Buckeyes’ Thoughts Turn Immediately To Michigan

When the clock ran out for Indiana shortly before 3:30 pm on Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes’ thoughts turned immediately to Michigan.

Sure, the 38-15 win over No. 5 Indiana was nice and OSU head coach Ryan Day said it would be celebrated, but it would be done so with an eye towards seven days in the future when the Buckeyes would be back out on the Ohio Stadium turf facing the Michigan Wolverines.

Seven days from an opportunity to do what no players on this year’s Ohio State football team have done — get a win over Michigan.

The bulk of a senior class that could have gone to the NFL decided to return for a handful of reasons, and getting one last shot at Michigan was a big one.

Senior defensive end Jack Sawyer is one of those players. He closed out the 2023 season in a strong fashion, but still opted to return. Asked after Saturday’s win over Indiana how quickly his thoughts turn to Michigan, his answer was clear and direct.

“Right now,” he said. “I could really care less, no offense, talking about this [Indiana] game. This is the game that you come back for. It’s a game that has impacted so many lives in the last few years. I want this one so bad for so many different reasons, so it’s right now.”

The Buckeyes have lost three-straight games to a Michigan football program that is currently mired in a years-long cheating scandal that certainly clouds the losses for Ohio State but doesn’t change the fact that not a single player on this team has a pair of Gold Pants.

For the players that came back for one last shot, the week has finally arrived.

“I have a lot of emotions toward this game,” said senior receiver Emeka Egbuka. “The adversity that we faced as a team, and just seeing all the hardships that people who I love have had to go through, including my teammates, my head coach. Just the team up north fans being nasty to my parents as we’re leaving the stadium. There’s a lot of emotions I feel toward this moment, so I’m trying to harness those and just let it all rip on the field on Saturday.” 

As Egbuka explained, there is still a process to go through before getting to the game. The meetings have to be on point. The corrections from Saturday’s mistakes must be made. Rest and film are important on Monday prior to a physical practice on Tuesday. Wednesday is about correcting Tuesday’s mistakes. Thursday is about getting locked in. Friday is the walk through.

And then Saturday?

“Let it rip,” Egbuka said.

The Buckeyes are currently favored by three touchdowns against the 6-5 Wolverines who have taken a stark drop from last year’s national title season.

The Wolverines will come into this game with losses to Texas, Washington, Illinois, Oregon, and Indiana, as well as one-score wins over the likes of Minnesota, USC, and Michigan State.

So what does all of that mean this week for the Buckeyes?

“Absolutely nothing. It means absolutely nothing,” said starting quarterback Will Howard.

Howard transferred in from Kansas State, so this will be his first — and last — Michigan game. But he’s well aware of what it all means.

“This game is as big as they come, man. It’s the Michigan-Ohio State game. You know, I’m sorry I just said that, but it’s the team up north-Ohio State game. It’s everything. It doesn’t matter what their record is. I couldn’t care less. This means everything. I’m just so excited to go out there and to do this for my brothers, for Coach Day, for everyone out there in Buckeye Nation that’s been hurting. I just can’t wait.”

Howard echoed the sentiments of every single one of his teammates. There won’t be any other chances for the Buckeyes who will be leaving after this season. If they don’t get it done now, they’ll have to live with it forever.

With that very thing in mind, what’s it going to be like on Saturday in Ohio Stadium when the game finally kicks off?

“It’s going to be everything that I have anticipated for the last 365 days,” Egbuka said.

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