“THAT WORKED”: RYAN DAY WON'T CHANGE URBAN MEYER'S APPROACH TO MICHIGAN GAME
CHICAGO – Not a single blemish.
In seven years as Ohio State’s head coach, Urban Meyer never lost to Michigan. Not once. He beat Brady Hoke three times and won all four matchups against Jim Harbaugh. The rivalry by which both Big Ten programs are constantly measured meant everything to Meyer, and he won the seven games by an average margin of 12.3 points.
He’s gone now, though, having headed into retirement after the 2018 season.
In comes Ryan Day. Unlike Meyer, Jim Tressel and Woody Hayes, Day didn’t grow up in Ohio. But he has an understanding of the rivalry. Day said he has watched The Game since he was a child, and he’s already 2-0 vs. the Wolverines as an assistant coach.
As a first-year head coach, Day doesn’t plan to make any adjustments to how Ohio State prepares to face Michigan.
“No. That worked,” Day said on Thursday at Big Ten media days. “That worked just fine.”
The dozens of reporters surrounding Day’s podium couldn’t help but chuckle. Everybody knew he was right.
Meyer’s approach worked with Ohio State on the road, and it worked when the Buckeyes played host to Michigan. It worked with his team as the heavy favorite, and it worked when it held the rare standing of underdog. It worked in tight games, and it worked in blowouts. It worked against Hoke, and it worked against Harbaugh.
Ohio State had never previously won seven games in a row against Michigan. Meyer changed that. Day now has a chance to extend the streak to eight when he and the Buckeyes invade Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Nov. 30.
“The thing I learned from Urban right the minute I got there was you work The Game every day,” Day said. “And the way to honor the rivalry and respect the rivalry is to work it every day, and we do. It’s a part of what we do in recruiting or every day we have periods we have in practice where we call it the Team Up North Drill where we work in practice, so we live it every day. It’s something we always have in the back of our minds. We have stuff up in our facility and we need to respect those guys to the utmost and the program they have and we know this year is going to be hard. Last year was a little bit of an anomaly. It got sideways. But we know it’s not going to be easy this year, so we’re going to have our hands full again going up there.”
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