Ohio State players determined to take lessons from loss to Michigan

At those media days in 2012 in Chicago, Michigan coach (and Kettering native) Brady Hoke had lots to feel good about following a 40-34 victory the previous November, but Ohio State had upped the ante by hiring Urban Meyer as head coach in the meantime.

That move almost made Michigan’s win feel like a blip on the radar, a second thought or even something that didn’t happen.

By the following summer there was so much more to talk about.

Not so this time around.

After Michigan players spoke confidently about being able to repeat their feat, Ohio State’s representatives had to acknowledge their own mortality and the need to find new answers to get back to the winner’s circle.

OSU receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, one of a large group of veterans who don’t know what it’s like to beat Michigan thanks to the 2020 edition of The Game being wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic, called the 42-27 loss in Ann Arbor last fall “sickening.”

“It was bad,” he said. “It was bad. It didn’t feel real.”

The Wolverines were brought up multiple times during Ronnie Hickman’s hour behind the mic in Indianapolis, and the safety who said he grew up an Ohio State fan in New Jersey mostly kept his answers brief: A sentence here or there confirming the loss will be a motivator this fall but not much else.

Finally, he relented after a few follow-ups.

“Regardless of what happened last year, that rivalry means a lot to us,” the third-year sophomore said. “We respect that rivalry to the fullest. We’re going to prepare every day for that team, no matter what. So yes, last year, of course motivates us. And we use it as motivation, but the rivalry is that rivalry for a reason.”

Quarterback C.J. Stroud acknowledged the loss was a wake-up call for the Buckeyes, who had been the College Football Playoff two years in a row, won the Big Ten four years in a row and beaten Michigan eight games in a row before last fall.

“I mean, we knew that anything could happen, and it’s football, but at the same time you’ve got to work for that to not happen,” said Stroud, a third-year sophomore from California. “I think we did that last year, just some things didn’t go our way in the game. So that’s OK. We’re gonna learn from that.”

Perhaps displaying his growing leadership role as the starting quarterback and one of the team’s older players now, Stroud spun the result as positively as he could.

“Every failure you don’t learn from is an ‘L,’ but every failure that you do learn from is a ‘W,’” Stroud said. “So I definitely just learned from it, learned about game management. When to take the shot, when not to. Moving in the pocket. There’s a lot of different things you can take from that game. I think of it more as a positive, honestly. I know it sounds weird to say, but I’m living my dream. Even though I wanted to win so bad, I’ll have another opportunity hopefully by the glory of God at the end of the season.

“So just working towards that in the offseason, and it’s always in the back of my mind.”