Our beloved Buckeyes, after finally attaining the No. 1 spot, fell to the Wisconsin Badgers, 31–18, Saturday night. Even though it was always going to be a tough game, no one thought it would be that bad.
It was deplorable. I still can’t believe that when I arrived to watch the game (six minutes into it), we were down two touchdowns.
Perhaps it was the belief that this was going to be the championship year. Or maybe it was just the happiness from the No. 1 ranking that made the defeat so surreal. I don’t remember another Ohio State football game in recent history that made me feel this awful — and that’s counting a lot of disappointments.
That being said, Sunday morning I felt a little different. As utterly disappointing as the defeat was, I think what will define us as a football team and as a school is where we go from here. We will ultimately be defined by what we do next after this stunning defeat.
It’s weird to admit, but that thought came to me watching our arch-rivals play a few hours before OSU played Saturday. As most Buckeyes enjoy admitting, the Wolverines got thrashed last week by Michigan State. They lost their undefeated record and their top-25 ranking. As ugly as that was, you could tell that they rebounded (at least mentally) against Iowa a week later, even though they lost that game too.
That’s what we have to do.
Thankfully, our football disappointments aren’t as great as Michigan’s. But we should all focus on the next game and move on. What’s done is done. All that matters is that this Saturday against Purdue, we show the world just how tough and resilient we are.
Let’s not worry about the loss. If we keep on rocking, who knows what might happen at the end of the season. Keep in mind that we weren’t the only No. 1 team to get upset.
And of course, we can’t forget that the Buckeyes don’t play just football. As disappointing as Saturday might have been, our other teams stepped up and made us proud, which we should be extremely thankful for. The same day we got defeated by Wisconsin, our women’s volleyball team upset 19th-ranked Minnesota, 3-0, as our men’s cross country team finished strong at pre-nationals.
That’s what we have to think about. We’re better than this. Let’s make that known to the world next Saturday.
