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College Football Recruiting, Opinion, and Analysis

Ohio State Ends The Debate on What The Game, Conference Championships Mean

Ryan Day’s contract ends the debate if rivalries and conference championships still mean something.

Michael Germanese
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Dec 21
Dec 21

By Micheal Germanese

A reincarnated Walt Disney couldn’t write a story like the one Ryan Day lived out during the 2024 season. It was filled with ups and downs, overcoming adversity, and had a storybook ending after taking home the sport’s ultimate prize. It took a magical run to revive a season that looked to be dead. And with it, he made himself one of the highest-paid coaches in college football. But with the contract ends the debate if rivalries and conference championships still mean something.

On paper, Day deserves the extension, as he’s 70-10 overall, 24-9 against the top 25, 15-8 against top 10 teams, and 7-6 against top five teams. On their run to the national championship Ohio State beat 4 top 10 teams, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 1 Oregon, No. 5 Texas, and No. 7 Notre Dame. If you take out the playoff run the numbers are not as impressive, 11-8 vs the top 10, and below 500 against top 5 teams at 5-6.

The national championship is the top prize and what they did in the playoff is impressive, but Ohio State came into the season with three goals and failed to accomplish two of them in 2024. And despite only accomplishing one of the three, Day still received the contract extension. Ohio State lost to Michigan and never even made the Big Ten championship, let alone win it. Day receiving the extension shows you exactly what matters, and it’s not beating your rival and winning the Big Ten. 

Day’s contract shows both fanbases that everything we thought about the rivalry and conference championship no longer exist. The importance of winning “The Game” and Big Ten Championships no longer holds that same meaning fans want. Ohio State just gave fans 12.5 million reasons why it doesn’t. The only thing that matters moving forward is what you do in the Playoff.

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College Football now has the same feel as College Basketball, it’s great to beat your rival that week and win your conference but all that matters is what you do in March. Almost no one remembers if Ohio State or Michigan won when they played last season in basketball, most people probably could tell you who won the Big Ten. What basketball fans remember is what happens in March and College Football will only remember what you do in the playoff moving forward.

Michigan’s win over Ohio State in 2023 will be the last meaningful regular season win between the two teams. The game no longer holds the same meaning like it once did, it’s no longer the only game that matters and it can’t solely save a disappointing season anymore. It’s now just another regular season game you need to win to give you a chance to make the college football playoff.

Day just received 12.5 million despite being 1-4 against Michigan with the last win coming in 2019. To think after the 13-10 loss this past season Day was earning more comparisons to John Cooper 2-10-1 against Michigan, then Jim Tressel 9-1, or 7-0 Urban Meyer. In the end even with the losing record in The Game, it had no effect on Day getting paid.

Fans and media did the same thing as the school in devaluing the game. The same fans and media personalities who called the season a failure, and for his jobs, are the same ones celebrating him now. The same people who claimed it’s the only game that mattered, are the same ones that flocked to social media to tell the world why it didn’t. Going 1-4 against Michigan 10 years ago would have gotten you fired, now it just gets overlooked.

Meyer once said “A team should play for a national championship if they don’t win their conference” and at the time he was right. Now it’s nothing more than a game to determine seating and byes and in some cases, it’s more of an advantage to lose the conference championship than win it. It should come as no surprise that championship games are losing relevance, in 2021 Alabama’s SEC championship win over Georgia meant nothing after Georgia won the national championship. Oregon winning the Big Ten feels like a consolation prize after being embarrassed in the Rose Bowl by Ohio State.

Day, despite missing the last four Big Ten championships after making his first two still was awarded a contract extension. It’s crazy how a national championship can erase the failures of four regular seasons. Ohio State who never went more than two years without making a conference championship, is now facing the possibility of a five-year absent if they can’t get it done in 2025. And with games against Texas and Penn State at home and Illinois and Michigan on the road along with the coaching turnover there’s a good chance they don’t make it again in 2025.

Michigan fans who rejoiced after the contract was announced because of the recent success over Ohio State are not faced with the reality that those wins no longer mean as much anymore. Any fan who thinks a regular season win over a rival somehow tarnishes the title is sadly mistaken. Again, Ohio State just gave Michigan fans 12.5 million reasons why it doesn’t. If The Game did, Day would have never received this deal without proving he could beat his rival first.

And Ohio State fans who claimed the game in November meant nothing after winning the national championship can’t walk it back on Nov. 29. If it was nothing more than a scrimmage in 2024 then it can only be considered a scrimmage moving forward. The meaning of the game can’t change depending on the outcome from year to year.

The Days of “The Game” having the ability to save your season are now gone, Michigan won in 2024 and the season is still a disappointment. The only thing it did was give fans hope that Sherrone Moore is heading in the right direction. For Day, if he loses the next three don’t matter, if the last four losses didn’t the next three can’t either. The 12-team playoff gave Day a second chance at proving he could win the big game and he did it. But in the process, he has taken one of the greatest rivalries in sports and turned it into just another game.

In past years the Ohio State goal was to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten, and play for a national championship. Now the goal is to make the playoff with a national championship appearance. It’s unfair to expect any team to play for a national championship every year. But with the resources both schools have at their disposal with NIL funding, there is no reason to not expect both to at least play in the championship game once every four years.

The interesting part moving forward is going to see how the fanbases evolve to this new college football world. Will fans still embrace the game despite the meaning not being there? In college basketball it’s always talk to me in March, will football turn into talk to me when the playoff starts? And with billion-dollar TV deals, will creative seating be used to give a game an old-school feeling in this new world of college football?

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