College Football

Inside Ryan Day's fourth straight loss to Michigan: 'Disappointed. Unexpected. Crushed.'

Updated Nov. 30, 2024 11:53 p.m. ET

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Michael Cohen

College Football and College Basketball Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio — First came the screaming and writhing figure of linebacker Sonny Styles, his helmet gone and his eyes scorching with pain, careening away from the fracas at midfield as members of Ohio State’s staff clamored wildly for medical assistance. "I can't see!" Styles bellowed before crumpling to the turf. "I can't see!" And from there, the sounds his body emitted became far more guttural. Then came Hero Kanu, a hulking defensive tackle at 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, staggering toward the tunnel while his face reddened and tightened from the police weapon that had been unleashed in his vicinity. "Find a trainer!" someone shrieked in a voice that trembled with fear. "Trainer!" he screeched again toward anyone who would listen.

Massive SCUFFLE ensues after Michigan tries to plant flag on Ohio State's logo

A few yards from the makeshift triage was head coach Ryan Day, his mouth slightly agape and his face hauntingly blank amid one of the ugliest postgame scenes this rivalry has ever seen. He'd been walking off the field to a hailstorm of unflattering comments — "Hey Ryan, hope you have your next job lined up," a fan yelled. "This is your last day, no doubt," another added. "F--- you, Ryan, I'm done" one more said — when a roar from however many of the 106,005 fans remained at Ohio Stadium suggested there was trouble brewing somewhere behind him.

It was on the midfield logo where scores of Michigan players lorded their 13-10 win over the Buckeyes by attempting to plant their flag, just as the Wolverines did the last time they were victorious here two years ago. Day's players took offense to the gesture and invaded the celebratory display. Edge rusher Jack Sawyer, a former five-star recruit from Pickerington, Ohio, ripped the blue Michigan flag from its pole and threw it on the ground. Reserve cornerback Miles Lockhart slammed into Michigan radio analyst Jason Avant, who played wide receiver for the Wolverines from 2002-05, when Avant snared the flag away from Buckeye defensive back Davison Igbinosun. Dozens more were involved as shouting turned to shoving and pushing turned to punching. Eventually, scores of police officers barreled into the fray with at least one of them discharging pepper spray into the eyes of Wolverines and Buckeyes alike. The air thickened with chemicals.

"They're not f------ planting a flag on our field again, bro!" Sawyer squealed in the face of an Ohio State staffer who was attempting to calm him down. "F--- this s---, man. F--- these guys. Plant a flag on our field? F--- you!"

The scene involving Sawyer unfolded within arm's length of Day, who stood motionless at the 24-yard line as if paralyzed by the disbelief of suffering yet another loss to The Team Up North, his fourth in a row after debuting with back-to-back wins over former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh. That the Wolverines entered Saturday's game as 19.5-point underdogs made their victory the largest upset in this rivalry since at least 1978, which is as far back as the historical data for point spreads goes. It was just the second time in the series that an unranked Michigan team beat a ranked version of Ohio State on the road, and the first such occurrence since 1950. And for Day, whose Buckeyes have now lost multiple Big Ten games in the same season for the first time since 2011, he matches the lowest of the low for otherwise successful Ohio State coaches by equaling John Cooper's mark of four straight losses to the Wolverines.

Perhaps the only saving grace for Day and his team — temporarily, anyway — is that they're still likely going to qualify for the expanded College Football Playoff at 10-2 overall and 7-2 in the league, and that means they still have a chance to win a national championship. The challenge will be finding ways to regroup and refocus now that Ohio State's season is truly "natty or bust," though probably not in the way cornerback Denzel Burke envisioned it when he first made that comment during spring practice. The reality now is that Day, despite his glittering career record of 66-10, might actually find himself on the hot seat unless his Buckeyes go on to win the national title.

