In 2021, Ohio State players had the flu and there were snow flurries. In 2022, it was just a handful of plays. In 2023, it was the signs.
No matter which way you look, Buckeyes will not accept three straight losses to Michigan football. There will always be an excuse.
Outgoing Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith appeared on local Columbus radio on Thursday and was asked if there should be an asterisk next to the Wolverines’ three most recent wins against the Buckeyes. And in typical unacceptance of reality, Smith said yes.
During his appearance on WOSU’s All Sides with Anna Staver on Thursday, Staver asked Smith if Ohio State’s three-game losing streak to Michigan “deserves a little bit of an asterisk since for at least two of those years, it appears they were cheating.”
Smith’s reply: “Of course I do.”
“Yeah, of course I do,” Smith said with a laugh. “The rules are in place to protect the integrity of the game and try your best to create a level playing field, and when those rules are violated, then it affects those principles. And so, we have to keep that in perspective.”
Connor Stalions, who had orchestrated getting iPhone video of opponent signaling from games in which Michigan didn’t play, was an intern before being officially hired in the 2022 offseason. He resigned weeks before the Wolverines played Ohio State in 2023. In 2022, OSU head coach Ryan Day supposedly had changed the signs before The Game and Michigan still won 45-23.
So it’s not about being more physical in the trenches, as Michigan has been all three years. It’s not about abandoning the run while being out-rushed as has been the case for OSU in each of the past three years, either. Despite Ryan Day allegedly having Michigan’s signs in the Don Brown era, that’s not a problem for Ohio State — only if Michigan has something similar.