Folks, Ryan Day gets it.
Ryan Day: "I know that this game means everything to us. Nothing matters if we dont win this game."
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 26, 2019
"Nothing matters if we don't win this game" sounds emo as hell, but it's true. Ohio State could probably still win a national title without beating Michigan, but it hurts my soul to think about how sour it would feel, knowing that team was the lone blemish.
Word of the Day: Animus.
IT'S THAT SERIOUS. I think there's a misconception among those who aren't part of this game that all those insane rivalry things the coaches talk about during press conference – not saying the word "Michigan," not wearing the color blue inside the facilities, etc. – are just for show and not something that actually happens.
Folks, let me assure you, it is very real.
Q: How much blue clothing do you own now?
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) November 26, 2019
Wyatt Davis: "I burned it all."
Example: there aren't even blue dry erase markers in he entire facility. They're thrown away before they even make it into the building. There's a wall in almost every room of the Woody that you can draw on with dry erase markers, but you will not find a blue one. You'll find packs of markers you think are unopened and untampered with, but it will be missing the blue, because it's already been discarded.
You also don't wear blue. You just don't. Our young Wavy Dub learned that the hard way.
It's that serious. It's that insane. And I love everything about it.
BUCKEYE FANS 1, HOTEL 0. It looks like some Buckeye fans went a little wild trying to get rid of every "M" in Columbus, essentially using vandalism to bully a Columbus hotel into permanently changing its sign. Buckeye rivalry.
It seems Ohio State fans did not taken too kindly to the "M" in the middle of the word "Columbus" on the front sign of the Graduate Columbus hotel. It disappeared multiple times presumably due to Buckeye fans prying it off to the point where the hotel manager just admitted defeat and got a new sign, this time with the letter "M" permanently crossed off in the word "Columbus."
"We recently updated the exterior signage at Graduate Columbus permanently to express our Buckeye spirit not only this week but 365 days a year," general manager Annamarie Moore said.
Welcome to the rivalry, Graduate Hotels.
LOOKING BACK. It's Rivalry Week, which typically means we'd have nothing to do with Penn State, but Saturday's game got the BTN The Journey treatment, and it's awesome as always.
If you're keen to watch some more close up and intimate footage of Ohio State's biggest win of the year, he fine folks at BTN have got you covered.
The East was decided in Columbus last Saturday.@BTNJourney was there to take you behind the scenes of No. 2 @OhioStateFB's division-clinching win. pic.twitter.com/ZPTcWeA9D0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 26, 2019
Shoutout to Penn State for helping restore the Buckeyes to their rightful spot above the College Football Playoff rankings.
THOSE WHO LEAVE... MLive Media Group picked one hell of a week to hand out its Michigan High school Football Player of the Year award to an Ohio State commit, for the second-straight season.
Muskegon senior quarterback Cameron Martinez received the Michigan High School Football Player of the Year award, presented by MLive Media Group, on Tuesday, Nov. 26.
Martinez, an Ohio State University commit, won in a landslide for the second consecutive year. He is the first two-time winner.
Shoutout to Jim Harbaugh for his open borders policy. We will gladly accept your state's most talented players if you are willing to send them.
YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM. Rutgers fired one former Ohio State defensive coordinator from its head coaching position, failed at trying to hire another former Ohio State defensive coordinator to replace him, and now seems to have its sights set on Ohio State's current defensive coordinator.
Ohio State co-defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, a Montvale native who worked for Schiano at Rutgers and with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has emerged as one of the names atop the Scarlet Knights’ list as their coaching search begins anew, several individuals with knowledge of the process told NJ Advance Media.
Hafley, 40, will be a prominent coaching candidate with many potential suitors given the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes’ defensive success in his first season in Columbus. But if Rutgers can offer the level of salary and support it was ready to pledge to Schiano before negotiations break apart, the Scarlet Knights should have a chance to land the well-respected assistant. Rutgers would like to finalize a hire quickly after Saturday’s season finale at Penn State, insiders say.
You can't have him.
In all seriousness, Jeff Hafley is an extremely intelligent human being and I don't believe for a second he'd willingly set himself up for failure at a program that basically showed Greg Schiano the door when he asked them to commit money towards assistant coaching salaries and improving the facilities (which are not unreasonable requests when you're trying to turn a program around).
Plus, if Hafley really wants to leave following this season, I promise he's going to get a better opportunity than Rutgers.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. Inside the rise and fall of the iconic Reebok Pump... At age 12, he watched his brother get killed. Now a San Francisco teen is accused of revenge slaying... A notorious ex-cocaine trafficker is helping people sell legal weed... A woman called police about dead body in driveway – hours later she was charged with her murder.
