What they're saying about Michigan after stunning win over Ohio State

The Michigan Wolverines went to Columbus and stunned the second-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in arguably the biggest upset in rivalry history, winning The Game for a fourth-straight season. There are always a lot of strong emotions and reactions to what happens in this rivalry, but this one generated about as much as any of them.

There was no shortage of takeaways from the college football world after the Michigan victory. Here is a sampling of same of the best – and worst – talking points coming out of Saturday’s win.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day

“I don’t know, but then I can just kind of go off of this game and what’s going on in this game right now,” Day said. “I think each game is a little bit different and unique to itself, like you said, but the results … the results, as hard as that is to say, we came up short here again today. That’s not easy to swallow, at all.

“Everybody wants to win this game in the worst way, and nobody wants to win it more than we do. It’s our No. 1 goal every year. When you don’t do that, there’s disappointment and frustration. So, I don’t blame anybody for being upset. I’m upset more than anybody. Those players are too, and the coaches, and everybody that goes at it. So, we know what we’re getting ourselves into here.”

Ryan Van Bergen, The Wolverine postgame show

Postgame reactions: Michigan wasn’t afraid of ‘buzzsaw’ Ohio State

“They’ve heard how big of an underdog they were,” Van Bergen said. “They’ve heard the buzzsaw that is Ohio state. They’ve heard Gus Johnson repeatedly say ‘the world famous Ohio Sate Buckeyes’ and there’s got to be a little chip, and I think you saw it come out today on the field. This is still the Michigan Wolverines that have dominated the Ohio State Buckeyes and not just beat them in football games by having a higher score at the end of the game, but physically dominating them, winning the line of scrimmage, better tackling, more physical, maintaining possession of the football, grinding it out on the run game.

“And I have to just tip my cap to Sherrone Moore to Wink Martindale, and even a slight tip to Kurt Campbell because in order for Michigan to pull this off, one thing had to happen. Ohio State had to play some of their worst football, which thank God they were able to for four quarters, and then Michigan had to play the most complimentary of football it could up to its capacity. But overall, Moore on the sideline getting animated, drawing the bow and shooting the arrow there at the end. I’m here for that. I’ve been here all season for that and waiting for this Moore to come out.

“To have the big commitment news last week and then to finish in Columbus with a win against a ranked Ohio State team. The future looks bright and we were all four weeks ago sitting here shaking our heads saying we have no idea where this is going, but this is exciting and I’m thrilled for these guys to get this win.”

Chris Balas, The Wolverine

Michigan 13, OSU 10: Notes, quotes, and observations — toughness wins again and the narrative shifts

And just like that, the Michigan narrative on Ohio State blogs, fan sites (and yes, even mainstream media) changes from “them cheaters up north robbed us of what was rightfully ours!” to, “what’s Ryan Day’s buyout and when will he be fired?”

That’s what a 13-10 home loss and fourth straight to a hated rival will do, especially when you’re a 20-point favorite and said foe has been limping through a rebuilding season with an offense that wouldn’t have even made Iowa fans jealous much of the year. The OSU media and fans had all their postgame tweets, columns, etc. already written in their heads before this one — how Michigan only won because of Connor Stalions, they’ll never be good again, OSU will own the rivalry, etc. …

Now … never again. It’s over. No more garbage excuses for losing to a program that, frankly, has emasculated them the last four years. The Wolverines were, have been, and are the tougher team in this rivalry. And while none of us predicted the Michigan win we saw Saturday in the fourth-quarter mausoleum they call ‘the ‘Shoe’ (more on that glorious experience in a moment), we couldn’t help but smile at seeing the weather forecast. 

It was 20-some degrees at kickoff with a pretty stiff wind that made it tough to throw going against it. As one rankled veteran inside Schembechler Hall said midweek with a wry grin, “I’ve found in my career that the team that hits hardest in this game usually wins.” 

Four a fourth straight year in this game, that team was Michigan. Last year, it was Quinten Johnson laying out Emeka Egbuka and Mike Sainristil crushing TreVeyon Henderson. This year, Makari Paige, a maligned safety who hadn’t played his best ball this year, set the tone with a bone crushing shot on quarterback Will Howard that temporarily knocked the OSU starter from the game. 

The fans “booed” when they saw the replay of what was a perfectly clean, yet brutal hit. It was just more evidence of how this program has transformed from tough and hard-nosed to soft and vulnerable under head coach Ryan Day. 

Andy Staples, On3

This may only be the beginning of Sherrone Moore’s dominance of Ohio State

Saturday’s win salvaged an ugly season by Michigan standards, but it also put the rest of the sport on notice about what Moore’s Wolverines can be when they become fully operational. Moore spent his first offseason hamstrung by the timing of his predecessor’s exit. Michigan returned a wealth of talent on defense but couldn’t use the transfer portal to fill the gaping holes on offense. Instead, the Wolverines stitched together a scheme using three different starting quarterbacks throughout the season. It was ugly at times. 

But on Saturday, as Davis Warren, Kalel Mullings and an offensive line that has blocked hard with mixed results ground down the clock on one of the best defenses money could buy to set up Dominic Zvada’s game-winning chip shot, the offense was good enough.

It’s going to get a lot better, starting Wednesday when top quarterback recruit Bryce Underwood signs with the Wolverines and continuing the following week when Michigan becomes a buyer in the transfer portal in much the same way Ohio State was last year. The quiet majority of Michigan fans who weren’t holier-than-thou about player compensation used to look at Michigan’s long list of wealthy alums and joke that the Wolverines would be unstoppable once they started firing the Money Cannon at players. That cannon is locked and loaded.

