They began this all or nothing journey in July at Big Ten media days, declaring a championship or bust mentality.
They finished it with another loss to Michigan.
Now Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork wants to shake up things with the college football heavyweight. Not by firing coach Ryan Day — but by rethinking the approach to the entire season.
And not just the Michigan game.
“The whole championship or bust mentality, you can’t operate that way,” Bjork said last week during an interview with USA TODAY Sports. “You want to win every game, but if you have that mindset, you’re not going to perform at your best.”
Bjork then stopped mid-sentence, and turned to the Michigan game — and how it has swallowed Day during a four-game losing streak.
“You’re never going to downplay the (Michigan) game,” he continued. “But how do you not allow that to add pressure to perform? That’s what we want to look at. Look, Ryan wants to win. He knows what he signed up for. We all know what we signed up for. He knows what the stakes are.”
In the weeks that followed Ohio State’s fourth consecutive loss to Michigan, Bjork has responded with a vote of confidence for one of college football’s most successful coaches, and has begun to investigate the process of changing the mindset of a team and how its season revolves around one game.
If the entire season is based on one game – admittedly, a very important game – how do you prevent a program and its players from focusing so much on one game, they don’t see big picture?
ON THE MOVE: Ranking the top quarterbacks in the transfer portal
FINEST HOUR: Ohio State could have success or epic disaster in playoff
In this case, big picture is Ohio State’s strong chances of winning the national title through the College Football Playoff, beginning with a first-round home game Saturday against Tennessee.
And before we steer back into that all-or-nothing lunacy, Bjork says Day is his coach — no matter what happens in the CFP.
“How do you take the pressure off? It starts with what’s the environment around (Day), what’s the structure?” Bjork said. “Those are the things we can help him with. How do we talk about things differently moving forward? We have those kind of conversations.’
The Michigan game has clearly become a mental block for Day and the program. There was no bigger sign of that than what played out after last month’s shocking 13-10 home loss as a 19½-point favorite.
After the game, Ohio State players tried to prevent Michigan players from planting a flag at midfield of Ohio Stadium, and a fight broke out. Police had to use pepper spray to disperse players.
Day stood outside the melee, arms folded and watching with a stunned look on his face. He never attempted to break up the fight, or move Ohio State’s players to the locker room until it was far too late.
Ohio State put everything — mentally, physically, schematically — into the rivalry game with Michigan, zeroing in on ending the losing streak above all. Days before the game, Day compared the game to “war,” and said ‘there are consequences” for the loser.
It’s that all or nothing mindset, Bjork says, that has to change. Or at least needs to be part of a bigger picture.
‘We hadn’t even played yet, hadn’t practiced yet,’ Bjork said of the July all-or-nothing declaration. ‘It’s good to be confident. We don’t want to discourage that. Nick Saban was the coach who started the whole process idea. It’s all about the process. Don’t focus on the result, focus on the process.”
It was a singular focus this season that led Ohio State to go all-in on beating Michigan and winning the national title. Day added All-Americans at tailback (Quinshon Judkins), center (Seth McLaughlin) and safety (Caleb Downs) from the transfer portal as part of a near $20 million NIL budget, and convinced UCLA coach Chip Kelly to leave his job, and take a demotion and paycut to coordinate the Ohio State offense.
Kelly and Day focused on Michigan and developing a “physical” mentality to trade blows with the Wolverines — then tried to run the ball against the greatest strength on the Michigan team. Over and over and over.
Michigan was 72nd in the nation against the pass going into the game, and Ohio State had the best receiver in college football (Jeremiah Smith). Yet the Buckeyes decided to run the ball directly into the teeth of the No. 3-ranked defense in the nation, and had 77 yards on 26 carries.
Meanwhile, Smith had five catches for 35 yards — and never stretched the field and forced the Michigan secondary to cover third-level throws.
That’s bad coaching, but bad coaching based on a flawed philosophy of one game supersedes all. It also temporarily negated all that Ohio State did this offseason to make 2024 unique, and left a loyal and angry fanbase teetering toward apathy.
Minutes after the College Football Playoff games were announced, Ohio State sold out its home game against Tennessee. But since then, more than 42 percent of the secondary market tickets sold on SeatGeek have been bought by Tennessee residents, and only 23 percent by those in Ohio, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
On StubHub, 37 percent of the tickets have been purchased by Tennessee residents, and 34 percent by those in Ohio.
But all of the negativity now surrounding the program can end with a win over Tennessee, which would move Ohio State into the quarterfinals to earn a rematch with No. 1 Oregon in the Rose Bowl.
The same Oregon team that Ohio State could’ve (and probably should’ve) beaten in October, and the second game of a potential four-game national championship run that would be the only salve for losing to Michigan again.
“The disappointment in that perceived pressure is (Day) wants to win at the highest level,” Bjork said. ”The good thing is we’re alive in the playoff. We’ve got a really good team, and we’ve got a shot.’
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.