Ohio State's Ryan Day surrounded by his team. (Photo by Ohio State Athletics)
Wreck of the Wolverines
The cheating scandal that is engulfing that team up north has been a double-edged sword for Ohio State and that’s true for no one more than Ryan Day. On the one hand, it’s offered some understanding of why with one of the best Ohio State offenses and maybe the best Buckeye quarterback ever they’ve lost two straight times to Jim Harbaugh. Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and the Chiefs would have a hard time against the hapless Chicago Bears if the Bears hacked into the headset communication between Reid and Mahomes and knew what play they were going to run and could act accordingly.
Anyone who thinks this wasn’t a big deal and didn’t give the Ann Arbor Astros an unfair advantage has their head in the sand. Any coach in America would thrive just knowing even only half the time if their opponent was going to call a run or a pass or defend a run or pass. And with reports that Jim Harbaugh could be suspended most of next year, it is likely their system was at least as effective.
The Powers at Be
The NCAA, the Big Ten, and the College Football Playoff Committee; were all hoping the final three teams on that team up north’s schedule would make their job easier for them. It’s why Harbaugh’s suspension made no mention of the postseason. When bloated bureaucratic organizations let something happen that they were specifically given power to stop they worry about covering their own tails, not protecting what they’re supposed to protect.
That’s why you’ve not heard a word about what the above-mentioned organizations are doing to prevent this from happening again. Especially nothing about allowing long overdue in-helmet communication from the sideline to a player on the field. Those groups wanted Penn State, Maryland, and or Ohio State to beat that team up north to knock them out of the Big Ten title game and the playoff so they wouldn’t have to take what they consider drastic measures and do something that takes guts.
I had hoped at least the NCAA would take all this goofy sign business out of the game. Then again, it took a ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States of America to make them finally let players profit off their name, image, and likeness.
Understanding Gives Urgency
But the cheaters and bureaucrats aside. Where does this leave Ryan Day? Day is 56-6 as a head coach at Ohio State. He’s gotten at least 11 wins in four of his five seasons. The only one he didn’t was the Covid season in 2020 when they only played eight games and won seven of them all the way to the national championship game. Day’s won two Big Ten Championships. He’s made the playoffs three out of four chances. Day has won the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl. But The Game hits differently.
Knowing that the two worst losses of your coaching tenure are because your opponent ran a massive cheating operation helps you, but it also hurts. Fans are cutting Coach Day some slack for 2021 and 2022 as far as The Game goes. Simply because you’re at a distinct unfair disadvantage when your opponent has run an illegal scouting operation. Especially to the point where they know what play you’re going to call as soon as you send it to your team.
It gives you some confidence back as well. To know that while you weren’t perfect in those losses, you weren’t on an even playing field with your opponents. They had a major competitive edge over you that you had no way of knowing they had. It has to make you angry and on the warpath as well.
When Legends are Made
Up North
They stole the best two seasons a quarterback has ever had in the entire history of your program. Hundreds of players whom you fought for and with were cheated out of their honest full efforts. That has to light a fire that has you the most prepared for an opponent you have ever been. However, therein lies the double-edged sword.
There is nothing holding you back now. You know they cheated and how, so you must be prepared for it. Your foe’s advantage has been broken, now you must win. Your vindication and that of your entire team depends on it. Because if you lose, the doubters and defenders of those crooked clowns will have the ammunition they need to return fire.
“See, it wasn’t that big of a deal! We beat you without that system and our head coach just like we did with it and him so it’s not really a big issue.” That’s the kind of argument you will get in return if you don’t win on Saturday in Ann Arbor. And worse, it will gain traction as truth, regardless of whether it actually is or not.
In Old Ohio
But enough about what the outsiders will say. How about what what will be said from the River to the Lake. If you win, you’re carrying on the legacy of Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer. You’re doing as Meyer said and treating The Game as a way of life and not just a game. Your fans will remember two wins, that team up north using a pandemic to duck you, and then cheating twice to “beat” you.
But if you fail, the cheating out of Ann Arbor will be second to you joining an infamous coach in the ’90s. You and he will be the only ones to drop three in a row to them and having a losing record in 75 years. Your lone victory will start to look more and more like your predecessor’s eighth instead of your first. Only nine of your 63 games will be remembered, and in those nine you’ll be 3-6. And some of the more crazy rumors about who will coach Texas A&M might start to sound good.
Earle Bruce said the difference between winning and losing means for a year you’ll either be able to walk down the street with your head held high or have to walk the back alleys. Will fans think of Marvin Harrison Jr. and TreVeyon Henderson like they do C.J. Stroud and Jaxon Smith-Njigba? With love but always with an additional thought. That their coaches should have been able to win more with such awesome young men on their team.
Now or Never
It’s now or never. You’ll never be more motivated or have more reasons to win than you do now. The leader of their program said you didn’t earn your job, that you were “born on third base,” they planted a flag on your field, and just this week implied you were irrelevant. All the while he’s the one whose success has come from a massive cheating operation and at your expense, that they tried to blame you for all the while the craziest of them sent death threats to you.
If there was ever a time one team owed their rival a beat down, it’s now. There is never a better time than now to beat that team up north. Urban Meyer once said the only good thing about this rivalry was winning it. He’s right. Winning is the only option. Coach, win the Day. Beat that team up north.