David Hale, ESPN.com

College football Week 14 highlights: Top plays, games, takeaways

It’s certainly not on Day that Will Howard threw two brutal interceptions, that Jayden Fielding missed two short kicks or that Sherrone Moore opened his desk drawer Saturday morning to find a manila envelope marked, “For Your Eyes Only, Love and Kisses, C. Stalions.” But Day knew the stakes before the season began, and Ohio State spent enough money on this roster to finish third in the American League East, and Michigan was missing two potential first-round NFL draft picks, and it still didn’t matter. The Wolverines managed just 62 yards passing, threw two interceptions, had three different drives inside the Ohio State 5 that didn’t end in touchdowns and still won. There are no logical explanations for this, so it’s fair then to move to the next closest thing: Day is a Michigan sleeper cell installed as head coach in Columbus just to infuriate the Ohio State faithful in some sort of elaborate “Manchurian Candidate” scenario.

Regardless, the game ended with a loss, with a brawl, with police intervening and pepper-spraying players, but no amount of mace could burn away the images of the Wolverines celebrating on Ohio State’s field in what may well be the most devastating loss in the rivalry’s history.

Nicole Auerbach, NBC Sports

10 Takeaways from Week 14: Michigan stuns Ohio State, Miami stumbles and Georgia survives

I don’t know if the Buckeye administration will pull the plug now ahead of the College Football Playoff or it will wait to see if Ohio State can win a national championship to make up for its fourth straight loss to Michigan. But anything short of a national title coupled with Saturday’s embarrassing three-point loss to a deeply flawed Wolverine squad should lead to Day’s dismissal. Your job as the head football coach of Ohio State is to beat Michigan, whether That Team Up North is great, good or not-so-good. And Day can’t beat any of those versions of Michigan. The Buckeyes lost to a five-loss Michigan team led by a quarterback who threw just 62 yards in the game and tossed two interceptions.

Ohio State’s defense was terrific, but its offensive game plan was horrendous. The Buckeyes kept trying to run the ball up the middle, even when they couldn’t, and they didn’t throw the ball to their otherworldly receivers nearly enough. Freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith had a wide-open touchdown catch late in the second quarter … and then was only targeted twice in the entire second half. He was not targeted at any point in the final 25 minutes of a one-possession game against a hated rival. That is coaching malpractice. As was the late fourth-quarter penalty for illegal substitution on third-and-two that gave Michigan a fresh set of downs ahead of the eventual game-winning field goal. And the lasting image of the game, Day standing on the field alone as his players fought Wolverines over a Block M flag planted on the field, Day doing nothing to intervene.

There’s not much left to say about Day’s tenure at Ohio State at this point. He’s lost 10 total games over six seasons, and four of them have come against Michigan. His Buckeyes are far more talented than the Wolverines this season — and his donors spent $20 million to retain and attract said talent — and were 20.5-point favorites heading into Saturday’s edition of The Game for a reason. This is a loss that will never be forgotten or excused, and it feels like it has to be the final nail in the coffin for a coach who wins a lot of games but not the big ones.

Cameron Teague Robinson, The Athletic

Ryan Day’s Michigan problem is even worse than Ohio State fans feared

In 2021, Ohio State lost 42-27. In 2022, it was outscored 28-3 in the second half and gave up 252 rushing yards in a 45-23 loss. In 2023, Michigan was still the better team and ran for 156 yards on an improved Ohio State defense in a 30-24 Buckeyes loss.

The 2024 season was supposed to be different. It was indeed different for Ohio State on defense, but the offense, which is the brainchild of Day, faltered yet again.

Yes, the offensive line had a mountain of injuries to overcome, but Ohio State spent the entire year trying to become more unpredictable and versatile under new coordinator Chip Kelly, only for it to score 10 points and have 77 rushing yards against a middling Michigan team. It was the fewest points Ohio State has scored against an unranked team since 2011, when it lost 10-7 to Michigan State.

It’s Day’s first loss to an unranked opponent. It’s Michigan’s only ranked win in a seven-win season. It was an unacceptable and inexcusable performance by Day, one that ended Ohio State’s chances of a Big Ten championship and first-round bye in the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State didn’t look prepared on offense and was outcoached by Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale. And if the result wasn’t enough evidence that Ohio State has a mental block against Michigan, the brawl afterward put an exclamation point on it.

Pat Forde, Sports Illustrated

Ohio State-Michigan Football Rivalry Needs Reset After Postgame Melee

Before the melee, the pepper spray and the vicious booing that punctuated a rivalry that has gone too far, there were sideline tears. There were two minutes left between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines—still faint but fading hope that the home team could find a way to win the game that has haunted them. The pain of the moment had already overwhelmed Ryan Day’s family.

Tears streamed down his teenage daughters’ frozen cheeks on the Ohio State sideline. The score was tied, but the end was near. Michigan thudded the ball into the middle of the line of scrimmage over and over, killing time before sending out the field goal unit. Dominic Zvada knocked in a chip shot for a 13–10 lead, the Buckeyes’ final possession was four plays of futility and when it was over, there was no holding back the sadness. Sobs ensued.

Earlier this week, Day told an Ohio TV station how much his three-game losing streak to Michigan had affected himself and his family: “It’s 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, like it’s quite honestly, for my family, the worst thing that’s happened. So we can never have that happen again, ever.”

It happened again. In a game Ohio State was supposed to win in a landslide. With a $20 million roster that was put together in a direct, urgent, all-in response to watching Michigan win the national title last season.

Seeing how much a fourth straight loss to the Wolverines tore up Day’s kids—and then seeing the teams engage in a postgame brawl—it’s time for a reality check. This has all become too much.