Games like these bother me, and they will continue to do so until the Buckeyes head to Ann Arbor the weekend of Thanksgiving next year. It’s an odd feeling, for the majority of my OSU fandom, we have dominated TTUN, with the exception of a few John Cooper years. Jim Tressell took over when I was a sophomore in Morrison Tower and it’s been smooth sailing against our rivals until the last two contests. At some point, these questions will be answered, but for now, these are the thoughts that haven’t left my mind since Saturday afternoon.
It felt the same as last year
During the third quarter, deja vu set in, it felt like 2021 all over again. That school that won’t be named owned the third quarter and kept that momentum into the fourth. We couldn’t stop the run, kept allowing big third-down conversions, and couldn’t move the ball on offense. The Bucks rolled over and seemingly gave up. It made me sick to my stomach.
The defense was supposed to be better
What happened here? The prevailing thoughts were that if Blake Corum wasn’t able to go, the Buckeyes would force J.J. McCarthy to beat them. Well, he did exactly that. Yes, some of those plays weren’t wide-open receivers down the field, but some were. Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles struggled with finding the answers after the Brinks truck was backed up to have him do just that.
Michigan couldn’t run the ball in the first half, but Donovan Edwards went off in the second half. The run fits were terrible, and the defensive line was put in positions to fail — and that’s on the coaches. The goal every year is to beat TTUN and everything else will fall into place. For the second year in a row, many of us are questioning the direction of this program.
Play calling was questionable
Where was Dallan Hayden? He tore it up coming into the game and the expectation was for him to have a big role against Michigan. Hayden was the healthiest back and showed he could carry the load. Well, just two carries all game while giving way to Chip Trayanum, who played well but was in the middle of a transition to linebacker. Ryan Day abandoned the run in the second half.
The fake punt that wasn’t hurt and CJ Stroud’s unwillingness to run for a few yards really stung. He did it against Northwestern, why not in the biggest game of the year? Day had a few plays specifically drawn up for this game and they didn’t work. The bubble screens never did much all season, but he kept going to them. On the flip side, almost 500 yards of offense should produce more than 23 points. This goes back to play calling and is on Ryan Day.
Michigan played confident, Ohio State played not to lose
During the game, I was texting with some of my OSU classmates about our attitude. We played tight all game, we played not to lose. The other sidelines did the opposite. The Wolverines kept with their game plan, knowing that eventually, we could break. When we did, they took advantage.
It’s a stark contrast from what the previous editions of “The Game” were when the Buckeyes had all the confidence in the world and expected to win. This didn’t feel like that at all. I’m not sure how this gets fixed either. Day needs to lite a fire under everyone, which we all thought happened this past offseason. He needs to reassess everything, from the ground up which leads me to my next point.
Rivalry is back on, how do we respond?
It was inevitable that our rivals would win a game again. For them to come into Ohio Stadium and do it was disgusting to watch. Having them pull up like Oklahoma by planting a flag on the 50-yard line was tough to watch. What changes will be made to the coaching staff, if any? Does Day run it back with the hope that something changes? There are so many questions right now, it’s hard to pinpoint just one answer to fix this bugaboo against TTUN.
TTUN planting the flag
Flag planted. pic.twitter.com/vBHd0ICliQ
— Jordan Strack (@JordanStrack) November 26, 2022
This really bothered me, along with plenty of former players. Many of us would have loved to see someone, anyone, show some fire and start something. We didn’t have anything to lose at this point, I would have been fine with seeing someone get a suspension. We let them come into Ohio Stadium and look soft, this compounded that idea.
Michigan wore us down and delivered haymakers and we never responded. I hope this image is pasted all over Woody. It needs to be on the players’ minds 24/7/365. The anger needs to boil over, we have to have a different mindset, one which I haven’t seen during Day’s tenure.
