Is Michigan football’s rivalry with Ohio State seeing a change of pace?

The iconic rivalry shared between Ohio State and Michigan football is seemingly entering a new era after their 2021 meeting.

One of the most fascinating moments of the 2021 season was Michigan football downing the Ohio State Buckeyes, with such an outcome only being seen three other times in the 21st century.

The rare win headlined the Wolverines’ run that led them to the College Football Playoff bracket for the first time ever, and while their performance in it may not have been pretty, the appearance is certainly enough for the future of their rivalry with OSU to be thrown into question.

Sure, it was only one win for Michigan, and it was its first time beating Ohio State since 2011, so there is definitely an argument that last season’s installment of “The Game” was nothing more than some measly fluke.

However, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day is seeing his impact on the program as clearly as he ever has before, and it may leave his team less impressive than most had originally thought it would.

Now let’s not get anything twisted, Ryan Day is a very smart coach, and he has undoubtedly proven that he is qualified to man the helm of Ohio State for years to come, but it’s important to remember that what has — by a country mile — been his best season was one that was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many college football fans out there would argue that the 2020 “COVID year” didn’t mean anything and that the combination of canceled games and absent players invalidated it completely.

While I would personally not go that far, it can’t be denied that circumstances as impactful as those do make 2020 noticeably less telling than that of a full, unbothered season.

With that said, Day has only had two full slates in his tenure at OSU, and he is now 1-1 against Michigan in them.

Also, 2021 was the first year where a team other than the Buckeyes had won the Big Ten East — and the Big Ten as a whole — since the Penn State Nittany Lions did so in 2016. How can any of that portray the huge gap between the two rivals that we once saw season after season?

One advantage that Ohio State still seems to hold over the Wolverines is in regards to recruiting, but even that only means so much (especially when considering that a brand like the one the Buckeyes have is bound to land strong recruiting hauls on a rather consistent basis).

Everyone was ready for Ryan Day to pick up right where Urban Meyer left off, and at first, it appeared as if he had done so successfully. However, if OSU’s 2021 run-in with Michigan is at all an indicator of what’s to come, then the former’s blatant superiority might not be sticking around for much longer.