• Changing RCF's index page, please click on "Forums" to access the forums.

The Game (2022) | #2 Ohio State vs. #3 TTUN | November 26th, 2022 @ High Noon

Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Wouldn’t be totally shocking to see something crazy happen. That’s the nature of sports, especially college football with boosters and the like.

Michigan means about 100x more. Osu could have had two losses going into yesterday and beat Michigan and everyone would be feeling better about Day than they are now.

I think Day returns but he’s clearly on the hot seat.
 
Day will return, I know that.


But beyond the record, it's that the patented, lethal offense absolutely stalls out in the big games.


Lincoln Riley was largely doomed by his inability to recruit defensive talent at Oklahoma and get the right coaches in place.

But dammit, his offense still went out there and lit it up and scored bunches of points. They put up a shitload of points and yards against Georgia and Alabama.



Now look at us. Look at our effort against Alabama, against Clemson the first year, against Michigan this year, against Oregon last year, against Notre Dame this year.

His offense absolutely shrinks in the big games, which is what he's here for.
 
Chris said:
And for everyone who thinks we have some great shot at it next year - yeah, going to Ann Arbor with a new QB? Staring down a 3 game losing streak in the rivalry. Not acceptable.
Click to expand...
How many times have we gone into Ann Arbor the last 20 years and won? It’s not impossible. We have seen young QBs go in there and win in the past - Buckeyes will still have more talent on the field. Day and crew just need to get a couple of things ironed out. They will be fine.
 
Akron330 said:
How many times have we gone into Ann Arbor the last 20 years and won? It’s not impossible. We have seen young QBs go in there and win in the past - Buckeyes will still have more talent on the field. Day and crew just need to get a couple of things ironed out. They will be fine.
Click to expand...
#1 is toughness. Which is one of the easier things to teach. They had a year to do that this year and didn’t. What makes you think they’ll figure it out by next year?
 
Still can’t get over how bad we looked in the 4th and how many big plays we gave up. Just crazy we had the lead at half and outplayed them in the 1st half but could not put more TDs on them. Have to give Michigan huge props for the second have adjustment. Just weird to be on the opposite end of coaching.
 
Cavs12 said:
#1 is toughness. Which is one of the easier things to teach. They had a year to do that this year and didn’t. What makes you think they’ll figure it out by next year?
Click to expand...
I don’t know how you change that. It’s what worries me the most. It sounds like a fundamental difference with the way Day ran the show compared to Urban. You hear former players say they feared/hated practice under Urban, that’s not the case under Day.
 
Juice is Loose said:
Currently 45-5 with 2 Big Ten championships and a National Title appearance during his tenure.

Loooooooooool but sure, be done with him.
Click to expand...

Michigan is 24-2 in the last 2 years….on the verge of back to back CFB appearances, on the verge of back to back conference titles and ransacked OSU twice during that stretch.

Things change fast in college football. I’d bet a lot of money Day will be let go if he loses to Michigan next year. So sure, he is coming back……but the seat is as warm as anyone’s in my opinion.

He now is staring down the barrel. Michigan returns a ton of talent and will have an experienced QB. Their defense pretty much returns in tact. Just a lot working against Day. I don’t think he’s a bad coach but the reality is he’s in a bad spot, relative to his overall success and needs to coach his way out of it here.
 
I'mWithDan said:
Michigan is 24-2 in the last 2 years….on the verge of back to back CFB appearances, on the verge of back to back conference titles and ransacked OSU twice during that stretch.

Things change fast in college football. I’d bet a lot of money Day will be let go if he loses to Michigan next year. So sure, he is coming back……but the seat is as warm as anyone’s in my opinion.

He now is staring down the barrel. Michigan returns a ton of talent and will have an experienced QB. Their defense pretty much returns in tact. Just a lot working against Day. I don’t think he’s a bad coach but the reality is he’s in a bad spot, relative to his overall success and needs to coach his way out of it here.
Click to expand...
I agree with all of this. That said - there is still football left in this season and a lot can happen. Ohio State is going to continue to bring in top 3 recruiting classes. Day and his staff just need to do a better job of development. I’m sure UM fans would’ve traded what Day did his first three years compared to what Harbaugh did in his first three. Things can change in a hurry. Honestly, wouldn’t be surprised if both coaches were somewhere else in a couple years.
 
