Ryan Day on importance of beating Michigan: ‘It’s everything here’

The Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines are getting ready to renew their rivalry this weekend. It’s a game that after struggling in recent seasons to beat the Wolverines, Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day knows is massive.

Ahead of The Game, Day shared some thoughts on the rivalry and what beating Michigan would mean to both the team and the community around Ohio State.

“It’s like I said, what’s happened in the past has really nothing to do with what’s going on right now,” Ryan Day said. “The focus has to be on each other, and playing so hard for the love of your teammate — not so much what’s going on across the field. That’s what we’re gonna do, we’re gonna focus on that this week because it’s easy to get distracted with everything else.”

In 2019, Ryan Day’s first season as the head coach at Ohio State, he led the Buckeyes to a 56-27 win over the Wolverines. The next season, The Game was canceled due to the pandemic. Since then, it’s been three straight losses to Michigan, culminating in last season’s national championship run for Michigan.

“We’ll let the fans and everybody else kinda talk through all those things,” Day said. “We’re gonna focus on each other, playing really hard for each other, focus on getting ready to go play in this game so that we can execute at a high, high level because ultimately that’s all that matters.”

There are massive implications that come with The Game every year, given that both teams are typically contenders and the passion that comes on and off the field over the outcome.

“I think you know what it means [in Ohio],” Day said. “It means the world. It’s everything here.”

This season, those implications are largely on Ohio State’s shoulders. The Buckeyes can clinch a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game with a win over Michigan. For the Wolverines part, it would be their seventh win of the season and a chance to play spoiler.

“Not to get into too much of it. This game is a war, and any time there’s a war, there are consequences and casualties, and then there’s the plunder and the rewards that come with it. That’s what it is. I just think that’s what it comes down to. As we all say and I said in my introductory press conference, the No. 1 job is to win this game,” Day said.

“So, that’s the focus right now. I don’t want to get too much into the past, because we’re just focused on right now and we’ve worked really hard to get to this point. I’m excited with the fact that our guys are here now because when you go through the offseason, you talk about this game. It’s like, ‘How many times are you going to talk about this?’ We’ve got to get to this game and go play it. We’re finally here right now, so that’ll be the focus and then, in the offseason, we’ll figure out what’s what.”

A player in their fourth season at Ohio State currently has a record of 43-7. That does not include a win over Michigan and it does not include a Big Ten Championship.

“I’m excited. I’m excited about this game. I’m excited about this team. I love the look in their eye. I love coming to work every day. But, this is not about me. This is about these seniors who decided to come back. They want to have a pair of gold pants. They want to have hardware,” Day said.

“So, that’s what motivates me. I’m excited for them so they can go out there and play this thing and go win it.”