Michael Cohen
College Football and College Basketball Writer
COLUMBUS, Ohio — First got here the screaming and writhing determine of linebacker Sonny Styles, his helmet gone and his eyes scorching with ache, careening away from the fracas at midfield as members of Ohio State’s employees clamored wildly for medical help. “I am unable to see!” Styles bellowed earlier than crumpling to the turf. “I am unable to see!” And from there, the sounds his physique emitted grew to become way more guttural.
Then got here Hero Kanu, a hulking defensive sort out at 6-foot-5 and 305 kilos, staggering towards the tunnel whereas his face reddened and tightened from the police weapon that had been unleashed in his neighborhood. “Find a coach!” somebody shrieked in a voice that trembled with worry. “Trainer!” he screeched once more towards anybody who would pay attention.
Massive SCUFFLE ensues after Michigan tries to plant flag on Ohio State’s emblem
A number of yards from the makeshift triage was head coach Ryan Day, his mouth barely agape and his face hauntingly clean amid one of many ugliest postgame scenes this rivalry has ever seen. He’d been strolling off the sector to a hailstorm of unflattering feedback — “Hey Ryan, hope you might have your subsequent job lined up,” a fan yelled. “This is your final day, little doubt,” one other added. “F— you, Ryan, I’m performed” yet one more stated — when a roar from nonetheless lots of the 106,005 followers remained at Ohio Stadium urged there was bother brewing someplace behind him.
It was on the midfield emblem the place scores of Michigan gamers lorded their 13-10 win over the Buckeyes by trying to plant their flag, simply because the Wolverines did the final time they have been victorious right here two years in the past. Day’s gamers took offense to the gesture and invaded the celebratory show. Edge rusher Jack Sawyer, a former five-star recruit from Pickerington, Ohio, ripped the blue Michigan flag from its pole and threw it on the bottom. Reserve cornerback Miles Lockhart slammed into Michigan radio analyst Jason Avant, who performed huge receiver for the Wolverines from 2002-05, when Avant snared the flag away from Buckeye defensive again Davison Igbinosun. Dozens extra have been concerned as shouting turned to shoving and pushing turned to punching. Eventually, scores of cops barreled into the fray with at the very least one in every of them discharging pepper spray into the eyes of Wolverines and Buckeyes alike. The air thickened with chemical substances.
“They’re not f—— planting a flag on our area once more, bro!” Sawyer squealed within the face of an Ohio State staffer who was trying to calm him down. “F— this s—, man. F— these guys. Plant a flag on our area? F— you!”
The scene involving Sawyer unfolded inside arm’s size of Day, who stood immobile on the 24-yard line as if paralyzed by the disbelief of struggling one more loss to The Team Up North, his fourth in a row after debuting with a win over Jim Harbaugh in 2019. That the Wolverines entered Saturday’s recreation as 19.5-point underdogs made their victory the most important upset on this rivalry since at the very least 1978, which is way back to the historic information for level spreads goes. It was simply the second time within the sequence that an unranked Michigan staff beat a ranked model of Ohio State on the street, and the primary such prevalence since 1950. And for Day, whose Buckeyes have now misplaced a number of Big Ten video games in the identical season for the primary time since 2011, he matches the bottom of the low for in any other case profitable Ohio State coaches by equaling John Cooper’s mark of 4 straight losses to the Wolverines.
Perhaps the one saving grace for Day and his staff — briefly, anyway — is that they are nonetheless seemingly going to qualify for the expanded College Football Playoff at 10-2 total and 7-2 within the league, and meaning they nonetheless have an opportunity to win a nationwide championship. The problem shall be discovering methods to regroup and refocus now that Ohio State’s season is really “natty or bust,” although most likely not in the way in which cornerback Denzel Burke envisioned it when he first made that remark throughout spring apply. The actuality now could be that Day, regardless of his glittering profession report of 66-10, may really discover himself on the recent seat except his Buckeyes go on to win the nationwide title.
“We’re very upset,” Day stated. “Never thought this might occur proper right here. We’re anticipating to win this recreation after which go play within the Big Ten Championship Game, and neither of these issues occurred. We do not know what is going on on now. This is simply too quickly to attempt to determine what’s subsequent. But as soon as we’ve extra info [from the selection committee] in a few week, we’ll determine that half out. I’ll deliver them collectively right here fairly quickly and discuss to them, however there [are] plenty of guys who’re crushed proper now.”
