Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day Takes Responsibility For Michigan Loss

Day said he and his team had the wrong approach entering the game, needing instead to have played more like they did against Georgia in the Peach Bowl: aggressive and with nothing to lose.

Ohio State Buckeyes head football coach Ryan Day still thinks about his team's most-recent loss to their archrivals, even 188 days after the game's final whistle.

It's no secret how much added focus the Buckeyes put on their annual game against the Michigan Wolverines, their historic and fierce rivals. Day said his team 

"I think back on this year and our rivalry game," Day said on the More Than Coach Speak podcast. "You want the game so bad that the focus can just be on winning the game, but what does winning the game actually mean? You can't just win the game. You have to win each play."

When the Michigan Wolverines defeated the Buckeyes for the second year in a row, 45-23, Day faced a lot of criticism from fans and media personalities alike.

Everyone seemed to have their own explanations for how the team lost, and what needed changed before the teams met again in 2023. However, Day seems to have his own idea for what went wrong back in November 2022.

Put simply, Day and the Buckeyes did not have the right attitude.

"I think the problem I've probably made is, 'We're going to win this game. Let's get physical. Let's beat them up,'" Day said. "When you're playing a team or a player that's equal to you, you have to focus on winning every single possession, every single play. And how do you do that? Great technique, great focus. Eventually, you win the game.

In hindsight, Day said the strategy against Michigan should have been similar to that the Scarlet and Gray took into the 2023 Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl against the No.1-ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

Even though Ohio State went on to lose that game against the Bulldogs ijn heart-breaking fashion, 42-41, Day said his guys left it all on the field and took the game one snap at a time.

"I think we did a better job in the Peach Bowl of letting it all out, playing aggressively ana looking to play the next play and win the next play," Day said. "We didn't look at the scoreboard and say, 'What if we win? What if we lose?' We really focused on winning each situation and each play."

Having seemingly found the solution for how to tame the Wolverines, how will Day and the Buckeyes fare against "That Team Up North" this coming November?

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