Ohio State football coaches and players were ‘sick’ at the thought of a Michigan cancellation. Then it happened

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Kerry Coombs did not want to entertain the nauseating thought.

Ohio State’s defensive coordinator, back with the program after a two-year absence, did not want to consider the consequences of The Game against Michigan being canceled. During his two years with the Tennessee Titans, Saturday practices on the day of The Game meant score updates passed telephone-game style throughout the coaching staff.

“I just got sick to my stomach when you said that,” Coombs said of the at-the-time hypothetical outcome of a cancellation. “This game’s been a part of my life since I was 5 years old. We all want to play this game. This game means a lot.”

About a half hour later, the queasy feeling hit home for all of the Buckeyes. Michigan announced that an increasing number of coronavirus cases would make it impossible to prepare to play in The Game on Saturday. The cancellation ended a run of 103 consecutive meetings in a rivalry that has been played 117 times.

Ohio State sixth-year senior linebacker Justin Hilliard was taking his turn on the Zoom call with reporters when news of the cancellation broke. He declined to respond since he had not heard the news from his coaches. The disappointment, and perhaps disbelief, were evident on Hilliard’s face.

Only a couple of minutes earlier he had been asked what missing The Game would mean for those Ohio State seniors and draft-eligible juniors who were not eligible to play yet after their own positive COVID-19 tests.

“It’s something we’ve been preparing for for years,” Hilliard said. “It’s not like some games where you prepare for a week. This is something we prepare for for years at a time.”

Ohio State has won eight straight in the series. Jim Tressel installed a year-round emphasis on the game when he took over as Buckeyes coach in 2001. That emphasis carried through the tenure of Urban Meyer and into Ryan Day’s current plan for the program.

Buckeye players in the preseason spoke of their desire to “beat the brakes off” Michigan, regardless of when the game would be played. The Big Ten’s first revised schedule had the game being played mid-season. The final eight-game schedule place The Game in its usual spot at the end of the calendar.

“This is why you come to Ohio State, to play in games like this,” said junior right guard Wyatt Davis, who earlier had declared he would definitely play Saturday after leaving the win over Michigan State with a knee injury.

“The emotions are at an all-time high. Everything is critical this week. Every practice rep, from the offseason preparing for this moment — this is a huge week for us.”

Senior linebacker Pete Werner said the team watched film of Michigan over the summer and stressed the importance of the matchup, even when separated across the country over Zoom meetings. The coaches gave players individual workouts that directly related to the Wolverines.

Werner said he did not grow up following Ohio State and was not aware of the intensity of the rivalry before arriving on campus.

“It’s really, really crazy to think about everything we do, every single day, all the work that’s put in,” Werner said. “My freshman year I was overwhelmed, but now I live about it. I’m about that, you could say.”

For Werner and others who are leaving the program — and for the other Buckeyes as well — The Game’s cancellation will leave a void.

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