ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The disappointment was evident on Ryan Day’s face as he sat down for his postgame news conference.

It was an all-too-familiar situation for the Ohio State coach, who was tasked with addressing reporters after its third straight loss to Michigan, this time 30-24. The difference this year is that Saturday looked like a must-win game on both days And His legacy.

There is no debate that Day was a very successful coach. He was 56-7 in his time at Ohio State with two Big Ten championships and never finished outside the top six in the AP. But nothing matters more than a win over Michigan.

After Saturday, today is 1-3. This was not just another rivalry game.

Saturday was one of the biggest games in Ohio State-Michigan history, a matchup between two 11-0 teams ranked in the top three. It goes beyond the drama of stealing signs and shutting down Jim Harbaugh. Saturday was the last time Ohio State and Michigan would play to determine the winner of the Big Ten East, in a game to see which undefeated team is supposed to make the College Football Playoff and determine who truly controls the conference before it expands in 2024.

Day had the opportunity to upend any negative narrative about him. But, once again, he couldn’t beat Michigan — and suddenly comparisons to John Cooper will be hard to avoid. Cooper went 2-10-1 against Michigan. Day’s record hasn’t been that far off, but Saturday showed he doesn’t just have a Harbaugh problem. He has a Michigan problem.

On Tuesday, Day was asked when he began to understand the true essence of the rivalry.

“I think you learn more and more every year,” said Day, who first arrived at Ohio State as an assistant in 2017 and became head coach in 2019. “This will be my sixth time in the game. You learn quickly when you’re here, but you learn more every year and it’s… “So that has a huge impact on you as a person. … When you come, whether it’s a coach or a player, you come here for one reason, which is to win that game. I think you learn more and more about that every year.”

No one can say Day doesn’t understand the scale of the game. He just couldn’t win it.

After Saturday, he said there were two keys to a win over Michigan: running the ball and turnover margin. Ohio State lost both of those. The turnover margin was minus 2 and was exceeded on the ground by 156 yards to 107.

Day made changes after the 2021 season, largely because the Buckeyes lost to Michigan for the first time in a decade. The offensive line wasn’t good enough in big games, so he brought in coach Justin Frye. The defense gave up 42 points and 297 yards rushing, so he brought in new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. The results were the same in 2022: 45 points and 252 yards rushing.

Ohio State has had one of the best defenses in the country all season, and they held the Wolverines to under 200 rushing yards this time around. But when Michigan needed yards to eat, Ohio State ran the ball right away. Michigan ate seven minutes off the clock on its final possession and ran 42 yards, converting two down attempts to set up a field goal. Once again, it was the more physical team.

Knowles said the performance was not good enough.

“At the end of the day, you have to win this game, and I definitely feel like we didn’t get a good result and that’s something I have to work on,” Knowles said.

Ohio State still had a chance to win it, but the offensive line gave up pressure on quarterback Kyle McCord. He was hit while throwing to open field Marvin Harrison Jr. The ball did not reach its intended target and was intercepted.

The fact that Ohio State has lost three straight games to Michigan is a problem in itself. But losing three games in a row for the same reasons is a bigger problem. It is a problem that cannot be fixed immediately.

Yes, Michigan is graduating a slew of seniors — 14 of whom started Saturday — so the Buckeyes could have an advantage next season. But there is also the issue of staffing. The Buckeyes are still missing a recruiting trail with elite offensive linemen. Although the defensive line has two five-star prospects, he was absent in the last round.

Perhaps more than any of the roster issues, Day’s play call was also confusing. The most confusing call Saturday came just before halftime when he decided to run 30 seconds off the clock to attempt a 52-yard field goal. Jayden Fielding’s career is 47 years old.

Instead of running a play and trying to convert on fourth-and-2 and trying to score a more manageable field goal, Day wanted to kick afterward. He said he would have done so even if it wasn’t halftime.

“I was going to kick the field goal,” Day said. “I just wanted time to pass until we got out of the half.”

But there is a difference between the two programs. Michigan was 3 of 12 on third downs, but converted three fourth-down attempts. The first was a 1-yard touchdown run by Blake Corum. The next two came on a 14-play touchdown drive.

The home team is supposed to be more conservative. Instead, it was Day who made the conservative play calls.

“If you make it, you’ll feel great; if you don’t, you won’t do it,” Day said. “We’ll be guessing everything. If you don’t convert on fourth and third, you don’t get anything.

But kicking is something teams do when they have a shot with proven range from that deep. Ohio State was taking a chance on a special teams unit that has been poor this year.

At the end of the day, there might be a debate about playing for hours. The reality is that Ohio State, under Day, has ceded complete control of the Big Ten to its archrival. The Buckeyes, one of the best teams in the country, couldn’t put it together against Michigan. once again.

As they walked off the field, two Michigan fans were celebrating by asking the Ohio State fans, “What’s the excuse now?”

The honest answer is that there isn’t one. Michigan just beat Ohio State and Day has to figure out how to turn that around or his legacy will be Cooper 2.0: a coach who was very successful but couldn’t win the most important game on the schedule. For many, this is unacceptable.

So where does Ohio State go from here? Day didn’t have an answer after the game.

“It’s right after the game, so it’s hard to start thinking about all that,” Day said. “You’re just trying to process the game now and go from there.”

At this moment, it doesn’t matter if Ohio State somehow finds a way to get a backdoor bid into the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row.

Day must solve his problem at Michigan. And quickly.

(Top Image: Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images)