I'mWithDan said:
@Rich I owe you an apology.

@Ohio I do not.
Click to expand...
Finally catching up on this thread...

Yeah, you were right about the gameplan. I seriously underestimated just how trash our DBs were and how bad our defensive gameplan would be. Kudos to Michigan for hitting the layups and taking full advantage of our fuckery.

It's funny how things go sometimes. I do think if the stars aligned and we got a rematch the game would play out much differently, because I think our defensive gameplan would look completely different. Not saying it would change the end result but we wouldn't play 75% of the game without a real Safety again.
 
Akron330 said:
I don’t know how you change that. It’s what worries me the most. It sounds like a fundamental difference with the way Day ran the show compared to Urban. You hear former players say they feared/hated practice under Urban, that’s not the case under Day.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest, I kind of think this is a misnomer. There's more nuance to guys just hating practice. Michigan players hated practice under Rich Rod......and they were a laughing stock. I've never once heard a Michigan player say they hated practice under Harbaugh......but Michigan has just really grown in to a tough, resilient team here.

I don't know if Day is the issue, I don't know if the players are the issue, maybe the opponent is just the issue? There's just a lot that contributes to a loss and I don't believe a single thing like a team not being tough enough is the problem that needs fixed. To me, it seems more like a lot of little things......which can be harder to rein in all at once. Better coaching, better game plans, better in game execution, being able to really take a punch and get back up.....etc, etc.

The biggest problem now in any rivalry is the genie is out of the bottle for OSU and the hardest thing to do in this rivalry is to get it back in. The confidence Michigan is experiencing now in this game, against this coach and the game being in AA next year is just, a lot. Not saying OSU can't flip it back but for the first time in a while, OSU is going to head in to next years game with a lot of collective doubt. Will be interesting to see how they respond.
 
I'mWithDan said:
I'll be honest, I kind of think this is a misnomer. There's more nuance to guys just hating practice. Michigan players hated practice under Rich Rod......and they were a laughing stock. I've never once heard a Michigan player say they hated practice under Harbaugh......but Michigan has just really grown in to a tough, resilient team here.

I don't know if Day is the issue, I don't know if the players are the issue, maybe the opponent is just the issue? There's just a lot that contributes to a loss and I don't believe a single thing like a team not being tough enough is the problem that needs fixed. To me, it seems more like a lot of little things......which can be harder to rein in all at once. Better coaching, better game plans, better in game execution, being able to really take a punch and get back up.....etc, etc.

The biggest problem now in any rivalry is the genie is out of the bottle for OSU and the hardest thing to do in this rivalry is to get it back in. The confidence Michigan is experiencing now in this game, against this coach and the game being in AA next year is just, a lot. Not saying OSU can't flip it back but for the first time in a while, OSU is going to head in to next years game with a lot of collective doubt. Will be interesting to see how they respond.
Click to expand...
The players are the issue and that is on Day. Either he is missing on highly rated recruits or they aren't developing them or both. Michigan isn't the only game the last couple years where this was evident. They were just the only team they played good enough to expose it so thoroughly.
 
Ohio said:
Finally catching up on this thread...

Yeah, you were right about the gameplan. I seriously underestimated just how trash our DBs were and how bad our defensive gameplan would be. Kudos to Michigan for hitting the layups and taking full advantage of our fuckery.

It's funny how things go sometimes. I do think if the stars aligned and we got a rematch the game would play out much differently, because I think our defensive gameplan would look completely different. Not saying it would change the end result but we wouldn't play 75% of the game without a real Safety again.
Click to expand...

