re: True or False: Ryan Day is fired if he loses to Michigan in November...

Michigan is not going to be good and OSU is going to be very good. Yes, if he loses to Michigan this year, I think he's done. But that isn't happening.

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I am going to answer my own post and say "true."

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Nah. "The game" is not "the game" anymore with the expanded playoffs and the no conference divisions. What if he loses to Michigan in November, then beats them the very next week in December in the Big 10 Championship Game? What if they lose to Michigan in November, but that's their only regular season loss and they still win the Big 10 and get a bye? Or it's their 2nd loss and they host the 1st round of the playoffs and go on to win the National Championship?

That's one of the unintended consequences of expansion. More games will mean something, but less games will mean everything. I said a few weeks ago that it won't take long before Georgia/Bama/LSU/Texas and/or Michigan/Ohio State wind up playing 3 times in the same season. I'd be surprised if we don't see at least 1 or 2 repeat matchups almost every year. And I think we'll probably see Michigan/Ohio State and Bama/Auburn play 3 times in a 4 or 5 week span at least once in the next decade if everything remains status quo (rivalry games played last week of regular season, CCGs still being played and being played between the 2 teams with the best record, etc...).

So yeah, Michigan should take a step back next year and Ohio State should be loaded (though I'm not sold on Will Rogers being the guy), and a Buckeye loss to the Wolverines would be very disappointing in the moment and State fans will probably want Day fired. And he probably would be fired if it were any prior year. But it will ultimately depend on how they finish in the playoffs, and 1 regular season loss to Michigan shouldn't have much of an effect on that. Even if they don't get the chance to redeem that loss in the CCG or the playoffs. If they lose to Michigan, but beat Oregon to win the Big 10 and go on to win the NC, will anybody care by then?

I mean, if Duke loses to North Carolina twice in the regular season and once in the ACC tourney every year for 5 straight years but win 2 Final Fours, would anybody be calling for their HC to be shite-canned? If the Lions had lost both games to the Packers this year instead of just 1, but were still playing in the NFCCG Sunday while Green Bay watched from home, would Lions fans give 2 shits? I didn't even know who won their regular season games--I had to look it up--because, individually, they didn't matter. No regular season game does in the NFL, college basketball, and starting next season, college football. It's just about your overall, cumulative record/resume.