Ohio State will never stop crying about the past three years. Even retiring athletic director Gene Smith, who has said some ridiculous things about the alleged Michigan football sign-stealing scandal, can’t get over it.
During an appearance on WOSU’s All Sides with Anna Staver, Smith was asked if Michigan football’s three-game winning streak over Ohio State dating back to 2021, “deserves a little bit of an asterisk since for at least two of those years, it appears they were cheating.”
Smith, who is retiring, responded: “Of course I do. The rules are in place to protect the integrity of the game and try your best to create a level playing field, and when those rules are violated, then it affects those principles. And so, we have to keep that in perspective.”
If you recall, Michigan football beat Ohio State in 2021 when Connor Stalions wasn’t even on staff 42-27. Hassan Haskins ran for five touchdowns, but I’m sure that was signs.
Just ask Smith or any other delusional Ohio State fan. Surely, it had nothing to do with the fact that the Buckeyes couldn’t stop a simple handoff.
Ohio State can’t accept Michigan’s domination
The truth is that Ohio State stole Michigan’s signals too. It had them when Don Brown was DC and it had them in 2022. The Buckeyes still got outscored 28-3 on their home field in one of the most embarrassing losses in the history of the Shoe.
Smith and Buckeye fans can complain all they want, but they know it had nothing to do with signs. Donovan Edwards didn’t score two 70-plus-yard touchdowns because of signs.
It’s called blocking and tackling (maybe Chip Kelly will work on that).
In the past three editions of ‘The Game’, Ohio State has led in the second half for a combined total of three minutes. They also haven’t led or even been tied in the fourth quarter against Michigan since 2019.
Frankly, outside of this past season’s game, without Jim Harbaugh, the ones in 2021 and 2022 weren’t that close. Michigan won by an average of 18 points.
Michigan football didn’t win because of “sign-stealing”
And the idea that 2023 should have an asterisk is message board stuff.
Stalions wasn’t on staff and the entire world knew of the scandal so Michigan football obviously didn’t have any signs or advantage and still won — never trailing for a second — without their head coach.
So it’s hard to take Smith seriously. Then again, it’s hard to take Ryan Day seriously. That’s especially true when he has said things like, “We had one bad half in two years” but forgot to clarify if it was when Michigan football outscored Ohio State 28-14 in 2021 or 28-3 in Columbus.
That’s the king of logic you can expect from Ohio State, and Gene Smith reminded us of that Thursday.
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