COLUMBUS, Ohio — Three observations from Ohio State football’s 45-23 loss to Michigan in The Game on Saturday. 1. I know what C.J. Stroud meant when he said, in his at-times emotional stint at the mic in the Ohio Stadium interview room, that one loss does not define the Buckeyes. In ways he did not intend, OSU’s quarterback was correct. Saturday’s loss does not exist in a vacuum. It will forever be linked to the 42-27 beating served up in Ann Arbor a year earlier. Combined, those two losses absolutely define where OSU stands today. Michigan is the standard-bearer for Big Ten football, full stop. Jim Harbaugh, nearly run out of town for his inability to win The Game, now owns it. Right up through the pregame Skull Session pep rally at St. John Arena, players and coaches spoke with near incredulity that their Michigan counterparts would puff out their…
Continue Reading: Ohio State football’s new reality of chasing Michigan’s standard requires a new mentality: Nathan Baird’s observations
