It’s that time of the year where writers need to get creative in how they present content, particularly when engagement is key. One of the best ways you can do that is to make absurd claims that are sure to get the people talking. Take this latest piece from Chris Hummer at 247Sports, for example.
In his latest piece regarding the latest developments at Ohio State, Hummer claims that the Buckeyes now have the momentum over Michigan.
“Michigan may have had the momentum after its national title just weeks ago,” writes Hummer. “But the Buckeyes, in short order, have managed to snatch it back.”
The article begins with making a shocking excuse for all of Ohio State’s shortcomings that certainly doesn’t paint head coach Ryan Day in the best light. The claim is that Ryan Day hasn’t been “all in” during his time as head coach at Ohio State because…well…he didn’t really need to be.
Ryan Day is finally all in. It’s something that he never really had to be early in his Ohio State tenure.
Inheriting a national-title-worthy roster from Urban Meyer put Day in an immediate position of strength. He had, by far, the biggest stack of chips at the Big Ten’s Texas hold ‘em table.
Because of the success created by former head coach Urban Meyer, the suggestion by Hummer is that Day was never really fully committed to making sure the Buckeyes would remain at the top of the Big Ten food chain – allowing Michigan to take the top spot as a result. But apparently all of that has changed now.
After allowing Michigan to win three straight against his Buckeyes, watching the Wolverines win back-to-back-to-back Big Ten Championships, and a National Championship less than two weeks ago, Day has finally decided to care enough to try and bring a national championship back to Columbus – and in doing so has snatched all of the momentum away from Michigan. So to summarize, the belief here (excuse) is that most of Michigan’s success over the last three seasons was simply due to the fact that Ryan Day wasn’t all in. Oh, and that Michigan cheated…don’t forget about that excuse as well.
To be fair, Day has been able to make some impressive moves on the recruiting trail and via the transfer portal as of late, but Ohio State has never really been starved of talent during his tenure. He had guys like CJ Stroud, Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba – and yet his record against Michigan remains 1-3.
There’s no doubt that Michigan is losing a lot of veteran talent to the NFL Draft, and the current uncertainty with head coach Jim Harbaugh as it relates to the NFL is less than ideal. Combine that with the fact that Ohio State is reportedly throwing out bags of cash to land top targets out of the portal and on the recruiting trail, the narrative (as pointed out in the 247Sports article above) is now that Ohio State has all of the momentum heading into 2024.
