While Kyle Whittingham and Michigan have spent the offseason tamping down hype around The Game, Ohio State has just altered an annual tradition to put extra emphasis on the storied rivalry matchup.
On Friday, the Buckeyes announced a major change to Senior Day. Instead of honoring the seniors prior to the final home game -- as is customary around the country -- Ohio State will celebrate the seniors before the season-opener against Ball State on Sept. 5.
Ryan Day offered an explanation for the change on Saturday, saying the idea was originally given to him by the administration. Day said he was wary about messing with any long-standing traditions, but he felt it was a good idea to minimize distractions before such an important game.
"It first came to me from our administration as an idea, and we talked about it," Day said. "I had long conversations about it. The traditions here at Ohio State are very strong and something we all respect. What we don't want to do is anything that's going to disrupt those traditions. But when we look at all the things that go on that weekend, the way things have changed, there's some things we thought about. The first thing was we want to keep the focus on that game. There's already enough distractions that week. This was just one more thing we felt like we could move."
Day also stated that the shifting college football landscape was key in moving Senior Day with so many fourth-year players coming in from other programs.
"We started to look at the way college football is now," Day said. "Recognizing Brandon Inniss is maybe a little different than Earl Little. We thought about maybe moving it up a week. Then we said, 'Why don't we just recognize all the seniors at the end of the beginning of the year and let them know how much we appreciate everything they've done and then move on with the season."
That portion of Day's explanation was more eyebrow-raising. How fired up will Ohio State fans be about honoring a player like Little before he even plays a snap for the Buckeyes? They'll be happy that Little is a Buckeye -- no doubt about that -- but the connection between fan base and player won't be fully formed yet.
Regardless of the awkward timing, the seniors signed off on the decision before it was finalized, and perhaps that's all that matters.
"We brought it to the seniors to see what their take on it was because we didn't want to do it without their support," Day said. "I wasn't sure what to expect, but they were all nodding quickly and said, 'Yeah, that's a good idea.'"
This move highlights the difference in approach that the two schools are taking to this rivalry game. Whittingham is questioning whether hatred is really necessary to win and professing his respect for Ryan Day, and Ohio State is eliminating anything that could take away players' focus on the task at hand, even for a moment.
The Buckeyes may have felt change was necessary because they've dropped their last two home games against the Wolverines. With the 2020 matchup scrapped due to COVID-19, Ohio State hasn't beaten Michigan in Columbus since 2018.
