Ohio State football: Ryan Day off-base with comments about Michigan game

It’s been four years. Four long years since the last time Ohio State football took down Michigan in the annual rivalry game. It was Day’s first season as head coach and he was able to smack the Wolverines around a bit and carry on the Urban Meyer tradition of beating Michigan in The Game.

Then COVID-19 hit in 2020 and The Game was canceled due to an outbreak on the Michigan roster. So really, it’s only been three legit years since Ohio State last beat Michigan.

And it feels like that’s wearing on Day. Unlike his predecessor and former boss, he’s lost two games to the Wolverines. Meyer never lost one at Ohio State.

So when Day was asked about what he thought of the rivalry and he said that it’s worth discussing not having it as the season finale anymore, it came off a bit weak. It was not intended to do that because he followed that up by talking about a potential rematch in the Big Ten title game a week later, but it just wasn’t a good look.

I’ll be the first to say: this would be a horrible idea.

Why Michigan and Ohio State football need The Game

Not only is The Game arguably the best rivalry in college football, but it’s also not a guarantee that both of these teams would make the conference title game each year. So if either of them doesn’t make it or one side goes into a slump, the best rivalry in the Big Ten just won’t be played?

That would make no sense.

Plus you add in USC and UCLA to the Big Ten and it gets even tougher to win the conference, let alone make the title game.

While Day is fully capable of putting together teams good enough to beat Michigan, he needs to avoid saying things like this that make him look like he doesn’t want to face the Wolverines anywhere other than a neutral site. This has a Nick Saban opting out of non-conference home-and-homes feel to it.

Day is off-base here and I think even Ohio State fans would agree that this game needs to be played.