Ryan Day explains benefit of facing competitive Michigan team in rivalry

The Ohio State–Michigan rivalry was one-sided for a bit, but Ryan Day was on the losing end the last two years. He explained why that was a benefit to the Buckeyes on a recent episode of Bussin’ with the Boys.

Jim Harbaugh got the monkey off his back at Michigan with back-to-back wins over Ohio State and two straight Big Ten titles. Day meanwhile had to regroup two seasons in a row with losses to the school’s biggest rival.

Regardless of other games, Day still focused on Michigan as the No. 1 priority for Ohio State.

“This is year seven for me and we played that game five times and lost the last two and it hurts me quite honestly,” Day said. “You know how much it means. There’s so many people in both states. And so, you know, when I first had my first press conference, the first thing I said was that you got to win that game. That’s the number one thing, most important thing and when you don’t do that, it hurts. It hurts for 365 days and so it has for the last two years.

“I mean it’s something that we think about every single day. But that’s what makes the rivalry great, you know, and certainly when you played (pointing to host and Michigan alum Taylor Lewan) the rivalry was back and forth as well, so it’s something we think about all the time.”

Ohio State ran things in the matchup against Michigan under Urban Meyer and the early stages of Day’s head coaching tenure. But the tide certainly turned over the last two seasons.

“It’s the first thing that when you come here, as a recruit, and you walk right in here, and you go look at the rivalry video,” Day said “You know, it’s one of the first things you have to do when you’re a coach here, understand the rivalry, what it means. It’s everything and it goes back a long time. And you think about all the different games and all the different coaches and teams that have come through and it means so much and that’s why when you go through the hallways here, you see all the different teams and one of the first things you ask is ‘What was your record in the game?’”

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Ohio State and Michigan are expected to be the two favorites to win the Big Ten and return to the College Football Playoff next season.