As Saturday's fog fades away, I am starting to be more of the opinion that Day and Knowles called a pretty decent (but certainly not perfect) game.  Unfortunately, Ohio State's players were simply not executing in high leverage moments.  I could pick from 50 plays but in light of being three days out from the game I'll choose three that are burned into my retinas.

1. Michigan's first TD.  A lot of people are criticizing the cover zero call, but in my opinion that is a perfectly reasonable call on 3rd and 9 when UM had done squat all game and McCarthy's stats through 11 games show he is a sub-50% passer throwing 10+ yards downfield. 

McCarthy gets the snap and is immediately retreating. Cornelius Johnson knows he has to go hot so only is able to run a seven yard route (again, on 3rd and 9). McCarthy has to heave one off his back foot. Johnson catches it short of the sticks. In cover zero, your safety is not a player, but is the sideline; yet somehow Cameron Brown tries to make a hero play, Johnson breaks it, and off to the endzone he goes. If Brown just pushes him out of bounds its 4th down and OSU gets the ball.

2. Failed 4th Down Attempt. The next drive was when OSU went for it on 4th and 2. I do not know this for sure but I believe that 4th down call was the exact same play Day called when Stover scored against Penn State -- Stover initially blocks and releases late. Against Penn State, Stover doesn't have anyone within 15 yards of him. This time, though, Michigan's linebacker is right on Stover's hip.

To have that much discipline on a 4th and 2 when Stover did a 10/10 job selling his fake is just incredible discipline and execution. In my opinion Stroud could have delivered a softer and more accurate ball, and perhaps Stover could have made a high leverage play. But I think this was well schemed up by Day; just tip your hat to Michigan; and it ultimately showcased the importance of that linebacker simply sticking to his assignment and doing his job.

3. The fake punt. I said it was a fake from up in C-Deck because Mirco looked shocked to receive the snap and you could tell by the amount of pressure UM achieved that the blocking was set up for a fake, not to protect the punter. This was unbelievably well-schemed and had the potential to swing the game the same way the fake punt in 2019 B1G title game completely changed the trajectory of that game.

The crowd and sideline would have been absolutely juiced up again.  The fake punt is absolutely perfectly blocked. Rossi can run for 35 yards; alternatively Ebuka executes his delay route absolutely flawlessly and probably would have scored. One player (the longsnapper) didn't execute; OSU gets a holding call; OSU does not down it; and so it's only a 15-ish yard net gain for OSU.

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You could talk about so many of these types of plays.

- The 3rd and 3 after halftime where Day calls a pretty clever toss play but both Harrison and Stover miss their blocks

- Hickman's PI in the endzone (credit to the UM receiver selling out to get a finger tip to the ball; again, execution)

- The incompletion to Stover when we were down 11

And that was the difference in the game. Michigan executed at an incredibly consistent and high level. Ohio State had a bunch of well-called plays where one guy missed his assignment, or tried to make a hero play. Unfortunately for Ohio State, a lot of these breakdowns happened on incredibly high leverage plays.

After all the talk about Day's inexperience, or the team being soft, or Day's play-calling, or Knowles' high-risk scheme, all the other reasons -- we simply needed to do our jobs when it matters most. 

I'm convinced that if our guys had a "4 to 6, A to B" mindset on Saturday, we win. Meyer came up with this approach because he knew Ohio State was recruiting incredible athletes that throughout their entire careers could play hero ball and just overpower opponents with their superior athleticism; or, if they made a mistake, they could get out of it. Meyer knew that couldn't happen at this level of the game so instilled a mindset in the most elite of elite players that first and foremost you have to do your job.

We need to return to that if we ever even ventured an inch away from it. That includes everyone from Stroud to the longsnapper. It includes the wide receivers blocking on run plays like Evan Spencer did on the 85 yards through the heart of the south. It includes the runningbacks trusting their scheme and hitting the holes. It includes the back seven of the defense pausing before a 3rd and 9 and instilling into the deepest fiber of their being that there is no safety help, and if the ball comes my way, I am going to give as much effort as possible for 4 to 6 seconds and maintain leverage to get this receiver out of bounds.

The Buckeyes aren't that far away. We just need to execute from top to bottom. 

Go Bucks. Beat Michigan.