When a team beats you three consecutive teams — twice by 15 points or more — and by an average of 14 points, it’s hard to say you were a “play” or “drive” away. But that’s what Ryan Day did on Saturday during the Ohio State spring game addressing the notable failures of his program against Michigan football.
Sure, the Buckeyes were a play away against Georgia. But they got into that game after a 22-point beatdown at the hands of Michigan football. Ohio State led for three minutes in the second half of that game and spent three times that amount of time trailing by double digits — on their home field.
That’s not a drive or a play away.
Ohio State wasn’t a drive or play away in 2021 or 2022
Ohio State certainly wasn’t a drive or play away from beating Michigan football in 2021. Again, the Wolverines spent about three times as long leading by double-digits as Ohio State led the entire game. Michigan football led for 49:56 in the 2021 game.
The Buckeyes have gone nearly 87 minutes of game time without even leading the Wolverines. Michigan football also led for 46:56 this past season in the game and Ohio State, well, they have spent more time trailing the Wolverines by double digits (32 minutes) than they have in the lead (31 minutes).
“One bad half in two years”
But this kind of talk isn’t new. After the win over Notre Dame and Ryan Day’s rant about Lou Holtz, he said his team had “one bad half in two years.”
It’s still not clear if he meant the 2021 second half when Ohio State got outscored by 14 points (28-14) or the 2022 second half, when Ohio State was outscored 28-3 on its home field as the No. 2 team in the nation.
The Buckeyes did get closer in 2023. I’ll give them credit for that, but if Michigan football didn’t have to deal with all of the sign-gate crap, and had Jim Harbaugh, the win would have come by double digits.
Day is a good head coach — against everyone but Michigan. We’ll see if that changes in 2024 now that the bogeyman, Jim Harbaugh is gone, but man, the Ohio State head coach is as delusional as their fans, at least when it comes to the last three games against Michigan.
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