Columbus — Michigan football couldn’t have scripted the moment any better.
As Ohio State head coach Ryan Day took the podium after the Wolverines’ 45-23 win in Columbus, the room was mostly filled with silence — that is, except for the playing of “Mr. Brightside,” Michigan’s pseudo-anthem dating to last season, from right outside of OSU’s football building.
Just as J.J. McCarthy did against his defense for most of the day Saturday, Day hung in there with heat in his face and delivered a Hail Mary for the Buckeyes’ playoff hopes.
Asked whether he thought his team still deserved to be in the College Football Playoff conversation after the three-score loss, he said, “I thought we were in it and we were fighting there at the end.