Ryan Day admits Ohio State 'panicked' in loss to Michigan football

Following yet another Michigan football win over Ohio State, a 13-10 win in a rock fight that might have been the sweetest of the 4-0 stretch, Ryan Day was making excuses again, but also admitted a very real truth.

Ohio State panicked.

The Buckeyes had the better team. They were built specifically to win this game and they couldn't find a way to do it.

There were plenty of mistakes along the way, mistakes by Michigan football too, as the Wolverines got 10 points out of four goal-to-go situations. But Ohio State missed two field goals. Will Howard threw two costly interceptions and Ryan Day didn't even consider going for it on a fourth-and-one in his own territory late in the game, or a fourth-and-seven from the Michigan 37 in the third quarter.

It was weird energy and as Michigan football drove down the field for the game-winning score, it got even weirder.

After Kalel Mullings 27-yard run, Michigan football was in clear field goal range at the 17. The Wolverines eventually faced a third-and-two at the nine. Following a timeout, Ohio State had 12-men on the field and got penalized five yards.

It was a colossal mistake. If Ohio State was able to hold on the third-and-two, it could have had the ball with over two minutes left, down three, with two minutes.

That's a lot different than being down three with 45 seconds left and zero timeouts. Yet, it all happened because Ryan Day said Ohio State coaches "panicked" due to Michigan sending its players in so quickly (they literally jogged -- it was after a timeout) but here's the full quote (along with a video of the play.

Ryan Day says Ohio State panicked

"There was a miscommunication of the grouping based on what they had in the game," Day said in his post-game press conference. "They were fast to run off the sideline, and we weren't given a ton of time to match the personnel. At that moment, as it was getting loud, there was a miscommunication in terms of what was in the game, because it was moving so fast there was a little bit of panic going on. Typically, when a group runs on the field, you get a little bit of time to make sure you make that substitution and you know, that time was very, very fast. So we had to quickly respond to that and we didn't well enough. We panicked and it cost us."

When you watch the video of what Day is trying to describe as "very, very fast" it's hilarious. It's Michigan football players jogging on the field after a timeout. Day seems to be talking about the time you are given to substitute between plays.

If one team subs, the refs have to hold up the play for the other team to sub. You don't get that luxury after a timeout though. And it was third-and-two, after seven consecutive runs. It shouldn't have been hard to figure out what personnel to have in the game.

Yet, Day panicked and in the process cost his team at a critical juncture. Then, he tried to blame it on the refs, even though the only person he has to blame is himself.