Ohio State's Ryan Day once vowed to beat Michigan by 100 after getting interrupted by Jim Harbaugh on a heated call
Ohio State and Michigan are ready for their rivalry game at the weekend. The game has a lot of significance, with the result being the Big Ten championship game. But this game has always produced big moments in its history.
One of those moments was a heated phone call between Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh and Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day. After that call, Day vowed to win the rivalry game by 100 points. All of it happened during a weekly Big Ten coach’s call in 2020.
It was the COVID affected 2020 season and during a conference call in August that year, Jim Harbaugh interrupted Ryan Day and accused him of starting on-field drills at Ohio State while it wasn't permitted yet by the NCAA. Day snapped back at the Michigan Wolverines head coach, saying that he should worry about his own team.
Day reportedly told his team that they were ‘going to hang 100 (points) on them’ and Michigan should hope for a mercy rule. However, the game was canceled due to a COVID breakout in the Wolverines program that year.
Both teams are coming into the final week of the regular season with a perfect record. The winner of the 2023 edition of ‘The Game’ will play the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten championship game next month. How have the teams fared against each other in history?
The Game: The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry game
Ohio State first faced Michigan way back in 1897. They have played each other 117 times with the Wolverines leading the head-to-head record of 60-51-6. Michigan has the most wins in college football history with 1,000. They are the first team in history to reach that milestone. Ohio State isn't far behind with 963 victories overall since their inception.
But the last 10 years of the rivalry belong to the Buckeyes. They won eight straight games from 2012 to 2019. Michigan has a two-game winning streak going on since 2021, with no game being held in 2020. Can Ohio State snap out of the losing streak?