By Cort Street | @cort_street

Sports Capital Journalism

ATLANTA – The clash of competing shoulder pads striking with more velocity than at any other point in the season. The whisk of two ill-fated field goal kicks, one hooking beyond the reach of the left goal post, the other fading outside the right. The cry of total exasperation following a second ill-timed interception. The undying reverberation of the ref’s haunting final whistle. The shouts of a post-game melee that overshadowed what should have been an exciting chapter in a storied rivalry. The silence of a home crowd in utter disbelief.

The sounds of an Ohio State loss to Michigan.

It is these sounds that have tormented all those associated with the Ohio State football program, from the athletes and coaches who were there, to a widespread fanbase that reaches around the nation, even through their now miraculous run to the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Because in the minds of a donor base steeped in an era of hatred that triumphs all other emotions, Ohio State will never cease to be defined by anything less than their performance against “The Team Up North.”

“I think in life, you have to work through tough times, and it’s how you respond to those tough times, and that’s it,” Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said ahead of the national championship. “That’s the sobering reality of this game, that nobody cares about what you go through, and you’ve got to win that final one to finish the mission.”

The Buckeyes have now lost four straight games to Michigan, marking the end of an entire class of seniors who never managed to overcome the challenge of their bitter rivalry. This season’s 13-10 loss, in which Ohio State’s well-noted “twenty-million-dollar roster” was favored to win by over twenty points and played against a Michigan team that was reeling from the loss of former head coach Jim Harbaugh and a significant contributing group of seniors, seemed to sit more bitterly with players and coaches than any of the rest.

“It’s football,” said Day, who has garnered an impressive 69-10 record in his six years as the head coach of Ohio State with four of those losses coming against the school’s hated rival. “It’s the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. This game will take you to your knees and give you some of the greatest experiences in the world, and that’s it. Not a lot of people get to experience those highs and lows, and you have to manage the tough times and enjoy the good ones, and that’s it. The more you’re in this game, the more you’ve got to realize that, and that’s it. Those are opportunities to show strength, and that’s it.”

While the game would have spelled doom for many other locker rooms around the country, Ohio State managed to turn this year’s disappointment into a storybook run through the newly-expanded College Football Playoff. While many factors have played a role in the team’s sudden renewal, one team meeting stood out as the turning point to many of the leaders on the team.

“After the Up North game, we had a team meeting,” said quarterback Will Howard, who is one of five transfer starters for Ohio State that have had a significant impact in the postseason. “We got together, and we really hashed some things out. It was really a truth-telling time. The facts were laid out there. People were challenged. Everyone, including myself, had to kind of look in the mirror a little bit and say what can I do better? How can we fix this thing? …We tried to come together, rely on each other, and come together for this purpose of winning a national championship.”

Senior defensive end and captain Jack Sawyer said the meeting was tense at moments but ultimately provided the spark the team needed to make a postseason run.

“I think it was very important, very pivotal,” Sawyer said. “You’ve got a bunch of guys who care about the team and the program. As competitors, guys are mad at a bunch of different things. We talked it out like grown men, got together and knew we had to chase this thing. Here we are, month and a half, two months later, playing for a national championship.”

The meeting addressed the negative emotions that still permeated the locker room in the aftermath of the loss but put a much greater focus on finding a way to move forward.

“They had a players-only meeting with the head coach,” said offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, a former Oregon and UCLA head coach who joined the Buckeyes in 2024 and has been lauded for the explosiveness he has delivered. “I think they understood what was presented, what’s ahead of us. I think that’s the big thing. When you look at the game against Michigan and you can say that it could be one of two things. It could be your tombstone, or it could be a stepping stone. And Ryan and our players turned it into a stepping stone to put us in a position to go play Tennessee.”

Kelly believes that Ohio State is not experiencing its postseason success despite what the Buckeyes were forced to overcome, but because of it. Their championship run began in explosive fashion with a 42-17 win over the Tennessee Volunteers, but it was the Buckeyes’ 41-21 win over the No. 1-seeded Oregon Ducks that truly placed Ohio State at the forefront of national attention. Then, in their semifinal matchup at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic against the Texas Longhorns, Ohio State relied on their experience in close games to overcome late adversity and earn a 28-14 victory to book their spot in the national championship game.

“We talked early in the season about building a foundation for down the road,” Day said. Just like anything else, you build a foundation of a building, when storms come, it has to withstand those storms. …I think the ability for our guys to sustain throughout the season has been significant here, and now it’s got to be at the best.”

Day believes the Michigan loss has proven to be a testament to the strength of not only his team, but the program as a whole.

“I think when you look at our guys, when you look at our staff, you see great men,” Day said. “When you go through great moments, you really grab on to the people that are around you, and it’s the same thing when you go through difficult moments. …The sacrifices that a lot of people have made to get to this moment right now is pretty significant, so that’s it. It’s everybody involved. It’s our fans. I think about how some of our fans have gone to great lengths to support us, whether it’s out of the Rose Bowl, down in Texas or now here in Atlanta. Whatever it might be, everybody is a part of this, and knowing that we’re together on this in good times and in bad is really what it’s all about.”

While the pain of the Michigan loss may still lurk deep in the recesses of the Ohio State conscious, it is clear that a national championship would redeem what looked like a lost season less than two months ago.

“We have an opportunity to become the ninth team in Ohio State history to win a national championship and the third team in over fifty years, and there’s been a lot of really good football teams in Ohio State history,” Day said. “We talked about that, looking up at the banners of those years, and to see just a couple of them over fifty years of great teams. We have an opportunity to separate ourselves.”

Day believes it took a special effort to get to this point in the season, and it has been a special team that found the ability to overcome the adversity it faced.

But Day also understands the non-negotiable reality: There is only one way he believes his team will ultimately be remembered in the catalogues of Ohio State football history.

“Each class has had their own journey,” Day said. “The senior class has got a great story to tell.

“But those stories are not told unless you win it.”