Rece Davis ponders how national championship changes Ohio State's approach to Michigan game

ESPN’s Rece Davis pondered how Ryan Day and Ohio State would approach Michigan now that there’s a national championship under their belts.

It’s an interesting conundrum, considering Ohio State is on top of the college football world. But, the Buckeyes have lost four straight to Michgian and the Wolverines just won the national title last season.

It’s certainly been Day’s bugaboo lately, but Davis mentioned how the bigger goal of winning it all should take precedent.

“How does it impact the way they address Michigan,” Davis said on The College GameDay Podcast. “I’ve told this story on this podcast several times, when Ryan joined us before the Indiana game, and he talked about the objective, the first thing you mentioned was to beat our rival. They were about to play Indiana. Indiana was undefeated. And I don’t mean to suggest for one second that they weren’t focused on Indiana. 

“They were obviously the way they played. I’m just saying that in their mental approach to football, to their program, to their culture, first thing on the list, at least the first thing mentioned, was Michigan. I think that needs to change.” 

Ohio State changing approach to Michigan?

Davis claimed Ohio State and Day’s thinking had to change. It’s not to diminish the meaning of “The Game,” but it could’ve very well spiraled Day’s career considering Ohio State had a lot of pressure in this year’s CFP following their upset loss to the Wolverines.

“That’s up to him. He has a trophy,” Davis said. “I think it would be healthier for all involved if it changed. Do we want to beat them? Yes … Do we want to rub it in their face? Yes, all of those things that make rivalry in college football great, but that at the expense of everything else, or at least that everything else somehow falls beneath it when you talk about it, I think Ohio State has had an object lesson … I mean, they’d love to have both. There will be years they have both. There are probably the years that Michigan has both the victory and the championship that that’s obviously the number one objective.” 

Day was open and honest about Ohio State beating Michigan since the beginning of the year, following their third straight loss to the Wolverines. Plus it was fresh considering Michigan won last year’s national title.

“But when you start stating things like that, it’s almost like the reason they kept getting asked about Michigan was because of the way they treated Michigan, right,” Davis said. “You know? I think that one of the necessities of this 12 team playoff, and frankly, probably one of the costs is that all teams with these gargantuan rivalries, they’re great. We should cherish them. They need to be protected. But they can’t be the be-all-end-all, existential crisis of the program.”