“BEAT THEM NEXT YEAR.” Last week, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith appeared on WOSU’s All Sides with Anna Stover. Among the topics discussed, Stover asked Smith to address Ohio State football’s three-game losing streak to Michigan and whether two of the Wolverines’ victories “deserve a little bit of an asterisk” since “it appears they were cheating.”
“Of course I do,” Smith replied.
He continued: “They benefited through that process they had in place, there’s no question. … Did it give them a touchdown or 14 points? I don’t know. I didn’t sit in those seats. But it wasn’t right.”
The process to which Smith refers was a sign-stealing operation former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions created. In this operation, Stalions or another Wolverines staffer would attend games of future opponents in person. Those individuals used cell phones to record play signals sent in from the sidelines as well as other in-game tactics. Both actions violated NCAA rules.
Soon after the NCAA launched its investigation at Michigan in October, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and a board of conference representatives suspended former Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh for the Wolverines’ final three regular-season games, including The Game, as punishment for the program violating the conference’s sportsmanship policy. The NCAA’s investigation remains open, and the organization has yet to rule on Michigan’s alleged wrongdoing.
For those who think the NCAA will overturn the results of the 2021 and 2022 games between Ohio State and Michigan, Smith said, in short, don’t get your hopes up.
“Nobody’s going to retroactively for two years vacate their games,” he said.
The best result one can hope for is an asterisk, Smith said.
Still, Smith wondered, what good would that do at this stage? In an answer to his own question, Smith said the best advice he can offer himself, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, Ohio State football players and Buckeye Nation is to “let it go.”
“I’ve got scars all my life in this business,” Smith said. “If I just wallow in those scars, I can’t move forward. You have to look at history. You have to respect the total sum of our experiences in life. But for you to be where you need to be, you’ve just got to swallow it. … Even if they went back in and said there’s an asterisk around those games or they’re going to vacate those games, it ain’t going to heal the scar.”
How can the scars begin to heal?
“Beat them next year,” Smith said.
Ohio State hosts Michigan in Columbus on Nov. 30…
… 201 days.
THE RYAN DAY SONG. I have more Gene Smith-related news to share in this Skull Session, and I had full intention of making a natural transition to it between the first and second sections. However, sometime Sunday afternoon, I stumbled across a song (which 97.1 The Fan radio hosts Common Man and T-Bone created) that involves Ohio State, Michigan and Ryan Day, so I feel the need to address that now, and we’ll get back around to Smith later.
