Ohio State news: Why Ryan Day moved Senior Day away from Michigan game
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There has been plenty of talk about the Ohio State and Michigan football rivalry this offseason. New Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham called out the hatred in the rivalry, and then Wolverines’ quarterback Bryce Underwood downplayed the rivalry.
Now, Ryan Day, the Ohio State head coach, is making his own statement about the rivalry, with a move around senior day, per Alex Byington of On3.
Ryan Day has moved Senior Day away from the final home game of the season, which is Michigan on November 28, to the first game of the season.
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“When we look at all the things that go on that (rivalry) weekend, the way things have changed, there are some things that we thought about. The first thing was, we want to keep much of the focus on The Game, and the more distractions we have — there’s already enough distractions during that week — so this was just one more thing that we felt like we could move,” Day said “Then when we started to look at the way college football is now, recognizing seniors — someone like Brandon Inniss is maybe a little different than (a transfer like) Earl Little. So we thought about maybe moving it up a week, and then we said, ‘Well, why don’t we just recognize all the seniors at the beginning of the year? Let them know we appreciate everything they’ve done, and then kind of move on with the season.’
The home opener for the Buckeyes is on September 5 against Ball State. The team will also be inducting former head coach Jim Tressel into the Ring of Honor.
“So, what we did was bring it to the seniors to see what their take on it was, because we didn’t want to do it without their support,” Day continued. “And I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they all nodded quickly and said, ‘Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.’ So, we went with it, and we think it’s going to allow us an opportunity to really recognize them early in the season and then focus on the games.”
Ohio State expects to be in contention for a national title this year, so if senior day was going to be distracting to that pursuit, Day is trying to lessen the impact.
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