For those Ohio State fans who weren’t around in the 1990s, this is how it felt.
Going into The Game undefeated, and coming up short, time after time after time. Better talent, better skill players, didn’t matter.
The second-ranked Buckeyes’ 30-24 loss at Michigan on Saturday was oh-so-reminiscent of John Cooper’s tenure.
He was a Hall of Fame coach, with a 2-10-1 record against Michigan. He took undefeated teams into the Michigan game in 1993, 1995 and 1996, and lost every time.
Ryan Day has awakened a memory that first Jim Tressel (9-1) and then emphatically Urban Meyer (7-0) exorcised from the OSU fanbase’s psyche.
Now the critter is back, and nasty as ever.
The last two years Day was blown out by the Wolverines. This year the Buckeyes were at least competitive to the final drive. Is that progress?
Not really, not when you’re facing an interim head coach on the other sideline. Jim Harbaugh wasn’t even in the stadium and his team, with interim coach Sherrone Moore at the helm, still outmaneuvered the Buckeyes.
Michigan lived up to its No. 3 ranking and 11-0 record with a resolve that manifested itself by scoring on every second-half possession before it went into Victory Formation. The Wolverines did the same thing in 2021 and scored at will in the second half last year, too.
For Day, considered an offensive guru, his offense simply hasn’t been able to keep pace.
In the past three years the Buckeyes have managed 27, 23 and 24 points. That’s not bad, but it’s not good enough when the defense wears a yield sign the entire second half every year.
After last season’s 45-23 debacle against the Wolverines in Ohio Stadium, I compared Day to Larry Coker, who inherited a monster program at Miami.
That comparison was erroneous.
Coker started his career 24-0, won a national championship and lost in double overtime in a second title tilt.
Day has made one trip to the national championship game and was promptly blown out by Alabama.
No, the better comparison for Day is Cooper. A friendly guy, and a terrific coach when he had a talent advantage.
When he didn’t? Well, things got dicey.
Now Day is in the same situation. In five seasons, this program is his alone. He inherited a situation better than any coach in Ohio State’s 125-plus years of football.
Frankly, Day was handed an empire by Meyer, who was 83-9 in seven seasons.
In 2018, Meyer merely went 13-1 in his final season in Columbus, finished No. 3 in the polls with the No. 1 offense in the nation and hammered fourth-ranked Michigan 62-39, despite being an underdog in that game.
Smartly, Day kept the infrastructure in place that created that beast. To his credit, he has driven the program spectacularly against teams beneath him.
But when tested by equal talent, or better talent, he’s consistently and woefully on the short end of the stick.
The Buckeyes are now 1-4 as an underdog under Ryan Day, and 1-6 vs. Top 5 teams during his career in Columbus. The one win in both instances was beating Clemson in a 2020 national semifinal.
By comparison, Meyer was 7-0 as an underdog at Ohio State, and 5-2 vs. Top 5 teams.
That’s obviously a near impossible standard to emulate. However, Ohio State’s recruiting, support system and tradition are consistently top 5 in the nation.
The measuring stick is obviously a difficult one for anybody. Alas, that’s the gig.
Make no mistake, Day isn’t going to be fired for losing three years in a row to Michigan. But he’s going to feel the heat for it — just as John Cooper did 30 years ago — and he should feel the heat for it.
This is The Game, and losing it is a 364-day sentence without parole.
No one knows this better than the Ohio State fanbase, which was spoiled by Woody Hayes, Tressel and Meyer, and then tortured by Cooper and now Ryan Day.
Ryan Day is 1-6 vs. Top 5 teams
Dec. 28, 2019: National Semifinals No. 3 Clemson 29, No. 2 Ohio State 23
Jan. 1, 2021: National Semifinals No. 3 Ohio State 49, No. 2 Clemson 28
Jan. 11, 2021: National Championship Game No. 1 Alabama 52, No. 3 Ohio State 24
Nov. 27, 2021: No. 5 Michigan 42, No. 2 Ohio State 27
Nov. 26, 2022: No. 3 Michigan 45, No. 2 Ohio State 23
Dec. 31, 2022: National Semifinals No. 1 Georgia 42, No. 4 Ohio State 41
Nov. 25, 2023: No. 3 Michigan 30, No. 2 Ohio State 24