Bulletpoints: Michigan
Thoughts on the Buckeyes' 27-9 win at Michigan.
- I moved into the place I currently live in February 2021. The past four years, I've sat on the very couch I'm writing this at now and watched Ohio State lose four-straight games to Michigan. Add in the COVID year with no game, and it's been six whole years since we've all celebrated a win over the Wolverines. It's crazy how much my life has changed in that time. I guarantee yours has, too. Hell, college football as a whole has significantly changed. What never changes is how special a feeling it is watching the Buckeyes win The Game. I don't care that the expanded playoff has diminished the results of it and other major rivalries in the sport - there's still no feeling like winning it. This one's cathartic and has been a long time coming.
- Ryan Day spent the past four matchups with Michigan dying for his teams to bully the Wolverines on each side of the ball. It was such a focus that it drove his teams away from what they were best at, and played right into UM's hands. He didn't do that with this year's team, and the result was that he got the best of both worlds. The Buckeyes absolutely punished the Wolverines on each side of the ball after surviving the first quarter, and put the game away with as soul-crushing a drive as they've had in the Day era - given the circumstances:
- At the same time, they still relied on their best players (Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate) to make the big plays, instead of just trying to prove they were tougher than the Wolverines.
