Senior wide receiver Brandon Inniss (1) at fall training camp on Aug. 6, 2026. Credit: Cassandra D’Angelo | Sports Photo Editor.
The forecast for Michigan game week at Ohio State has long called for more than cold November air.
M’s disappear beneath red X’s across campus. Michigan becomes “The Team Up North.” Gold pants wait to be earned, and when the Wolverines come to Columbus, Buckeye seniors take their final ceremonial walk across the turf at Ohio Stadium.
This season, Ohio State is clearing one thing from that forecast: Senior Day.
The Buckeyes will honor their seniors on the Sept. 5 home opener against Ball State, moving away from the long-held tradition of recognizing seniors before their final home game against the Wolverines.
Head coach Ryan Day said the change is centered around minimizing distractions surrounding “The Game” against Michigan the final week of the regular season.?
“There are already enough distractions during that week,” he said on Aug. 15. “This was just one more thing that we felt like we could move.”
The ceremony had traditionally added another layer of emotion to a week already carrying the weight of one of the biggest rivalries in college football.
Although Ohio State erased a four-year losing streak against the Wolverines a season ago, with a 27-9 win in Ann Arbor, the Buckeyes have not beaten Michigan at Ohio Stadium since 2018.?
In 2022 and 2024 (“The Game” was not played in 2020 due to COVID-19), Ohio State seniors took their Senior Day walk in silver pants with the chance to earn gold, but fell in losses to the Wolverines.?
That recent history adds another layer to Day’s emphasis on keeping the final week of the regular season centered on the rivalry itself.
The move, which was first proposed by Ohio State’s administration, Day said, gives the Buckeyes an opportunity to recognize their veterans early while shifting the focus late in the season to remain solely on football.
The Buckeyes initially considered moving Senior Day up one week, but the discussion shifted toward recognizing the group before their first game kicks off .
“We said, ‘well, why don’t we just recognize all the seniors at the beginning of the year and let them know how much we appreciate everything they’ve done,” Day said.
On the same day that the seniors are recognized, Ohio State will also honor Ohio’s lieutenant governor and former Buckeye football head coach Jim Tressel, adding his name to the Ohio Stadium Ring of Honor during the Buckeyes’ season opener.?
Still, Day explained the program did not want to make the change without hearing from the players who would be directly affected. The idea was brought to the seniors before finalizing the decision, and they gave their approval.
“[The seniors] were all nodding quickly and said, ‘Yeah, I think that’s a great idea,’” Day said.
While the seniors will receive their flowers in front of the Horseshoe crowd in September, the cold and the Buckeyes’ annual matchup with Michigan will still belong to November.
“We think it’s going to allow us [an] opportunity to really kind of recognize them early in the season, and then to focus on games,” Day said.?
