Ohio State is coming off a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance, but that’s not enough for the self-described ‘Buckeye Nation’ down in Columbus. That’s because OSU has lost two straight to the two-time defending Big Ten champion Michigan Wolverines.
Despite Michigan pretty much winning the ’10-year war’ and mostly dominating the series from Bo Schembechler’s arrival in 1969 to Jim Tressel’s hire in Columbus in 2001, Buckeye fans act like beating the Wolverines is their birthright. OSU has managed to pencil in a program defining quarterback one right after the other, going from Braxton Miller to J.T Barrett to Dwayne Haskins to Justin Fields to C.J. Stroud. And that’s not even counting Troy Smith, who won the Heisman Trophy in 2006, or Cardale Jones, the backup who led the team to what seemed an unlikely national championship in 2014.
The Buckeyes completed their spring with the annual spring game at Ohio Stadium. The hope for that program was a new heir apparent at the signal-caller position would emerge, and that OSU would be off to the races once again.
However, that didn’t happen. Fox Sports’ Michael Cohen summed it up nicely.
Day was correct in saying the offense needed the help on an afternoon many expected to be a high-profile duel between McCord and fellow quarterback Devin Brown, the two players vying to replace two-time Heisman Trophy finalist C.J. Stroud, who declared for the NFL Draft. But a minor injury to Brown’s throwing hand prevented him from playing before a crowd of 75,122 at Ohio Stadium, and McCord was hampered by the same collection of problems that have complicated the transition from one of the school’s all-time great passers to whomever replaces him come September: inconsistent decision-making, a slow-developing offensive line and injuries to several key skill players who have missed most, if not all, of the Buckeyes’ allotted 15 practices this spring.
McCord completed 18 of his 34 passes for 184 yards and one touchdown while taking most of his reps with the first-string offense. He avoided turning the ball over but was “sacked” at least three times on a day when quarterbacks weren’t allowed to be hit. And though the game itself is nothing more than a data point in Day’s eventual selection of a starting quarterback, the relative inefficiency of Ohio State’s offense in the final practice before fall camp underscored how much room there is for growth.
If there’s good news for fans of the scarlet and gray it’s that the defense did seem better, which was the hope for the program with Jim Knowles entering his second year as the coordinator on that side of the ball. However, it seemed improved a year ago until Michigan football went down into the Horseshoe and put up 45 points to OSU’s 23.
This season’s game will be in Ann Arbor, and next to no one on Ohio State’s team was around the last time OSU beat U-M in 2019. Michigan also boasts the fifth-most returning production from a year ago — generally a good sign of predicted success.
Still, Ohio State will wax poetic about revenge and the importance of the rivalry, but such was the case for the maize and blue from 2004-2019 (2011, notwithstanding). Michigan appears to have the Buckeyes’ number, and given the last two beatdowns, it will be curious to see what Ohio State team shows up on Nov. 25.
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