Ohio State Football: How COVID changed The Game

The 2020 season will forever go down in history as the COVID season. As Ohio State football fans, we will also remember it as the year that Michigan football dodged getting handed their worst loss in the rivalry as they chose not to travel to Columbus and have Ryan Day and the Ohio State offense “hang 100 on them.”

As odd as it seems, that decision and the ones that followed in Ann Arbor have been the catalyst for the turnaround that has become Michigan Football. Imagine if you will, that 2020 Wolverine team, who was 2-4 on the season, getting trounced in Ohio Stadium.

Maize and Blue fans were already calling for Jim Harbaugh to step down. There would have been a very good chance that Harbaugh would have been officially fired after falling to 0-6 against Ohio State.

Instead, he began his yearly flirtation with the NFL, and Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel subsequently restructured Harbaugh’s contract, giving him essentially a one-year due-or-die deal. It was obvious to Jim that if no one in the NFL wanted him, and he was close to being fired at his alma mater, he might as well go out swinging. Which meant he was going to play the style of ball he was comfortable with.

Meanwhile, in Columbus, Justin Fields was off to the NFL and Ryan Day would have to usher in a new quarterback after losing in the National Championship to Alabama. Although there were definitely some serious questions about Ohio State’s defense following the depantsing they suffered by the Crimson Tide, feelings were still high on the program. Ohio State was still on top of the Big 10 mountain, they had thrown the Clemson monkey off of their back, and recruiting was still way ahead of anyone else in the conference.

It appeared to everyone, including myself, that Day was lightyears ahead of Harbaugh, and that 2021 would be no different than any of the years before when it came to The Game. Boy was I wrong.

Thanks to COVID, and a second chance to do things his way, Harbaugh quietly made personnel changes with the coaching staff that reflected the style he wanted to play. The players bought in, and most importantly, they adopted a belief that when it came to the Ohio State football team and the rivalry, they were either, “going to win, or die trying.”

That was the exact statement that Harbaugh made at the Big 10 Media Days in July of 2021. As the season progressed, it became evident that this indeed was a different Michigan team than the previous ones under Harbaugh’s leadership.

They have always been cocky, but there was a defiant air of confidence that was missing in their past squads. Harbaugh knew something that none of us Ohio State football fans wanted to admit at the time. His style of offense, when performed by the right personnel, would dominate our weak defense, especially up front.

Last season was just another repeat of the one before. Harbaugh has flipped the script on Day and the Buckeyes. They are winning in the trenches, and no matter how pretty of a play Day draws up, it doesn’t matter if they can’t win up front. And to think all of this has happened thanks to COVID.