The Michigan Wolverines defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes, 45-23, on Saturday. It was the first Michigan victory in Columbus since 2000, and Blue’s first back-to-back wins in the series in over two decades.
The game might have gone differently, however, if one key play went differently. Midway through the third quarter, Ohio State faced 4-11 from the Michigan 49-yard line while trailing 24-20.
Buckeye coach Ryan Day appeared to call a punt, which led to a heated sideline exchange with quarterback C.J. Stroud. That might have been a ruse, however, consider the Buckeye coach actually called a fake punt that likely would have scored a go-ahead touchdown:
https://twitter.com/AceAnbender/status/1597076540256268289
https://twitter.com/AceAnbender/status/1597080519514423296
“We got so lucky,” the transcript of the unidentified Michigan player reads. “One of the fourt downs, they had a fake punt on. And they had us. I mean they had us cold. We were prepared for it. We knew the fake was coming just by the personnel that was there. We had four practices, four meetings. And not one of us saw it. Nobody on the field saw it. They had us cold.
“I think their snapper snapped to the wrong guy, snapped it to the punter instead of the fake, but it would have been a huge gain. We got extremely lucky. They were going for it and they would have pulled off a big third down conversion.”
The CFB world was quick to react to the revelation:
I want to die https://t.co/4m2OmoxGCV
— kevin harrish (@Kevinish) November 28, 2022
it's even worse because it was supposed to be a fake punt but they couldn't communicate properly to execute it https://t.co/7leK97Kkug
— Aria Gerson (@aria_gerson) November 28, 2022
I called out loud watch for the fake… and now I know why it looked crazy https://t.co/ErGgaZEI7B
— rae (@_raelewis) November 28, 2022
https://twitter.com/MightyRubber/status/1597230455048220673
say what you want about ryan day, but a lot of coaches would have thrown their player under the bus for screwing up like this https://t.co/cgWRHmASQ2
— bauncey (@bauncechill) November 28, 2022
That, however, is why we play the game. Michigan faces the Purdue Boilermakers this Saturday in the Big Ten championship:
