The sun sets on the Rose Bowl right around 4:45pm the first day of each year.
There are few exceptions, like last year when the "Rose Bowl" was played 1,400 miles east of Pasadena in Arlington, or when an NFL Sunday bumps the game to Jan 2. But when it sets on schedule and on location next Saturday, Ohio State will be heading into the final quarter of its 2021 season.
For the Buckeyes it's a third-straight Pasadena visit in a college football landscape where they strongly preferred a different, lesser postseason location. Ohio State's players and even its beleaguered fans (hey, everyone) must recast this setback as something more palatable than a consolation prize.
You don't have to lie to yourself - a win following a Michigan loss is major program accomplishment, because while the Buckeyes don't lose that game often, it is more likely to begin a losing streak than not.
| SEASON | MICHIGAN RESULT | BOWL | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | MICHIGAN 9, OHIO STATE 3 | FIESTA | PENN STATE 31, OHIO STATE 19 |
| 1983 | MICHIGAN 24, OHIO STATE 21 | FIESTA | OHIO STATE 28, PITT 23 |
| 1985 | MICHIGAN 27, OHIO STATE 17 | CITRUS | OHIO STATE 10, BYU 7 |
| 1986 | MICHIGAN 26, OHIO STATE 24 | COTTON | OHIO STATE 28, TEXAS A&M 12 |
| 1988 | MICHIGAN 34, OHIO STATE 31 | N/A | N/A |
| 1989 | MICHIGAN 28, OHIO STATE 18 | HALL OF FAME | AUBURN 31, OHIO STATE 14 |
| 1990 | MICHIGAN 16, OHIO STATE 13 | LIBERTY | AIR FORCE 23, OHIO STATE 11 |
| 1991 | MICHIGAN 31, OHIO STATE 3 | HALL OF FAME | SYRACUSE 24, OHIO STATE 17 |
| 1993 | MICHIGAN 28, OHIO STATE 0 | HOLIDAY | OHIO STATE 28, BYU 21 |
| 1995 | MICHIGAN 31, OHIO STATE 23 | CITRUS | TENNESSEE 20, OHIO STATE 14 |
| 1996 | MICHIGAN 13, OHIO STATE 9 | ROSE | OHIO STATE 20, ARIZONA STATE 17 |
| 1997 | MICHIGAN 20, OHIO STATE 14 | SUGAR | FLORIDA STATE 31, OHIO STATE 14 |
| 1999 | MICHIGAN 24, OHIO STATE 17 | N/A | N/A |
| 2000 | MICHIGAN 38, OHIO STATE 26 | OUTBACK | SOUTH CAROLINA 24, OHIO STATE 7 |
| 2003 | MICHIGAN 35, OHIO STATE 21 | FIESTA | OHIO STATE 35, KANSAS STATE 28 |
| 2011 | MICHIGAN 40, OHIO STATE 34 | GATOR | FLORIDA 24, OHIO STATE 17 |
| 2021 | MICHIGAN 42, OHIO STATE 27 | ROSE | TBD |
Ohio State opens with Notre Dame next September. Hold that thought.
The Buckeyes' disappearing act following heartbreakers to Michigan is well-documented. Ohio State, a program that is 300 games above .500 over those past 41 seasons, is a sub-.500 team in the game that follows a Michigan loss.
It's not because they were facing world-beaters in those bowls either, with 1996 Arizona State and 1997 Florida State being notable exceptions. It's a toxic mixture of seasonal depression and sundowning. Losing to Michigan is just that exhausting.
Earle Bruce went 3-1 in his "consolation" games. John Cooper went 2-6, partly due to more opportunities and partly because hashtag Coop. Jim Tressel went 1-0. Luke Fickell went 0-1.
Ohio State is 300 games over .500 since woody hayes - but HAS A LOSING RECORD IN BOWLs THAT FOLLOW A LOSS TO MICHIGAN.
The only time Urban Meyer lost to a Michigan to end a season was to Little Brother in Indianapolis - and he lost the subsequent bowl game. Those losses are exhausting.
So Ryan Day has quite a challenge in steering out of a full-blown losing streak with a huge 2022 opener ahead, even before you rebate this Rose Bowl for the playoff era, opt-outs and everything else Boomers will reflexively blame on Millennials, unaware they're entering middle age now.
A bowl opponent following a Michigan loss is arguably the toughest game an Ohio State team will ever play outside of the playoff. It's more than just winning for winning's sake. In this case, the Buckeyes are navigating a stretch that's almost unprecedented in program history.
Squint through the murky, fecal haze of the Michigan disaster and you might be able to see it:
| OPPONENT | OPPONENT SP+ | GAME RESULT |
|---|---|---|
| NO. 20 PENN STATE 10/30 | 10 | W 33-24 |
| @ NEBRASKA 11/6 | 24 | W 26-17 |
| No. 19 PURDUE 11/13 | 43 | W 59-31 |
| NO. 7 MICHIGAN STATE 11/20 | 18 | W 56-7 |
| NO. 5 MICHIGAN 11/27 | 4 | L 27-42 |
| NO. 11 UTAH 1/1 | 14 | TBD |
| NOTRE DAME 9/3 | 7ish? | TBD |
It's hard to find a seven-game stretch like this going back to before Carmen Ohio existed.
Ohio State caught the Nittany Lions right as they were splintering and took their best shot before surviving the best three-win team of the past 100 seasons. Take a moment to appreciate the unique misery of a team analytically tethered to the top 25 that took nine Ls all by agonizingly slim margins. Nebraska's worst loss of 2021 was the nail biter to Ohio State.
Purdue and Sparty ruined nothing this season, which is something an Ohio State fan should never take for granted. The Buckeyes piled up 115 points in those two games and appeared to be peaking at the best possible time right before unraveling at the worst possible moment.
And this is where we recast the final game of the 2021 season as a trampoline to the finale of a seven-game stretch few programs ever get the chance to navigate, which also serves as an elegant way to tie off the Michigan loss as a blip rather than a full-blown program exposure.
the Buckeye defense is both rancid and lame duckish. Multiple STARS MAY OPT OUT. THIS ROSE BOWL HAS Danger Zone written all over it.
The Buckeyes are playing seven consecutive top-25 opponents from this October into next September by at last one measure. The only cupcakes to be found are the ones you crush at the tailgate.
We won't see another until the week after Notre Dame shuffles off campus next season, which will either mark the end of Ohio State's mystifying non-conference marquee game home losing streak or could bump the Buckeyes' losing streak to three games, the longest non-Tatgate stretch since 2004.
At the present time, the Buckeye defense is both rancid and lame duckish, with Jim Knowles taking is over the moment the sun reappears above the Rose Bowl. Multiple players are half-in-half-out on both sides of the ball. This meeting with Utah has Danger Zone written all over it.
It's been 18 years since Ohio State completed a season with a win that followed a loss - at Kansas State's expense, back when the Fiesta Bowl was still in Tempe - which means the entire roster was infants and toddlers the last time what they're trying to do actually happened.
But this rarity has two factors behind it. One, losing to Michigan is the worst sin this program can commit. And two, Ohio State has been good at being good. The worst sinners are strangers.