"We're very disappointed," Day said. "Never thought this would happen right here. We're expecting to win this game and then go play in the Big Ten Championship Game, and neither of those things happened. We don't know what's going on now. This is just too soon to try to figure out what's next. But once we have more information [from the selection committee] in about a week, we'll figure that part out. I'll bring them together here pretty soon and talk to them, but there's a lot of guys who are crushed right now."

Perhaps none more so than Day himself, for whom this rivalry continues to exact a significant personal toll. There was the derogatory comment from Harbaugh that suggested Day was "born on third base" because he inherited the Ohio State job from former coach Urban Meyer. There was the defensive implosion at Michigan Stadium in 2021 that prompted Day to move on from coordinator Kerry Coombs and replace him with Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State. There was the sign-stealing scandal involving former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions, in which videos appeared to show the Wolverines having unusually detailed knowledge of Ohio State's signals during the 2022 matchup. There were message board conspiracy theories that falsely linked Day's brother to the Big Ten's investigation of Michigan, the mere existence of which spawned threats toward the family. There were stories exploring whether Day erred by signing quarterback Kyle McCord over J.J. McCarthy, who desperately wanted to attend Ohio State during the early part of his recruitment. There was the defection of his longtime running backs coach, Tony Alford, to Michigan earlier this year. There was the loss to interim coach Sherrone Moore last November while Harbaugh was serving a league-imposed suspension.

All of which help explain why a snippet from one of Day's interviews went viral during the buildup to Saturday's game as he explained how losing to Michigan had become "one of the worst things that's happened to me in my life, quite honestly — other than losing my father and a few other things." The repercussions of failing to defeat the Wolverines in three consecutive seasons, including a 2023 campaign that saw Harbaugh and Michigan hoist the national championship trophy, had shaken Day to his core.

"I feel for Coach Day," quarterback Will Howard said.

And so much of what happened on Saturday felt like a microcosm of the rivalry's ongoing tilt toward Michigan, which hadn't won four in a row over Ohio State since a stretch from 1988-91 as legendary head coach Bo Schembechler retired and Gary Moeller replaced him. It was the fourth time in the last four years that the Wolverines outgained Ohio State on the ground, this time by a margin of 172-77, with tailback Kalel Mullings (32 carries, 116 yards, 1 TD) seeming to get stronger as the game progressed. It was the third time in the last three years that a highly touted Buckeye quarterback tossed costly interceptions at inopportune moments: two for C.J. Stroud in 2022; two for McCord in 2023; two for Howard in 2024, which will only invite more questions about another handpicked signal-caller by Day, this time a transfer from Kansas State. And it was the second time in the last two years that Michigan made all of its field goals — including at least one kick of 50 yards in each game — while Ohio State kicker Jayden Fielding missed three of his five attempts during that span, two of which came on Saturday in a contest decided by three points.

But the coup de grâce for Day might have been the game-clinching run from Mullings with fewer than four minutes remaining and the score tied, 10-10. Facing third-and-6 from the Ohio State 44-yard line, Mullings was contacted several feet behind the line of scrimmage by defensive tackle Ty Hamilton, a 295-pound senior who has never beaten the Wolverines. And yet somehow, someway, Mullings broke free around the right side of Michigan's formation. He stuck an arm in the turf for balance and then exploded for a 27-yard gain to set up the winning field goal with :45 remaining.

"This is not easy to accept," Day said. "Obviously, I 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. I felt like we were prepared to play well in this game."

That Mullings rumbled toward the same end of the stadium where his fellow tailback, Donovan Edwards, once slashed Ohio State's defense for a rivalry-deciding touchdown in 2022 felt somewhat poetic. Two years might have passed since then, but Saturday's result suggests not much about the series has changed. All Day could do was watch as Michigan planted another flag at the center of Ohio Stadium and the ravenous melee ensued. 

He'd lost "The Game," he'd lost his team, and now, he might need a national championship to ensure he'll be back next season.

Michael Cohen covers college football and basketball for FOX Sports with an emphasis on the Big Ten. Follow him at @Michael_Cohen13.

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Michael Cohen