The title is fairly self-explanatory but mental exercises are fun conversation during the remaining month or so of off-season.

So...for the upcoming season would you rather have:

A) Ohio State misses the B1G Championship for the 3rd year in a row because of a loss to PSU, but beats Michigan.

or

B) Ohio State wins the B1G Championship but loses to a 2-loss Michigan who lost to PSU and another B1G East team?

For what it's worth my opinion is that we aren't getting lucky again and making the playoffs without a conference championship. I'd rather make the playoffs with a chance at a national championship by winning the conference, even if it comes with a loss to Michigan. My justification is that the national landscape of the sport is changing and losing to Michigan at their place, with their most experienced and talented roster in years, isn't a huge blemish if we can finish conference play with 1 loss and as B1G Champions.

Then we get Day and staff a full month to prepare for the playoffs again in the 2/3 seed game which likely avoids UGA in the first round which gives us a very good chance of making the natty.

In the current era, a playoff win matters more to the program's narrative than a regular season loss, regardless of who it is to. And while it's another full year of Michigan being able to hang that over us, our program would still be incredibly healthy and we get to go into 2024 with momentum and a home field advantage vs a rebuilding Michigan.