COLUMBUS, Ohio (Michigan News Source) – Tressel, Fickell, Meyer … Day? Ohio, Ohio, Ohio, New Hampshire! In 2019 Ryan Day was handed the keys to a Ferrari from Urban Meyer being named the head coach of THE Ohio State University. At the time of the hiring, there was second guessing as to who Ryan Day was and if he really understood “The Game” and what he was getting himself into. Now, three years later, he has just as many losses to Michigan as those three coaches combined in a 20-year period.

Day had spent just two years as the offensive coordinator for Meyer and turned down a head coaching job in the SEC. There was buzz about Ryan Day. He was a hot name that other programs wanted. So Ohio State decided to hire him when Meyer said he was retiring after the 2019 Rose Bowl. You see, Day had proven he could “run” Ohio State in 2018 in the first three games when Urban Meyer had been suspended for the Zach Smith situation. He had passed the eye test of running the team while Urban was away – but did he truly understand what THE GAME meant.

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In 2019 he basically took an Urban Meyer squad to the playoffs losing a close game to Clemson, 29-23. CoVID-19 shortened the 2020 season and cancelled THE GAME when Day so-called said he was going to “hang a hundred” on Michigan. Fans thought, yeah, he gets it. But the game was cancelled and he didn’t get to see Justin Fields shred up Michigan’s defense. He was 1-0 vs. Michigan, now, winning with Urban’s team in 2019. Two Big Ten Championships (2019, 2020) and a national championship appearance – all with Meyer’s players. But looking from the outside, all looked great because Michigan was folding again. Michigan didn’t look great at all after the CoVID season in 2020 and Harbaugh was rumored to be on the chopping block for his job. Instead, Michigan stayed with “their guy” who understood their program. Harbaugh revamped his staff in that offseason, took offense to Day’s comments, and went back to the drawing board of what Michigan football was all about. A new fire had been lit under Harbaugh. His nemesis Urban Meyer was gone and it was now time to make his move.

This was the changing of the guard. This is where it all changed.

You see, Harbaugh knows THE GAME, knows the history, knows what it means. He was born in Toledo, Ohio, and played for Michigan. He knows the tradition of what “Michigan Men” are and “If you stay you will be champions” really means. Day knew two years of THE GAME as an assistant coach and how important it was to Ohio, but he never lived it. The social media saying of IYKYK (If you know, you know) refers to everyone in Ohio and Michigan and what THE GAME means. Growing up watching THE GAME. No weddings on THE GAME. Moving sporting event starting times for THE GAME. Not talking to family members for THE GAME. Having parties at your school for THE GAME. Ohio athletes playing for Michigan. Michigan athletes playing for Ohio – betraying the state they grew up in. That’s THE GAME. That’s what Ryan Day is missing.

Day can recruit. He can keep the Ferrari he was handed looking good. Shiny. Pretty. Signing a top five class. Little did he know that the engine in the Ferrari he was handed needed a checkup – which never came – and since has started to break down. When this Ferrari was challenged on the tough curves of a race the past two years, the engine couldn’t get to the gears it needed for the elite performance it could be. Day lost to Oregon, in Columbus, in the first home game of the year in 2021. Then, when faced with another curve at the end of the season with a championship on the line, he lost to Michigan in Ann Arbor for the first loss to the Wolverines in 10 years. The Ferrari did finish the race, somehow, finding a comeback in the Rose Bowl over Utah to finish strong. The offseason brought a tune up to the engine so it would not break down again like the 2021 season. A new defensive coordinator was hired. Some shifting in the offensive staff. The look was there. The 2022 Ferrari was humming and running well surviving the curves and making it through the 2022 season, holding off teams in the fourth quarter, for an 11-0 start. The Ferrari was back to where it was in 2019 and had one final curve.

In racing, the best car does not always win. It comes down to the racer – the one behind the wheel. The one controlling the car and making it work. You can have the best looking car, like a Ferrari, and still lose if you lack the passion needed to drive such a car. Some cars are built from the ground up and invested in by the racer. The time put into the making of the car. The sweat poured out building the engine. The finesse of the gears and how they shift. It’s well crafted. That is the difference in THE GAME now. Ryan Day is the driver of the Ferrari and Jim Harbaugh is the builder of a program.

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It comes down to this – PASSION. Does Ryan Day have passion. Yes. Does he have passion for THE GAME. That is being questioned right now. His Ferrari is starting to break down. In his press conference after THE GAME, he said, “We will figure out what is next as I don’t know what is next and that is life at Ohio State. I certainly know what this game means to everybody and when you lose it all comes back to me. I’m the head coach and that’s what probably hurts the most.”

What caught my eye is “we will figure out what is next … that is life at Ohio State … I certainly know what this game means to everybody when you lose it.” What is there to figure out. There was no PASSION for this game from Ryan Day. No chances taken in the game. You could always see the PASSION of Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell, and Urban Meyer on the sidelines during the game. Their reactions. They knew what gaining inches in this game meant and converting a fourth down to keep a drive going or stopping a fourth down on a chance call. There wasn’t that today.

It starts at the top with the PASSION. Michigan’s top players knew of THE GAME. McCarthy dreamed of playing in THE GAME in Columbus and beating Ohio State. Blake Corum’s final two choices were Michigan and Ohio State – he knew what was at stake. Doyvan Edwards is from Michigan. Cornelius Johnson’s mother went to UM’s Medical School and grew up in Detroit. Makari Page is from Michigan. The leaders of the offense and defense knew about THE GAME.

For Ohio State, C.J. Stroud is from California, TreVeyon Henderson from Virginia, Marvin Harrison from Pennsylvania,  and JT Tuimoloau and Emeka Egbuak are from Washington. The big names on the team aren’t from Ohio. Yes, there are leaders from Ohio in Cade Stover (tight end), transfer Chip Trayanuam (RB), Paris Johnson Jr. (OL), and Miyan Williams (RB) on offense and Tommy Eichenberg (LB), Jack Sawyer (DL), and Zach Harrison (DE) on defense that showed passion and emotion but Michigan’s key leaders on the field – Edwards, Johnson, and McCarthy on offense and Paige on defense – took the passion and emotion to another level.  I mean, McCarthy said it last year after the game … “All I know is beating Ohio State.” It was the same way with Aidan Hutchinson from growing up with it. THAT is what Ohio State missed and is missing. That passion for THE GAME and living it from when you were born.

Michigan has players that can’t wait to play in THE GAME. Know the meaning of THE GAME. They have lived with it their entire lives. Ohio State has started to become a national roster of stars that ‘know’ of THE GAME and have seen it on TV but didn’t grow up in the craziness of THE GAME. The torture of 364 days of loss or the gloating of a win. I am not sure that is what Ohio State has anymore. Ryan Day ‘knows’ of THE GAME and ‘knows’ how important it is to the fans but didn’t grow up in it or experience the years of loss (2-10-1) through the 90s. Is this starting to look like a John Cooper era – maybe. The verdict is still out but the honeymoon for Ryan Day is over. He has one year to fix this.

He said “We have to figure out what is next.” What is next – trade in the Ferrari for a Midwest, strong pickup truck that barrels through the mud, looks shiny when washed, and loves to get dirty. What does that mean? Not letting those Ohio players leave that state that understand THE GAME. Those players that make a difference for other Big Ten programs because Ohio State signed a five-star from somewhere in the United States. Find those passionate players from Ohio – three star and four star players. Passion trumps Talent all the time. Find the PASSION. Lose the Ferrari for a gritty pickup truck.