Paul Finebaum: Michigan defeating Ohio State is good for Big Ten

Not many people – especially the team itself – expected Ohio State to miss out on the Big Ten championship game and College Football Playoff in 2021. The Buckeyes were red-hot throughout the regular season, but ultimately stumbled and suffered a lopsided loss to Michigan to end their chances of playing for both a conference championship and national championship.

While the loss to Michigan devastated Ohio State, the Buckeyes are still getting the opportunity to play this postseason as they’ll take on Utah in the prestigious Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, California. Along with that, ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum said that the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan will benefit the Big Ten as a whole.

“I think, for Michigan, it was a big boost for the Big Ten,” Finebaum said on Letterman Row’s The Tim May Podcast. “Right as your contract negotiations for TV starts, it can really help because it was starting to look like a one-team league … and it’s not.”

Michigan’s win over Ohio State earned it a spot in the College Football Playoff with the No. 2 ranking. The Wolverines will take on No. 3 Georgia in the Orange Bowl semifinal on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN.

Ryan Day reveals how Ohio State will find energy for Rose Bowl

While the setback hurt, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said that his team has regrouped and is putting in plenty of preparation ahead of their matchup with Utah in the Rose Bowl.

“I think a lot of our guys have a lot of pride in themselves and a lot of pride in this team,” Day said. “There’s been a lot of hard work and a lot of progress that was made all year from when we started this thing. We want to finish this thing the right way. We have a really good opponent in Utah, great bowl in the Rose Bowl, and so we want to have a great month.”

Now in the winter months and with sicknesses going around, Ohio State has had multiple players come down with various illnesses, but Day said that the team took a break from practices and allowed those guys to get healthy. With many of them back now, the Buckeyes are beginning to follow a specific timeline heading into the Rose Bowl at the start of the new year.

“We worked out a little bit last week, we’re going to do that again this week and then start our practice,” Day said. “It’s really in three phases – we’re going to start on fundamentals, then we’ll get into game-planning and then we’ll get to the bowl site and have game week there. That’s really what the focus is on right now.”