One of Jack Sawyer’s best memories watching the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry game was the Buckeyes’ 2016 win at Ohio Stadium.
A star at Pickerington North High School, the Ohio State defensive end grew up less than 30 minutes from campus. The rivalry is life in his neighborhood. He remembers watching Curtis Samuel score the winning touchdown to lead the second-ranked Buckeyes over No. 3 Michigan in double overtime with his friends.
Pat Elflein, a Pickerington North graduate, was the lead blocker on that play. Sawyer knew he wanted to play at Ohio State and be a part of the rivalry.
Rivalry games haven’t been good to him, though.
On top of losing to Michigan the past three years, Sawyer never beat his high school rival, Pickerington Central. In fact, the last time he won a rivalry game was in the seventh grade. He thinks about the losses every day, especially the Michigan games.
“I think going through those trials and tribulations has shaped this team and the coaching staff,” Sawyer said. “It hasn’t been easy, far from easy, but going through the tough times with each other has brought us to this moment.”
That disappointment made it impossible for him to leave Ohio State early for the NFL without taking one last shot at the Wolverines, which the Buckeyes will get on Saturday in Columbus. Ohio State may be favored by 21 points against a struggling Michigan team that has limped to a 6-5 record, but it doesn’t change the magnitude of the moment.
Sawyer returned, along with 11 other upperclassmen who made offseason announcements, with one goal at the top of their season to-do list: Beat Michigan
“You come to Ohio State to beat the team up north,” senior receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “Handing the gold pants to my mother is a memory I’m looking forward to.”
There’s pressure on the Ohio State athletic community as a whole, too. The Buckeyes went all-in on this season, with a reported $20 million spent on NIL on top of the more than $21 million being spent on the coaching staff.
And nobody has pressure that compares to coach Ryan Day, who has received the brunt of the criticisms for the three-game losing streak.
“To see what he and his family have gone through the last three years falling short, it made my decision even more clear,” Sawyer said. “He gave me an opportunity to play here, so I felt like I owed it to him to come back and get this win for him. That’s what we plan to do on Saturday.”
Day has been one of the best coaches in college football throughout his tenure with the Buckeyes. He has a 66-9 record, and though he doesn’t have a national championship, he has five consecutive top-10 finishes, three College Football Playoff bids and two Big Ten titles. The biggest blemish on his career is his Michigan record. It’s what Ohio State fans care about more than anything.
Day is 1-3 against the Wolverines, with losses in the past three seasons. There was the 42-27 loss in 2021 that was supposed to be a one-year blip on the radar, the 45-23 loss in 2022 that came with Ohio State getting outscored 28-3 in the second half and the heartbreaking 30-24 loss in Ann Arbor last season. The latter particularly stung, as Ohio State went on to lose in the Cotton Bowl while Michigan won the national championship. It’s the first time Ohio State has lost three in a row in the series since 1995-97.
Those losses have weighed heavily on Day.
On one hand, there was the national media criticism that the program is soft and that Day hasn’t built the right culture to get the team over the hump against Michigan. On the local side, fans aren’t afraid to let Day know about their disappointment.
Day told WBNS TV in Columbus in his weekly “Game Time” interview that those losses have been the hardest times of his life, aside from losing his father, Raymond Day, in 1988.
“It’s one of the worst things that’s happened to me in my life, quite honestly,” Day said. “We can never have that happen.”
Day is a fairly reserved coach. He doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeve when he’s not on the sideline and doesn’t talk about his personal life and family often. On Tuesday, when asked about that comment, he didn’t want to go into what’s been going on behind the scenes. But players have seen and felt the impact the losses have had on their coach.
“I think that he’s gone through a lot of things people shouldn’t have to go through,” Egbuka said. “All the scrutiny and things people say about him, but he’s a great head coach and I wouldn’t have anybody else leading our team. He says he wants to do it for us, but we want to do it for him, as well.”
Last offseason, Day took the losses to heart and made a lot of changes. Not only is the roster more experienced and talented than last year, but Day made the decision to give up play calling and added Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator.
“Every decision that’s made in the offseason, the coaching staff, the roster, how we practice, schematics, it’s all working toward this moment right here,” Day said.
Day doesn’t like to put the spotlight completely on himself. He’ll take the blame for a loss, but when it comes to the pregame hype or excitement after a win, he passes that to the players.
Those same players are the ones he’s so excited for this weekend. The seniors who returned for one last shot at Michigan.
“It’s a war, and every time there’s a war there’s consequences and casualties and there’s plunder and rewards that come with it,” Day said. “I think that’s what it comes down to. My job is to win this game, that’s the focus right now. I’m excited that our guys are here now. We are finally here right now and that’ll be the focus.”
Ohio State also brought in some experienced reinforcements from the transfer portal who will aid the quest to end the losing streak against Michigan.
Quarterback Will Howard isn’t new to rivalries. He spent four years at Kansas State, and when asked about his record in rivalry games, he said, “We don’t lose to KU.” Kansas State won every game against rival Kansas in his time with the Wildcats — in fact, they haven’t lost to the Jayhawks in 16 years.
But the spotlight on Ohio State-Michigan is different.
“This isn’t a rivalry, it’s a way of life,” Howard said.
It didn’t take long for Howard to learn that.
When he visited Ohio State, two of the first things he learned were: Don’t wear blue and beat “The Team Up North.” Howard said he can feel how bad the losses weigh on the seniors about to step on the field for their last try.
“I’m passionate and emotional because I love those guys,” Howard said. “I love my brothers and coach Day. I would do anything for those guys. I want to get this done for them and Buckeye nation.”
Ohio State has done just about everything it needed to do this season to live up to the high expectations it faced this offseason. The Buckeyes, who spoke openly about having national championship aspirations, are 10-1 with two wins in top-five matchups after last week’s win over Indiana, and they are one win away from a Big Ten title game rematch with No. 1 Oregon in Indianapolis. They have effectively locked up a College Football Playoff bid, and, according to The Athletic’s projections model, they have the best odds to win the national title at 28 percent.
But the season cannot feel complete without beating Michigan.
“Everything you worked for and love is on the line against the team you hate the most,” Sawyer said. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
(Top photo of Ryan Day and Sherrone Moore: Aaron J. Thornton / Getty Images)
