It was tough news to accept for Ohio State’s players, especially for the upperclassmen who plan to move on to the NFL after this season and won’t get to play another game in Ohio Stadium, when they learned last Tuesday that their final home game of the year against Michigan had been canceled.
“Oh man, it was really tough,” Ohio State right guard Wyatt Davis said. “I was like, ‘Man, here we are on Saturday having a practice when we’d be getting ready for The Game right now’ … not being able to walk out of the Shoe for one last time, that was pretty tough.”
Shaun Wade – who, like Davis, briefly opted out to begin preparing for the 2021 NFL draft before returning after the Big Ten reinstated its fall season – said he was “mad” when he learned Michigan wouldn’t make the trip to Columbus, noting he “only got one chance to play against them” after missing last year’s game with an injury.
“I was mad that they kind of backed out, but at the end of the day, it is COVID,” Wade said. “Our health is definitely more important than the sport of football right now, and for the world in general. So they had to make their grown-man decision.”
That said, the Buckeyes already had bigger goals for this season than just winning the rivalry game. They have a chance to accomplish one of this week, when they’ll play Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game. If they win that game, they’ll likely earn the opportunity to chase their biggest goal: Returning to the College Football Playoff and winning a national championship.
So while all the Buckeyes who have met with the media this week acknowledged that it hurt to not be able to play the team up north this past Saturday, they’ve also tried not to dwell on it, especially now that Big Ten Championship Game week has arrived. Instead, it’s making them appreciate even more that they still have the opportunity to compete for a fourth straight conference title and potentially a national title.
“It sucked that it got canceled and it hurt, but now, we’re playing for rings, and you gotta kind of put that away and focus all your efforts toward Northwestern. And that’s what I’ve been doing,” said senior defensive end Jonathon Cooper. “I know that game is gone. There’s nothing I can do about it. On to Northwestern.”
After losing three of their final five regular-season games to cancellations, the Buckeyes have learned by now that nothing is guaranteed. So they, especially those who won’t or might not be back next season, are trying to make sure they appreciate not only every game, but every moment they get to have together.
“Just taking it day by day and having the opportunity to even practice, and to then play is something that I’ve definitely learned to appreciate more due to these circumstances,” Davis said. “So motivation’s at an all-time high, not just for me but for everyone else because you don’t even know, tomorrow something could happen and you might not be playing. So just taking it day by day, and just being grateful for each individual moment.”
That said, don’t mistake their gratefulness for every moment as any decrease in their desire to achieve their championship goals.
“That’s why everyone came here to Ohio State, and that’s why we worked so hard to put ourselves in this position to have the opportunity to be a playoff contender,” Davis said. “So we don’t want to just settle short for being just a Big Ten champion. Obviously that is huge for us, but especially coming off last year, we also have bigger things in mind, which is a national championship.”
Ohio State’s team leaders are preaching the same message they have all season: Control what you can control. The Buckeyes would have preferred to play eight regular-season games instead of just five, and they certainly would have preferred to play The Game instead of just practicing against themselves this past weekend. But by continuing to work as hard as ever in pursuit of their bigger goals, they’re still confident in their preparation for the postseason even with the valuable game reps they’ve missed.
“We just gotta keep moving forward, keep getting better,” Fields said. “I think we have the best talent in the country, so us practicing against each other each and every day, that’s not going to do anything but continue to make us better, so that’s kind of how it went last week. Of course everybody was bummed that we weren’t playing the team up north, but we can’t control that. We gotta move on. We have bigger things to accomplish, and more goals to accomplish, so we’re just focused on this upcoming game.”
And they’ll certainly be looking to put their best foot forward against Northwestern on Saturday to demonstrate that even though they’ve only played five games, they are still capable of being a championship team.
“We gotta blow them out,” Wade said. “We have to come to play. We have to show the world what we can do.”