Arguably none extra so than Day himself, for whom this rivalry continues to precise a major private toll. There was the derogatory remark from Harbaugh that urged Day was “born on third base” as a result of he inherited the Ohio State job from former coach Urban Meyer. There was the defensive implosion at Michigan Stadium in 2021 that prompted Day to maneuver on from coordinator Kerry Coombs and exchange him with Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State. There was the sign-stealing scandal involving former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions, by which movies appeared to point out the Wolverines having unusually detailed data of Ohio State’s indicators through the 2022 matchup. There have been message board conspiracy theories that falsely linked Day’s brother to the Big Ten’s investigation of Michigan, the mere existence of which spawned threats towards the household. There have been tales exploring whether or not Day erred by signing quarterback Kyle McCord over J.J. McCarthy, who desperately wished to attend Ohio State through the early a part of his recruitment. There was the defection of his longtime operating backs coach, Tony Alford, to Michigan earlier this 12 months. There was the loss to interim coach Sherrone Moore final November whereas Harbaugh was serving a league-imposed suspension.
All of which assist clarify why a snippet from one in every of Day’s interviews went viral through the buildup to Saturday’s recreation as he defined how dropping to Michigan had turn into “one of many worst issues that is occurred to me in my life, fairly truthfully — apart from dropping my father and some different issues.” The repercussions of failing to defeat the Wolverines in three consecutive seasons, together with a 2023 marketing campaign that noticed Harbaugh and Michigan hoist the nationwide championship trophy, had shaken Day to his core.
“I really feel for Coach Day,” quarterback Will Howard stated.
And a lot of what occurred on Saturday felt like a microcosm of the rivalry’s ongoing tilt towards Michigan, which hadn’t received 4 in a row over Ohio State since a stretch from 1988-91 as legendary head coach Bo Schembechler retired and Gary Moeller changed him. It was the fourth time within the final 4 years that the Wolverines outgained Ohio State on the bottom, this time by a margin of 172-77, with tailback Kalel Mullings (32 carries, 116 yards, 1 TD) seeming to get stronger as the sport progressed. It was the third time within the final three years {that a} extremely touted Buckeye quarterback tossed expensive interceptions at inopportune moments: two for C.J. Stroud in 2022; two for McCord in 2023; two for Howard in 2024, which is able to solely invite extra questions on one other handpicked signal-caller by Day, this time a switch from Kansas State. And it was the second time within the final two years that Michigan made all of its area objectives — together with at the very least one kick of fifty yards in every recreation — whereas Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding missed three of his 5 makes an attempt throughout that span, two of which got here on Saturday in a contest determined by three factors.
But the coup de grâce for Day may need been the game-clinching run from Mullings with fewer than 4 minutes remaining and the rating tied, 10-10. Facing third-and-6 from the Ohio State 44-yard line, Mullings was contacted a number of ft behind the road of scrimmage by defensive sort out Ty Hamilton, a 295-pound senior who has by no means overwhelmed the Wolverines. And but someway, someway, Mullings broke free round the correct facet of Michigan’s formation. He caught an arm within the turf for steadiness after which exploded for a 27-yard achieve to arrange the profitable area objective with :45 remaining.
“This isn’t straightforward to just accept,” Day stated. “Obviously, I’ve to take the possession. I’m the one, in the end, that makes the ultimate selections on issues. I felt like we have been in a extremely good place coming into this recreation. I felt like we have been ready to play effectively on this recreation.”
That Mullings rumbled towards the identical finish of the stadium the place his fellow tailback, Donovan Edwards, as soon as slashed Ohio State’s protection for a rivalry-deciding landing in 2022 felt considerably poetic. Two years may need handed since then, however Saturday’s outcome suggests not a lot concerning the sequence has modified. All Day may do was watch as Michigan planted one other flag on the middle of Ohio Stadium and the ravenous melee ensued.
He’d misplaced “The Game,” he’d misplaced his staff, and now, he may want a nationwide championship to make sure he’ll be again subsequent season.
Michael Cohen covers school soccer and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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