Ohio State Football: A winner’s mentality

The Ohio State football team dominated TTUN for close to 20 years. It was constant and unrelenting. Every year, the Buckeyes were able to beat them, even if they were the less talented team. There was just something that they had over their rivals.

That has been completely reversed in the last two seasons. TTUN has won two in a row in the rivalry and their fans are more confident than ever. Jim Harbaugh, who was once at risk of getting fired for not beating Ohio State, now might be the best coach in the Big Ten.

So how does the Ohio State football program get back on top in The Game? How can they get the edge they used to have? In my opinion, they need to go back to the mentality that the program had under Urban Meyer. He went undefeated against TTUN in his seven years as coach.

He had the Buckeyes practice stuff for The Game year round. He wanted his team to be focused on them in August as well as November. Ryan Day has done some of the same things, but clearly not to the level that Meyer did them. There’s a reason he has a losing record against TTUN.

Another loss to TTUN this year would be crippling to this program. It would likely keep them from winning a conference championship again and would probably keep them out of the College Football Playoff. Last year was likely an anomaly on that front.

A winner’s mentality is what this program needs. They need to know that they are better than TTUN. They need to get back to bullying them on the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Until they do that, they won’t be getting back on top anytime soon.