COLUMBUS, Ohio – Stop with the John Cooper comparisons.
Yes, Ryan Day dropped to 1-2 in The Game after No. 3 Michigan hammered No. 2 Ohio State 45-23 in the Wolverines' first victory at Ohio Stadium since Cooper's last regular-season game in 2000.
Day is the first Ohio State coach to have a losing record against the Wolverines since Cooper, whose 13-year reign of success with the Buckeyes was overshadowed by a 2-10-1 record against rival Michigan. Jim Tressel (9-1) and Urban Meyer (7-0) combined for a 16-1 record against the Wolverines from 2001-18. Everybody in Columbus knows those records.
Ohio State coaches are judged first by those records. It is where the legacy talk starts.
"I certainly know what this game means to everybody," Day said. "When you lose, it all comes back to me. I'm the head coach. That's what hurts the most."
Of course it hurts. Jim Harbaugh, now 2-5 against Ohio State, took Michigan in the Big Ten championship game for the second straight season. The Wolverines have been a bad fit for the Buckeyes the last two seasons. It was bad in last year's 42-27 upset in Ann Arbor. It was worse in the second half of a 45-23 victory in Columbus on Saturday. The Wolverines, for the first time in two decades, are a real problem for the Buckeyes and Day.
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Saturday was a meltdown. Michigan out-gained Ohio State 530-492, and most of those came on long TDs. The Wolverines scored on plays of 69, 75, 45, 75 and 85 yards. That is what the Buckeyes and their high-powered offense were supposed to do. Ohio State brought in defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to stop this Michigan ground-and-pound attack.
It was the same result as 2021, but arguably worse considering the Wolverines did all that without Heisman Trophy candidate Blake Corum, who was limited to one series because of a knee injury. J.J. McCarthy passed for three TDs and rushed for another one in the kind of performance that is required to win at Ohio Stadium. Donovan Edwards added 216 rushing yards.
"It's a story of explosive plays," Knowles said. "I thought we matched well, and nothing was lost like that. We matched through the course of the game, but too many explosives. That's what is disheartening."
There are regular-season consequences because of the loss. Day will take heat for back-to-back losses to Michigan. Knowles will be questioned for a scheme that left room for missed tackles, broken coverages and misfits in the running game.
Those were not the only consequences. Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud likely went from Heisman Trophy winner to finalist. He fell to 0-2 against the Wolverines despite passing for 349 yards and two TDs in an eerily-similar performance to last season.
"Going through what I went through last year after the game," Stroud said. "It was tough and it was a hard pill to swallow for 365 days. It's going to be tough again, but I think this program is tough."
Michigan is a tough matchup for the Buckeyes. A revenge game turned into a reckoning for Ohio State instead, but this isn't a Cooper situation yet. That era stretched from the Poll Era through the infancy of the BCS era, and those upset losses to Michigan ended national-title seasons – especially through a particularly painful stretch from 1995-97.
Day is in his fourth season as head coach. He has a 45-5 record – a 90% winning percentage with a recruiting pipeline that pushes out more than enough seen-on-Sunday-talent across the NFL. It's just for the first time since Cooper, the Buckeyes have a worthy adversary in Michigan.
If there is a repetitive question for the next 364 days, then it will be the same one from the past 364 days. Tight end Cade Stover was asked repeatedly on Tuesday about the Buckeyes' "toughness” ahead of this matchup. He said, "You see it, hear it and feel it.”
It's not a statistical quality, but it was clear the Wolverines are about it.
Ohio State is not "soft,' but these teams feel like the ones Day's mentor Chip Kelly had at Oregon. They can score in bunches, but occasionally they get punched in the mouth.
Beyond that, however, Day has something Cooper never had. That's a potential back door to the College Football Playoff. South Carolina beat No. 7 Clemson, and all it takes is a loss from No. 3 TCU or No. 5 USC to catapult the Buckeyes to presumed highest-ranked one-loss team in the rankings. Ohio State did this in 2016. When the 12-team playoff starts, the Buckeyes will be an every-year participant.
As far as this year? If the Buckeyes get in, then they likely will face No. 1 Georgia – which is Michigan with more five-star beef. Win there, and a rematch with the Wolverines might happen. Who knows?
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Like Day said, this loss is "life at Ohio State.” The best part? That life includes more shots at the title, and Day feels like this team could still prove it this year given the chance.
"It wasn't like we were outmatched in terms of overall play,” Day said. "As we get to those decisions you gotta look at the body of work and what we've done. We've got a lot of good pieces on this team. I think if we got a shot in the top four, we'd be a dangerous team."
How dangerous? Win a national championship, and the Cooper comparisons stop forever.
Not that they should be happening in the first place.
