Ryan Day out of excuses — ‘I’d like to say it’s more than [turnovers and losing the rushing battle]’

Ohio State coach Ryan Day lost his third game in a row to Michigan, and with it his litany of excuses. From the flu and snow two years ago, alleged sign stealing (which is looking dumber and dumber by the day), etc. … well, it was always something. And that was with acknowledgement from his staff that they changed their signs before the Michigan game last year. 

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This year, the Buckeyes simply got outplayed when it mattered most, late in the third quarter and in the fourth. The Wolverines controlled the clock down the stretch and OSU ran out of time after kicker James Turner made a 37-yarder with just over a minute to go. Michigan junior safety Rod Moore clinched the win with a huge interception with 25 seconds remaining, quarterback Kyle McCord’s second of the day. U-M won the rushing battle, 156 to 107. 

“In this game, you’ve got to win the rushing yards and you’ve got to win the turnover battle and we did neither of those things,” Day said. “I’d like to say it’s more than that, but I’m not sure it is.”

We’re sure he’d love to, in fact. He hinted that the last two years were about the signs in one of his pregame pressers, and he his fan base ate it up. But even they won’t let him get away with that B.S. now … not after a third straight loss to Michigan, this one with U-M interim coach Sherrone Moore at the helm.

“Just sick the fact that we came up short in this game,” Day said. “You work your whole year for it, and we came up short. We’re all disappointed. We all know what this game means to so many people. So, to come up short is crushing … we know at Ohio State what this game means. There’s a locker room in there that’s devastated. It wasn’t a lack of effort.”

But as Clark Griswold’s father-in-law once noted, “washing machines [work hard], too.” It’s all about winning in this game, and the Buckeyes came up short again. Day played it a little closer to the vest on some of his decisions, while Moore went for every fourth and short and was aggressive. 

Day probably made the right move to punt on fourth and one from his own 46 with the score 0-0, but he settled for a 52-yard field goal attempt at the end of the first half when he could have gotten a few more plays in, at least. It sailed wide left, and Michigan took a 14-10 lead into the break. 

“I just didn’t want to give them any momentum. I felt like we could pin them down and play defense,” Day said of the first decision. Of the field goal, he added, “I felt like at 52 yards, it was worth a field goal there. If you don’t get it on fourth-and-2, fourth-and-3, you get no points. It was worth the opportunity for the field goal at least. I felt like that was the right move. 

“It was probably the right thing to do, to get three points coming out of the half, especially starting with the ball on the 2-yard line. If you make it, you feel great. If you don’t, you don’t. We missed it, so certainly we’ll second-guess everything. But if you don’t make it on that fourth-and-2, fourth-and-3, you don’t get anything.”

Day was also upset with Roman Wilson’s 22-yard touchdown pass that wasn’t exactly clean but appeared to be a score after review. The call stood after officials took a long look.

“I was told it was called on the field a touchdown. Because of that, it was upheld,” Day said. “I didn’t quite understand exactly how that was.”

But he gave the Wolverines some credit for controlling the last several minutes, even after senior guard Zak Zinter went down with a leg injury. The Wolverines churned it out on the ground to win it. 

“They did a nice job running the ball. … Too much time off the clock there,” Day said. 

And then he was left to ponder whether his team could sneak into the playoff again for a second straight year as essentially the Big Ten’s third place team. 

“I haven’t even thought that far. Playing in this game, everything is just so focused on this game,” Day said. “I’d have to process that. I think we have a very good team. … I do believe this team can play with anybody in the country.”

“It’s just after the game, so it’s hard to start thinking about all that.”

He’ll have at least another week to ponder what went wrong before hoping for the best once again.