COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the final seconds ticked away, the chants came raining down from The Horseshoe.
“F— Ryan Day.”
On Saturday, Michigan stunned second-ranked Ohio State 13-10, handing Day and the Buckeyes their fourth straight defeat in the series.
Michigan came in a 20.5-point underdog, the second-biggest spread in the rivalry dating to 1978, according to ESPN Research.
But even without two of their top players — cornerback Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland, who are both projected to go in the first round in the next NFL draft — the Wolverines pulled off one of the biggest upsets this college football season.
“Everybody wants to win this game in the worst way, and nobody wants to win it more than we do. It’s our No. 1 goal every year,” Day said. “And so when you don’t do that, there’s disappointment and frustration. And so, I don’t blame anybody for being upset. I’m upset more than anybody. And those players are, too, and the coaches and everybody that goes at it. We know what we’re getting ourselves into here.”
Despite falling to 10-2 this season, Ohio State should still advance to the 12-team College Football Playoff. But the defeat knocked the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten championship game and could even put their chances of hosting a first-round playoff game in jeopardy.
The loss also figures to raise questions about Day’s job security, should Ohio State fail to bounce back and win the national title.
The Buckeyes have been ranked second nationally going into all four of Day’s defeats to the Wolverines. Day also holds a 47-1 conference record against all opponents other than Michigan.
“Obviously extremely disappointed and angry that we didn’t execute well enough,” Day said. “This is not easy to accept, and obviously have to take the ownership. I’m the one ultimately that makes the final decisions on things. I felt like we were in a really good place coming into this game.”
Day confessed earlier in the week that losing to Michigan had been “one of the worst things that’s happened to me in my life, quite honestly,” and that the Buckeyes had been focused on beating the Wolverines all season.
But Ohio State’s star-studded offense failed to get going, which allowed the Wolverines to hang around to the end.
Michigan’s first two scoring drives totaled just 5 yards combined on six plays. The Wolverines scored their only touchdown after Ohio State quarterback Will Howard threw an interception from his own end zone to Aamir Hall, who returned the pick to the Ohio State 2-yard line. Two plays later, Kalel Mullings punched the ball into the end zone.
Mullings finished with a game-high 116 rushing yards, as Michigan outrushed the Buckeyes 172-77. The team with the most rushing yards has now prevailed in the rivalry 23 times in a row dating to 2001.
“We struggled to run the ball,” Day said. “We know we’ve talked about this many times. We have to run the ball, especially in this game.”
The Buckeyes also struggled to get the ball to their top playmaker in the passing game, freshman wideout Jeremiah Smith, who hauled in a 10-yard scoring grab in the second quarter. After halftime, Smith had only one catch for 3 yards on just two targets, both coming in the third quarter.
The Buckeyes were shut out in the second half of a home game for the first time in 13 years, according to ESPN Research, as Michigan’s Dominic Zvada nailed the game-winning, 21-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining.
“I’ve got a locker room full of guys who were just devastated,” Day said. “Never thought this would happen right here. We were expecting to win this game and then go play in the Big Ten championship game, and neither of those things happened. … There’s a lot of guys who are crushed right now.”
