Andy Knight column: OSU enjoying season of redemption — even after national title

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For fans, coaches and players alike, it always comes down to The Game.

Without exception, the success or failure of every Ohio State football season hinges on the outcome of the annual post-Thanksgiving clash with Michigan — That Team Up North.

When you’re born and raised in Ohio, you grow up hating all things maize and blue. Winning The Game provides 364 days’ worth of euphoria, while a loss guarantees misery until the following November. Nothing changes those axioms.

Last year, however, came close.

Following a fourth straight — and particularly galling — loss to TTUN (as three-touchdown favorites at home), many members of Buckeye Nation — myself included — called for Coach Ryan Day to be fired. The loss dropped him to 1-4 against his biggest rival, and you simply cannot lose this game on an annual basis.

The vitriol reached such a boiling point that a security detail was posted outside Day’s house to protect him and his family for weeks afterward.

The day after that loss, Day attended a players-only meeting that turned emotional and raw. He openly accepted blame for his part in the defeat.

Three weeks later, the Buckeyes embarked on a remarkable run through the first 12-team College Football Playoff field, putting up double-digit wins against four top-10 teams on their way to the national championship.

OSU hasn’t lost a game since the Michigan debacle of 2024.

Saturday’s Big Ten championship game against Indiana represents another box that needs to be checked in order for the Buckeyes to re-ascend to college football’s pinnacle and silence even more detractors.

The “leave no doubt” mantra Day and his staff have preached since last year’s disaster has never felt more urgent.

As an OSU alumnus living in Indiana for the past 15 years, it’s been entertaining to watch Curt Cignetti elevate Indiana’s football program to an elite level. Many of my closest friends, as IU fans, have genuinely enjoyed the past two seasons and seem keenly aware that such success shouldn’t be taken for granted.

That being said, there’s an unmistakable sense that Ohio State — as one of the sport’s blue-blood programs — remains as the conference’s “Big Brother.” You haven’t truly arrived as a marquee program until you knock us off.

A win Saturday would mean more than a likely No. 1 seed for IU in this year’s CFP. It would be the Hoosiers’ first win over OSU since 1988 — a span of 31 straight winless outings.

It would mean cementing a place among the sport’s hierarchy. It could also springboard IU into another orbit on the recruiting trail, allowing Cignetti and his staff to sell the program to five-star recruits who may have seemed untouchable a couple of years ago.

Another recognition of Indiana’s ascendancy came from Day himself this week. “I think all areas are upgraded from last year,” he told reporters Tuesday. “As good as they were last year, they’re better this year.”

We’ll find out how good the Hoosiers are Saturday night.

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