A rematch would be interesting, especially if Corum is 100% in 4-5 weeks. I think rewatching the first half, the big problem for OSU is the rushing stats were a little misleading seeing some of those holes develop, or seeing Michigan's backup guys just barely be tripped up. Edwards looked suuuuuuuuuper uncomfortable trying to handle the ball in the 1st.....before getting it figured out to where he could take a handoff and actually hit a hole (without feeling like he would immediately fumble).

The secondary stuff was just really bad, obviously........but I also think the tape is there to say OSU is going to have a lot of problems up front again and especially so if Corum and Edwards get to 100% in a month+ here. The same can be said if OSU can get JSN back, as that changes the dynamic of their offense as well.

The thing that stood out to me most on rewatch was not necessarily the mental mistakes by the secondary. I honestly think guys can be drilled and coached with that film. I think the bigger issue is OSU's defensive line is just not physical. Very little pressure at all, when they created a few opportunities, McCarthy easily slid or escaped it. In the run game, OSU was playing to a stand still at best and most plays Michigan was kicking out guys with little issue or locating / picking up second level players.

Maybe OSU can remedy both things with a few weeks......again, I don't know enough about OSU's defensive line. Maybe they rotate too much? Maybe they had a bad game? Both? But something has to give there. I don't think the performance of that unit is indicative of how much talent they have recruited.......Michigan just has developed trench units in a way that has been unmatched now for 2 seasons. I genuinely don't understand how or why it has clicked in this way but the player development up front has been a huge separating point the last 2 years here.
 
There have been rumors the last couple years about Larry Johnson retiring. Maybe they should let him. He's a legend, but he's not getting the results he used to. Get out the check book and go find the next one.
 
I'mWithDan said:
A rematch would be interesting, especially if Corum is 100% in 4-5 weeks. I think rewatching the first half, the big problem for OSU is the rushing stats were a little misleading seeing some of those holes develop, or seeing Michigan's backup guys just barely be tripped up. Edwards looked suuuuuuuuuper uncomfortable trying to handle the ball in the 1st.....before getting it figured out to where he could take a handoff and actually hit a hole (without feeling like he would immediately fumble).

The secondary stuff was just really bad, obviously........but I also think the tape is there to say OSU is going to have a lot of problems up front again and especially so if Corum and Edwards get to 100% in a month+ here. The same can be said if OSU can get JSN back, as that changes the dynamic of their offense as well.

The thing that stood out to me most on rewatch was not necessarily the mental mistakes by the secondary. I honestly think guys can be drilled and coached with that film. I think the bigger issue is OSU's defensive line is just not physical. Very little pressure at all, when they created a few opportunities, McCarthy easily slid or escaped it. In the run game, OSU was playing to a stand still at best and most plays Michigan was kicking out guys with little issue or locating / picking up second level players.

Maybe OSU can remedy both things with a few weeks......again, I don't know enough about OSU's defensive line. Maybe they rotate too much? Maybe they had a bad game? Both? But something has to give there. I don't think the performance of that unit is indicative of how much talent they have recruited.......Michigan just has developed trench units in a way that has been unmatched now for 2 seasons. I genuinely don't understand how or why it has clicked in this way but the player development up front has been a huge separating point the last 2 years here.
Click to expand...
I agree, OSUs DLine was incredibly disappointing. It's not really a new thing, unfortunately. Outside of the Penn State game this year they've been MIA since Chase Young left.

It is impressive what Michigan has put together with a 3 star army from New England. I say that both jokingly and seriously. They couldn't develop talent for shit for years but they have figured something out recently.
 
OptimusPrime said:
There have been rumors the last couple years about Larry Johnson retiring. Maybe they should let him. He's a legend, but he's not getting the results he used to. Get out the check book and go find the next one.
Click to expand...
I'll be honest - I've thought about this too.

On the surface it seems crazy, but his unit has wildly under-performed for 3 straight years now. He's still bringing in the talent but there is no development happening there. Reminds me of the WR room under Zach Smith.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Video

Episode 3-14: "Time for Playoff Vengeance on Mickey"

Rubber Rim Job Podcast Spotify

Episode 3:14: " Time for Playoff Vengeance on Mickey."
Top