J. Stroud.
So what did Michigan do? It went to Columbus the next year, on a perfect, sunny day, and beat the brakes off those same Buckeyes in even more convincing fashion.
Day said things like, “It was only five big plays,” or, “We’ve had one bad half the last two seasons.”
Give me a break. The Wolverines shoved him in a locker, and he was just frustrated because Jim Harbaugh said he was “born on third base.”
The truth hurts. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned about Day the past three years, it’s that when he’s hurting, he tries to find someone else to blame.
After losing to Michigan by 22 points at home last season, Day got to try another excuse: “Michigan was stealing our signs!”
Now, let’s just pretend for a moment that every single former football player hasn’t come out and said having the other team’s signs isn’t a major advantage (including Ohio State’s own Maurice Clarett). Let’s pretend that Ohio State didn’t also have all of Michigan’s signs, even though we saw the diagrams leaked to Yahoo! Sports.
Even if we say all of that -- Michigan fired its sign-stealer, fired the coach who told players not to cooperate with the NCAA, and had to play without Harbaugh.
And still beat Ohio State.
Day and the Buckeyes lost to a coordinator who had never been a head coach and was thrust into the position for the three toughest games of the season.
So what’s the excuse this time?
There was no snow. No flu. No “fluke” big plays. The Big Ten tried to hand deliver a victory to the Buckeyes by suspending Harbaugh and launching a month-long PR attack against the Wolverines.
It still wasn’t enough.
Can Ohio State complain about injuries? Actually, it was Michigan that lost its best offensive lineman to a brutal leg injury when the game was tied in the third quarter. Blame the refs? Ohio State was called for one penalty the entire game -- a five-yard procedure flag on a punt.
Will Johnson, Michigan’s most important player in trying to contain superstar wideout Marvin Harrison Jr., missed the entire final quarter with an injury, and the Buckeyes still didn’t take advantage.
I know Ohio State fans haven’t had to deal with much adversity over the past two decades, but there’s nowhere else to look but in the mirror.
Michigan overcame an enormous amount of adversity on and off the field to win this game again. And it’s Michigan going back to the Big Ten Championship Game for the third year in a row.
There may never be another Michigan-Ohio State game like this one. With the playoff expanding and the Big Ten eliminating divisions, the stakes won’t ever be this high.
And assuming the Buckeyes aren’t gifted another backdoor ticket to the playoff this year, they have all offseason to think about what went wrong.
Ryan Day should give Lou Holtz a call. Maybe he can help.
