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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Four straight losses to Michigan have created the darkest chapter in modern Ohio State football history, turning a once-dominant rivalry upside down and placing enormous pressure on coach Ryan Day. But on this week’s Buckeye Talk podcast, host Stephen Means presented a compelling case for why 2025 might finally be the year Ohio State reverses the trend—not despite their inexperience against Michigan, but because of it. “Why am I confident that they won’t handle it the same way? Because they would be fools to do so,” Means stated bluntly on the podcast. “I think this is a chance to reset it because part of the problem with the last three years losing to Michigan is it was guys who were just used to losing to Michigan and so all it took was for one thing to go wrong and you could almost feel everybody in the stadium starting to get tight.” This psychological burden—the collective weight of a program scarred by recent failures against their archnemesis—might finally be lifted through the natural evolution of college football rosters. The mass exodus of veteran players who experienced those defeats firsthand has created a clean psychological slate. “These guys don’t actually know any better because there’s only a handful of those guys this year who had significant roles in those Michigan games year in and year out,” Means explained. “So, I do think this is an ignorance is bliss situation from a player standpoint, but from a coaching staff standpoint, because you’d be an idiot to do that.” The discussion highlighted how the expanded College Football Playoff has fundamentally changed the tangible consequences of The Game, potentially allowing Ohio State to approach it differently. “You don’t have to beat Michigan to win the Big 10. You don’t have to beat Michigan to win a national title,” Means pointed out. “It doesn’t mean you can go lose to Michigan. It doesn’t make the loss okay. It just means the tangible consequences of that game change.” For decades, the path to a national championship for Ohio State required winning the Big Ten, which in turn required beating Michigan. That’s no longer true with the 12-team playoff. While the emotional and cultural significance remains enormous, the mathematical elimination aspect has been removed. This separation of historical pressure from practical consequences could allow Ryan Day to design a gameplan based on football strategy rather than emotional baggage—a luxury his predecessor Urban Meyer never fully enjoyed in the rivalry. The psychological dynamics of the Michigan game have become almost as important as the X’s and O’s. When quarterback Will Howard threw an interception against Purdue, Means noted “you could feel people starting to get tight” as the ghost of Michigan losses past haunted the collective fan consciousness. But what happens when most of the key players don’t carry those scars? When the defensive standouts like J.T. Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer who experienced those defeats are replaced by new faces without the emotional baggage? When quarterback Julian Sand hasn’t experienced the crushing weight of a Michigan loss? It might just create the environment for Ohio State to finally play free against their most hated rival—and possibly end the nightmare that has defined the Ryan Day era. Here’s the podcast for this week:
