“got spooked a little bit”: NFL insider breaks down facts that led to Ryan Day’s disappointing loss against Michigan during rivalry week

Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes suffered a disappointing 13-10 loss at the hands of the Michigan Wolverines in their final regular season game. With this loss, they put up a 10-2 (7-2 Big Ten Conference) record, failing to make it to the conference championship game for the fourth consecutive year under Day.

NFL insider Joel Klatt appeared on the Colin Cowherd Show to discuss Ryan Day's loss to Michigan at home. He broke down in detail what went wrong for the Buckeyes on the field.

Klatt also pointed out how Ohio State took a more cautious approach after QB Will Howard's early interception and how it might have 'spooked' them to create aggressive offensive plays.

"Late in the second quarter, remember in the two minute series right before the half, they finally started using tempo, some vertical routes and went right down the field," Klatt. "And then a few of the series, in the first half, they were able to go right down the field... They were gaining yards throwing the football and that's where their advantage was.... and they knew that"

"And the first half played out. They go in with a tie-game.. it's 10-10 and I'm thinking to myself they get the ball and what they just saw and learned in that last series was they were gonna come right back to the football. But they didn't... And I got to tell you, it wasn't until after the game that it really dawned upon me."

"I think that they were playing around Will Howard, who was maybe banged up in that game. And after the early interception, I think that they got spooked a little bit in terms of the way that he is seeing the field. And then I think that they felt like their defense would not give up a score."

Both Ohio State and Michigan put up an impressive defensive performance, not allowing each other to score a touchdown to win the game. In the end, Dominic Zvada scored a 21-yard field goal for the Wolverines in the fourth quarter, which proved to be the deciding factor of the game.

Despite the loss, the Ohio State Buckeyes are still a contender for this year's 12-team playoffs. The selection put them at No.6 in the Top 25 penultimate CFP rankings after Week 14. They will not receive an automatic bye and will have to play a first-round game to advance in the playoffs.

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Ryan Day takes responsibility after Ohio State's lack of offensive firepower against Michigan

After the game, Ryan Day talked about how his team's offense had a lot of shortcomings against the Michigan Wolverines. He took responsibility for the loss and stated that he should have come up with a better game plan for the Week 14 showdown.

"When you look at the offensive side of the ball, it was not a good day," Ryan Day said. "It wasn't a good day across the board on offense. And some of that had to do with the coaching and some of the game planning that went on."

"Ultimately, that comes back on me as a head coach, whether it's the right guys being in the right spot, the recruiting part of it, the scheme, the coaching. That's on me."

Ryan Day does not have a great record against the Wolverines. Despite this loss, he is hopeful that Ohio State can still redeem themselves by winning the national championship this season.