Kyle McCord finished with 271 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, the final of which ended the game as his pass to Marvin Harrison Jr was intercepted by Rod Moore.
Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with five catches for 118 yards and a touchdown to lead the Buckeyes in what may likely be Harrison's final game as a Buckeye.
Ohio State finishes 11-1, losing to Michigan for the third season in a row, and will be selected for a New Year's Day bowl against a soon-to-be-named opponent.
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1) Immediately, the talk from the extreme Buckeye faithful is how Ryan Day must go as some talk is in the air about Day being mentioned as a potential target for the open Texas A&M position.
I disagree.
Don't misunderstand, I'm not happy with the situation but talk of firing Ryan Day is ridiculous.
If Texas A&M wants to pay Day and he wishes to leave, fine but fire him?
Not at all.
2) The play that Ryan Day is being broiled most for is his decision to run over thirty seconds off the clock to wait for a fifty-two-yard field goal try for Jalen Fielding that was missed.
It was a fourth and two and Day had gotten his reputation as an offensive coach for his risk-taking, yet during this game, Day didn't gamble or use his strengths.
This decision didn't swing the game, but it set the narrative that Ohio State would play it conservatively and take very few risks.
3) Kyle McCord's numbers look solid but it can't denied that his two interceptions were the difference in the game.
The first one in the first quarter allowed Michigan a short field to take the first lead of the game and created an environment where Ohio State was chasing points the entire game.
4) The first McCord interception is inexcusable but the final drive's interception is a little easier to defend.
Marvin Harrison Jr. was open on the play and McCord was trying to get him the ball but McCord was hit as he threw and the ball didn't have enough zip to reach Harrison and was intercepted.
McCord could have stepped up into the pocket and perhaps that would have helped make a better throw but he didn't and the rush certainly affected his throw.
5) Ohio State had whispered all season that Ryan Day was holding some things back for this game and that was why the offense had not shown everything that they possessed during the season.
Instead, it was the same vanilla offense and it was the supposed dull team that tried some different things as backup running quarterback Alex Orji appeared under center in the third quarter and took off for a twenty-yard gain, and halfback Donovan Edwards lofted a halfback pass that gained thirty-four yards in the fourth.
6) Why didn't Ohio State do anything to open the game up to best use the one advantage that they clearly owned over Michigan in their skill position players?
We may never really know but if I was guessing, I think Ryan Day didn't truly trust Kyle McCord to play from too far behind and didn't think the risk was worth the reward.
7) TreVeyon Henderson is the type of back that gains a few yards here, a few yards there, and then makes those gains worthwhile because Henderson breaks through with a long run, and in this game, that didn't happen.
Henderson's longest run was for eight yards and finished with sixty yards on nineteen carries and a touchdown.
Henderson did suffer an ankle injury and kudos to him for playing through it but there is little doubt that while the Ohio State running game wasn't awful, it wasn't explosive either.
8) The Ohio State defense didn't play poorly and when they needed a stop to hold Michigan to three points on their final drive, they did so but Michigan took over seven minutes off the clock, forcing the Buckeyes to use their three-time outs and left only a minute remaining to win the game.
They received points for making the stop eventually but they allowed too many conversions on the drive that could have saved valuable time.
9) The Ohio State special teams haven't been good all season and punter Jesse Mirco wasn't good in Ann Arbor, averaging thirty-six yards on three punts, and zero inside the twenty-yard line.
Special teams coach Parker Fleming might be one of a few changes on the Buckeye staff in the off-season.
10) Marvin Harrison Jr. finished with over 100 receiving yards in a game for the fifteenth time in his Columbus tenure, breaking a tie with David Boston for the most in Ohio State history.
Harrison would be unlikely to play in another Ohio State game unless the path would somehow open u for a trip to the CFP.
11) I've waited this long for the one thing that worked against the Buckeyes that wasn't their own fault.
I thought the second-quarter touchdown pass of twenty-two yards to Roman Wilson from J.J. McCarthy should have been overruled as an interception by Denzel Burke.
Wilson never completed the catch with possession and it was Burke that emerged with the ball.
The referees called it a touchdown on the field and the replay didn't change the call.
I think if this game is in Columbus, it's changed but that's the home-field advantage for you.
That's seven points off the board in a game that you lost by six but that doesn't mean the decision cost the game for Ohio State.
That play was early enough in the game that Ohio State could have overcome it.
12) Ohio State wasn't out-toughed and they weren't out-battled, they just lost a close game.
I'm not sure what changes next year because I'd wager OSU will lose Marvin Harrison, TreVeyon Henderson, and perhaps Emeka Egbuka.
They are in a position to handle receiver losses better than any school in the country, and in ways other than the game-breaking speed, Dallan Hayden might be a better back than TreVeyon Henderson.
I think they have to find someone to run special teams other than Parker Fleming, and the time may be right to consider moving on from Corey Dennis (Urban Meyer's son-in-law) as the quarterbacks coach.
Ryan Day is returning unless Texas A&M throws huge dollars at him and he decides to leave, and so is Kyle McCord, who I just can't see Day not picking as the starter, even if there is a competition announced
The pressure is only going to increase on this program over the next year and with no excuses for next season's game in Columbus, everyone involved with Ohio State football is going to have to look at next season's game as more than a must-win for the season.
It may be a must-win for the future of the program entering a new era in college football.
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