How to avoid the distractions and just play your best. And then…is it really a mental thing? (Press Pros Feature Photos)
The expectations are high, as usual. And given the circumstances, again, are some of the expectations unreasonable? Which all adds to the question of how do you go to Michigan on Saturday and play like you did last year against Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Notre Dame?
By Marcus Hartman for Press Pros
Columbus, OH — To start another game week, there is one question above all for Ohio State football.
Are the Buckeyes in the right state of mind to beat Michigan?
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Of course, this is not just another game week.
It’s ‘The Game’ week.
Veteran columnist Marcus Hartman writes the OHSAA, Ohio State, and sports at large for Press Pros Magazine.com.
Will coach Ryan Day’s team show up in Ann Arbor ready to play its best Saturday?
Given the results of the last four years, that seems to be a legitimate mystery at this point, but early indicators are positive.
“It’s definitely something that I’ve kind of always had in the back of my head,” defensive end Caden Curry said after recording two sacks in a 42-9 win over Rutgers. “During the off-season, we always talk about it. We always kind of know it’s there, so it’s definitely something I’m really excited for.”
‘The Game’ triggers all sorts of feelings for all sorts of people in Ohio and Michigan whether they are playing, coaching, cheering or just watching from afar.
The “play with emotion, but don’t let emotion play with you” saying could be made for this one.
Every game comes down to the Jimmys and the Joes plus the Xs and the Os, but that doesn’t mean the team with the best of either will always win.
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Ohio State-Michigan exemplified that for decades, and recently upsets are back after a decade-plus absence. The higher-ranked team won every game from 2005-17, but four of the past six have been upsets.
That streak of mostly expected outcomes was great for Ohio State because the Buckeyes almost always had the better team and won. The more recent trend is bad… because the Buckeyes almost always had the better team and more often than not lost.
That sets the stage for this week with Ohio State ranked No. 1 and Michigan No. 18 in the most recent College Football Playoff rankings.
“We didn’t run the ball well,” said Ryan Day after the ’23 loss…an issue to be answered again come Saturday.
Conventional wisdom says the Buckeyes should win. Rivalry wisdom says bet on the Wolverines.
Above all, though, don’t overthink it.
“We’ll continue to do what we’ve done all year — that’s it,” Day said. “The coach’s job is to give them a great plan, and we’ve got to be at our best.”
Many would say Day and his staff have not done that the last couple of seasons or more.
Michigan’s sign-stealing scheme obscures the results of the 2021 and ’22 games, but in ’23 Day seemed to be chasing the game from start to finish as then-interim Michigan coach Sherrone Moore pushed all the right buttons for the Wolverines.
The Buckeyes still had a shot to win in the final minute but came up short, 30-24.
Last season, a series of unfortunate events led to Ohio State suffering the biggest upset in series history.
The second-ranked Buckeyes certainly did not play their best, leaving the door open all afternoon for the eventual game-winning field goal, and unranked Michigan cashed in for the 13-10 win.
Whether a result of pride going before the fall or the flow of a game in which they were frequently operating in the shadow of their own goal posts, Ohio State never really opened up the offense and suffered the consequences.
That means Day’s plan will certainly be under scrutiny this week, and that starts with how he approaches the next few days.
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“Well, yeah, you’ve heard us talk about this, really focusing on the process because it’s easy to just say, ‘I want to get to the last game of the year,’ but if that happens and you get distracted, you can get upset, and then all of a sudden your season can take a turn bad,” Day said. “I feel like we’ve focused on us. I felt like we’ve been consistent in our approach, but that’s all in preparation for this week, and so we have to continue to do that very thing, and that’s what it’s going to be.”
Day already moved the Senior Tackle tradition off of Michigan week a couple of years ago, and the annual joint practice with the OSU Marching Band took place during a bye week this fall.
That, Day said, is an effort to make Michigan week “as normal as possible.”
Is that a noble goal?
Then…When they did run the ball well, during the height of OSU’s dominance, pre-2021……
Maybe, but it also seems foolish.
There is no way to make Ohio State-Michigan week normal, and in the past coaches (such as John Cooper and Rich Rodriguez) who tried to minimize it to avoid being overwhelmed seemed to end up on the wrong end of the score most of the time.
Of course there is a balance to everything and overemphasizing it can be problematic, but the rivalry demands a certain level of respect.
While changing traditions made it seem like Day was trying to de-emphasize the rivalry for the sake of playing better in The Game, Saturday’s postgame interview room offered information to the contrary.
“They’re always in the back of our mind in terms of what we’re working towards,” Day said of the Wolverines. “We know this is the last game of the year and what it means to everybody here.”
And now…”It’s going to take everything we’ve got and everything we’ve been for the last 11 weeks. We’re going to need all of it when we walk in there.” – Carson Hinzman
Like anyone born in Ohio or just bred to love the Buckeyes, he even admitted he had started thinking about the Wolverines before the Rutgers game was over.
“It doesn’t take long in the fourth quarter,” Day said. “Once the game is in hand, everybody starts figuring out this thing is coming fast, and there was just a good look in everybody’s eye in the locker room, man.”
The players also let it be known this will not be the first time Michigan is on their minds even if the Wolverines haven’t dominated their thoughts day in and day out.
“This is a big week for everyone,” said center Carson Hinzman, who was right in the middle of the offensive line as it was manhandled last season in Columbus. “Not just for the players but the city and the people of Columbus, Ohio, so for us to go up there is a huge opportunity. It’s going to take everything we’ve got and everything we’ve been doing the last 11 weeks. We’re gonna need all of it when we walk in there.”
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Curry confirmed there is emotion involved, too.
The Buckeyes aren’t going to try to play this off just as a business trip, not after what he saw in the eyes of his older teammates last year when they became the first Ohio State class to go 0-4 since the group that arrived in 1988.
“Just seeing how those guys went out last year, it’s definitely so heartbreaking just for me as a player, seeing them go through so much hard work and dedication and come up short time and time again,” the defensive end said.
“I mean, definitely I don’t want to be that guy. Nobody wants to be that guy on the other side. So I kind of want to do it for them, and I want to do it for us.”
Will they thread the needle and make the game big, but not too big?
Check back late Saturday afternoon.
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