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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Back in 2022, Ohio State backdoored its way into the College Football Playoff, setting up a potential opportunity to get a two-year head start on a conversation that could now be the new normal.

Had the Buckeyes made that last-minute field goal against Georgia in the Peach Bowl, it more than likely would’ve beat TCU in the national title game two weeks later. It would’ve closed out the season sitting atop the mountain. But it also would be sitting with the fact that it lost to its rival Michigan along the way.

For more than a century The Game was all that mattered. Everything goes through that Week 12 matchup. Want to win a Big Ten championship? Win that game. Want to go play for a national title? Win that game. Do you want to just be able to call your season one that was at least reasonably successful? Win that game.

The Big Ten has expanded to 18 teams while also getting rid of divisions, meaning that game no longer kills a team that’s more than deserving of a spot in Indianapolis from getting there. In fact, it just creates a world where the two could face off in back-to-back weekends.

The College Football Playoff has expanded to 12 teams so now the loser of that game doesn’t need the right dominoes to fall to backdoor its way in. If either the Buckeyes or the Wolverines aren’t playing meaningful postseason football, that means a ton of other things went wrong long before they met on the field.

That’s a new world to live in for two fanbases that have spent their entire lives being trained to believe that The Game is a way of life that should be approached with a do-or-die attitude. Now it’s more like do-or-don’t-worry-about-it because you’ll probably get to try again in a few weeks.

It’s changed the stakes of rivalry games and it’s going to take some getting used to. Some may be more open to it, thinking this was probably always the most logical approach. Others would rather lean into the tradition that’s always made the sport so great.

“We have to strive to beat Michigan in the Game. We have to get the all-time record against them — and keep it. Nothing else matters. National titles are simply bonuses you might unlock in a particular season when you have built a team worthy of beating Michigan; they don’t really matter.”

The Game is in an interesting place as this new world begins in August.

Michigan just capped off its best three-year stretch in over 25 years with three straight wins in the rivalry plus a national title, before watching Jim Harbaugh and many of the people responsible for that success walk out the door. Sherrone Moore is left to pick up the pieces, which includes stealing away longtime OSU running backs coach Tony Alford.

Ohio State is trying to flip things back in its favor by revving what the prior 20 years in the rivalry were like. Ryan Day isn’t on the hot seat entering Year 6, but there’s no question his nerves are at an all-time high. The results are a roster and program that seems to be all in on righting the wrongs of the past three years, led by a group of former 2021 recruits who all returned motivated to write a better ending to their story.

Those motivations might put this new reality on hold for another 12 months. For at least one more season, everything still rides on that game even if the tangible consequences don’t. Culture outweighs everything else thanks to the names affiliated with what’s coming on Nov. 30 inside Ohio Stadium.

For some, that game comes at a time when it feels like Ohio State needs to right the ship. But that’s a short-term view of a long-term concept.

I asked our texters two questions under the same guise, but with one important difference:

If you had to choose between these two outcomes in any given year, which would you pick?
If you had to choose between these two outcomes in specifically 2024, which would you pick
The answer options for those two questions were the same: Winning a national title, but losing to Michigan again, or beating Michigan, but no national title.

In any given year, the national title got 65% of the vote, emphasizing that most of this educated focus group cares more about the bigger picture. It doesn’t take away the hurt that a loss to a rival can cause, but a trophy can sometimes make up for temporary wounds.

From the 860:
“Anyone who says they’d rather beat Michigan than win a natty I think is exaggerating a bit. This is also coming from a 27-year-old fan whose experience with a competitive rivalry so far was basically non-existent until the last three years. Beating Michigan to me just doesn’t hold the same weight as winning a natty. I’m used to beating Michigan, I’m not used to winning national championships. Only done that once in my time as a fan.”

“The only acceptable answer are: 1). Win the national title and. 2). Whichever win against Michigan gets you closer to a title. If that is playing them once at the end of the season, then that is the most important. If they happen to rematch in the B1G tourney, that becomes the most important. If they meet again in the playoff, that’s automatically the most important regardless of what happened before. Any responses that are different don’t have the end goal in mind.”

From the 614:
“I refuse to live in a world where a natty isn’t the pinnacle of OSU football! The 2006 game is forever tarnished by that loss to Florida!”

From the 513:
“This is wild…if you win the national championship you are the #1 team in the country and hang a banner…are there banners for a Michigan win?”

Focusing that question only on the 2024 season had a different result, with 54% being more concerned with the Michigan element than what could follow. That’s what happens when a class that was supposed to be potentially legendary spends an offseason saying that game is arguably the most important reason why most of them are back.

The way things have lined up this season suggests there are too many reasons why winning that game needs to be the most important thing on OSU’s 2024 to-do list, and some of our texters agree.

From the 614:
“With the amount of talent on this roster, the amount of players that came back, the talent they got in the transfer portal, the fact that the game is at OSU, and the fact that Michigan lost a chunk of their coaching staff & roster there is zero excuses for them to not beat UM this year. The only excuse I could think of that might be acceptable is if there’s a million injuries.’

From the 440:
“Maybe an unpopular opinion around Ohio State fans I’d rather see a win versus Michigan next year. The three straight losses, the Michigan have weighed more on me than the decade without a national championship. The natty is so rare and there are so many other different factors that will play into one. With a 16-game schedule, they’re even more pitfalls that could spoil a run in the national championship. They lost in Michigan this year would effectively slam the door on the Ryan Day 10 year for me. Michigan lost head, coach, quarterback, and almost everything else during the off-season. Ohio State loaded up on transfers and premium coaches. If they lose this game and fail to make the Big Ten championship game or playoff, it will be one of the biggest ways of talent in Ohio State history.”