ANN ARBOR — Last December, as Urban Meyer stepped down and uncertainty ran rampant around the Ohio State football program, the Michigan football program was scheming.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh was preparing for a bowl game after another 10-win season; fine by most major program standards, but not good enough to reach the upper echelon of college football. The Buckeyes, for all of their successes against the Wolverines, remained the cream of the crop in the Big Ten.
But first-year coach Ryan Day — whose only head-coaching experience was three games in 2018 — served as a chance for his rivals to get their foot in the door. Disrupt Ohio State’s recruiting momentum and gain an edge on the field. Day couldn’t be as wildly successful as Meyer, right?
Our answer came full circle on Saturday, when the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes completed a perfect regular season with a 56-27 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor. The loss was the Wolverines’ eighth straight in the rivalry, and 15th in the last 16 games.
"It’s very, very frustrating,” quarterback Shea Patterson said. "What we do all year leading up to this game is working toward them.”
MORE: ‘Mistakes, execution’ doom Michigan in latest loss to Ohio State
Problem is, so was Ohio State. The Buckeyes spend every waking day on the practice field, in the weight room and walk through thinking of Michigan and spending time preparing for it. They have drills dedicated to the Wolverines and carve out practice time to work on scheming against them. Day even admitted last week that the OSU coaching staff monitors which recruits Michigan is targeting, compares their recruits to Jim Harbaugh’s and evaluates accordingly.
You could make an accurate assessment that Ohio State is obsessed with Michigan. The results on the field in recent years have followed accordingly, with the Buckeyes outscoring Michigan 118-66 in the last two games, combining for 1,144 yards and simply outplaying the Wolverines on both sides of the ball.
“No one’s happy,” tight end Sean McKeon said. "Definitely really frustrating. Especially for the seniors. But it’s kind of the same thing every year. Got to execute better. It gets old, but just got to play better against them.”
The gap between the two football programs is pretty simple when you boil it down: Wins equal recruits, and higher-rated recruits equal wins. Prior to the 2019 recruiting class, when Michigan was able to edge Ohio State, the Buckeyes had a higher-ranked recruiting class in the eight years prior. During that span, which dates back to 2011, OSU has landed 16 five-star recruits to Michigan’s five, according to 247Sports.
Of course, not all of the recent losses to Ohio State have been blowouts. Michigan came a point away from beating the Buckeyes in 2013, while the 2016 game infamously came down to a debated first-down spot in overtime. But the last two years have shown a clear discrepancy in players and talent.
The Wolverines carried the No. 1 defense in the country statistically into the 2018 game, only to surrender 62 points and 567 yards of offense. On Saturday, Ohio State dropped 56 points and 577 yards on a Michigan defense that devoted more time and energy in the zone this year in Don Brown’s tenure.
"I just don’t think we executed well, in a lot of things,” defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said. "We’ve just got to be so much better. There’s nothing we haven’t seen before — it was all as expected. We just got to execute better and all do our jobs. We just didn’t. And it hurt us.”
Michigan players repeatedly blamed a litany of mistakes and lack of execution for the loss on Saturday, not a scheme issue. Fair or not, that’s been the excuse for losses like these before. The 21-point blowout at Wisconsin in September. The late loss at Penn State in October in which Michigan came a dropped pass away in the end zone from sending the game to overtime. But players win games, and while coaches can affect the outcome of a game, a result like this strictly goes back to talent. The type of talent Harbaugh recruits, brings in and develops. Harbaugh elected not to delve in to that topic in his post-game remarks to the press (that’s certainly his right; what’s he supposed to say?), but it’s a fair topic to bring up.
“They’re a very talented team,” linebacker Jordan Glasgow said. "Obviously, as you can see throughout the entire year. But we’re just as talented, I feel like. Maybe they just made a few more plays than us today. But, I feel like we should have been right there.”
Glasgow’s words are well meaning, but they ring hollow given recent years’ performance. Michigan simply is not on the same playing field as Ohio State — and that’s OK to admit.
But that also makes for a frustrating road ahead for Harbaugh and his coaching staff, which turns to the drawing board once again to try and figure this out.
"We’ve got to dig down next year, see what we got,” Hutchinson said. "You’re not going to win ballgames when you’re letting up 50-60 points. It’s not going to happen. We got to be better.”
Read more on Michigan football:
What’s being said nationally about Michigan’s blowout loss against Ohio State
Ohio State QB on Michigan rivalry: ‘We take it way more serious’
Michigan explains fourth-down Wildcat play against Ohio State
Jim Harbaugh still can’t solve Ohio State
Michigan fans face harsh reality when it comes to No. 1 Ohio State
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm1saXZlLmNvbS93b2x2ZXJpbmVzLzIwMTkvMTIvdGhlLW1pY2hpZ2FuLW9oaW8tc3RhdGUtZ2FwLXJlbWFpbnMtYXMtd2lkZS1hcy1ldmVyLmh0bWzSAXBodHRwczovL3d3dy5tbGl2ZS5jb20vd29sdmVyaW5lcy8yMDE5LzEyL3RoZS1taWNoaWdhbi1vaGlvLXN0YXRlLWdhcC1yZW1haW5zLWFzLXdpZGUtYXMtZXZlci5odG1sP291dHB1dFR5cGU9YW1w?oc=5
2019-12-01 10:45:00Z
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