Ohio State's Ryan Day at risk of joining John Cooper with third straight loss to Michigan
The stakes tied to Michigan’s rivalry football game with Ohio State can’t be overstated. There’s a reason the annual matchup is known simply as “The Game:” No qualifiers are necessary to magnify its significance.
The result of the rivalry between the Wolverines and Buckeyes shapes seasons and the national championship picture. It defines coaching tenures and, sometimes, even ends them. It writes legacies for all those involved, turning some into heroes and others into scapegoats. This season, it will pit two top-three teams against each other, with berths in the Big Ten championship game and College Football playoff on the line.
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For the coach who loses the game, it’s excruciating and seemingly unforgiveable in the eyes of many fans. If it happens multiple years in a row? Well, that presents a different kind of problem entirely.
During the 126-year history of the Michigan-Ohio State football rivalry, both programs have experienced spurts of success, going years without a dreaded loss. For much of the 21st century, those kinds of runs have belonged to Ohio State, which has gone 17-4 against the Wolverines since 2001.
Though Michigan has won the past two meetings, it has been 26 years since it has defeated its archrival three years in a row. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day, who has already faced significant and vocal backlash for losing the past two games against the Wolverines, is aiming to avoid becoming the first Ohio State coach since the mid-1990s to suffer three straight losses to "that team up north."
Here’s a look at who was coaching Ohio State the last time the Wolverines beat it in three consecutive meetings:
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What is Ryan Day's record vs. Michigan?
Entering the 2023 iteration of 'The Game," Day's record vs. Michigan is 1-2. He won his first game as coach of the Buckeyes vs. Michigan in 2019, winning 56-27. "The Game" was canceled in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, after which Michigan beat the Buckeyes 42-27 in 2021 and 45-23 in 2022.
Who was the last Ohio State coach to lose three straight to Michigan?
Michigan last defeated Ohio State three seasons in a row in 1995-97, when John Cooper was the Buckeyes’ coach.
Each of Michigan's wins during that stretch was decided by a single score:
- 1995: Michigan 31, Ohio State 23
- 1996: Michigan 13, Ohio State 9
- 1997: Michigan 20, Ohio State 14
Making those close setbacks that much more painful was the fact that Ohio State was firmly in national title contention entering each game. It was undefeated entering both of the first two contests and ranked no lower than No. 4 in any of the games (including a No. 2 Coaches Poll ranking in 1995 and '96). Conversely, the Wolverines were No. 20 in 1995 and No. 22 in 1996.
Cooper also had a six-year winless streak vs. Michigan from 1988 through 1993, including four straight losses, a tie, and another loss, before winning his first rivalry matchup vs. Michigan in 1994.
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What is John Cooper's record vs. Michigan?
Cooper was a success for much of his 13-year tenure at Ohio State from 1988 to 2000, finishing with a 111-43-4 record. To this day, he has the second-most wins for a coach in program history, behind only Woody Hayes.
There was one crucial barometer, though, in which he not only consistently came up short, but also failed: beating Michigan. In 13 meetings against the Wolverines, Cooper’s teams went 2-10-1. In three of those games — in 1993, 1995 and 1996 — the Buckeyes were undefeated. But in each instance, they lost to a Michigan team ranked outside of the top 20. By contrast, Michigan's Lloyd Carr began his head-coaching career with the Wolverines with a 5-1 record against Ohio State.
Cooper was fired following the 2000 season, following a two-year stretch in which his teams went 14-10, with his record against the Wolverines among the most frequently cited reasons for his dismissal.
“If you’re talking about being remembered at Ohio State, you’ve got to talk about the Michigan games and the bowl games,” former Buckeyes coach Earle Bruce, Cooper’s immediate predecessor, said to the Dayton Daily News after Cooper’s ouster. “I guess if anything fired John, it would have to be his record against Michigan and in bowl games.”
Cooper’s Ohio State teams finished 3-8 in bowl games. After the Buckeyes hired Jim Tressel to replace Cooper in 2001, they went on to win 17 of their next 19 games against Michigan.