Outside of a perfect record in the rivalry game against That Team Up North, Ryan Day has delivered the biggest blow possible to the Wolverines. Shoot, it can be argued that what he did is actually more devastating to them. He made their wins irrelevant. I wasn’t sure what winning a national championship in a year with a loss in The Game would do to Ohio State and that rivalry. I had some ideasm but couldn’t be sure until it happened.
I asked this question before the win and referenced Nick Saban and the 2017 Alabama, when the Crimson Tide lost the Iron Bowl, didn’t play for an SEC Championship, and yet still won a national championship anyway; What would happen to The Game? Would it be different like the Iron Bowl is now different?
Is The Game still important? Absolutely. But it’s vastly different now. Not just in this season and moving forward, but in recent seasons, too. It is especially impactful because of the cheating the Ann Arbor Astros did from 2021 through 2023.
It’s fitting that the Wolverines used a historic cheating operation to finally get back in the rivalry, only to have the coach they were cheating against, make them no longer matter. You might even say it’s pure Michigan.
The cheating of Jim Harbaugh aside, when you can lose one of the worst games in program history and still go on to win a national championship, you destroy the power and significance of that upset. When you give your biggest rival their worst loss to you in 55 years, and they simply turn around, and win four in a row to win the national championship, that’s essentially them shrugging and saying, “So what?”
In just the first year of the new 12-team College Football Playoff, it’s already altered the sport forever and immediately. Regular season rivalries will be like NFL divisional games. Sure, they’ll matter, but the context will be everything. They’ll be something that stings but won’t truly shatter your heart unless it stops you from playing for or winning it all.
For the first time ever in the history of the battle between Ohio State and That Team Up North, having a fantastic season outside of The Game can erase what happened in The Game. It used to be that loss in this one was a loss for a year. For the 2024 Ohio State Buckeyes, it was about a loss for two months instead.
It’s always been said that this rivalry is in the DNA of these teams, that it is in every other game they play throughout any season. That is truer now than ever before. It is truly season-long because now if you do well enough before and after, it can make the results of this one irrelevant. You can take back what you lost without seeing them on the field again. Just like Ryan Day and the 2024 national Champion Ohio State Buckeyes did.
Because you have something that they don’t, something that means more, something they can't take away. You have the crown. You are the king. And even the court jester who scratches but doesn’t stop the king must bow down before him. Hail to the king! Go Bucks!