Michigan fans will love this insane Ohio State rivalry stat more than anything

It's not an exaggeration to suggest that Saturday's shocking upset loss at home to 6-5 Michigan might be the worst loss in the history of Ohio State's program.

The stakes couldn't have been higher: With a win, the Buckeyes would have punched their ticket to the Big Ten Championship Game and more or less guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff. When Ryan Day was brought back as head coach, and given the green light to spend tens of millions on buliding his roster over the offseason, it was done with the single goal of beating the Wolverines in mind. And with Michigan limping into the Horseshoe at 6-5 (and missing arguably its two best players in corner Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland), everything seemed to be pointing to a cathartic win.

And yet, despite all that, and despite everyone in Columbus vowing that this time would be different, the result was exactly the same: a maddening 13-10 defeat that could cost Day and the rest of his coaching staff their jobs. Ohio State did everything it could to get over the hump, and it still wasn't enough; it's safe to say that Buckeye fans are just about at rock bottom right now.

But, just in case the knife needs a little more twisting, one small fact might be the thing that sends them completely over the edge.

Ohio State's 2021 recruiting class goes winless against Michigan — with one ironic exception

With Saturday's loss, Ohio State's 2021 recruiting class — including stars like TreVeyon Henderson, Emeka Egbuka, Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau — will leave Columbus winless against the team up north. It's a brutal failure for a group that had sky-high expectations from the moment they set foot on campus. But despite all those five-stars and that lofty 247 ranking, they're the first group to go 0-4 against Michigan since the 1990 class.

Except for one player, that is. The crown jewel of that 2021 haul was a quarterback from Texas named Quinn Ewers, widely regarded as not just the best recruit in his class but one of the best recruits in recent memory. Ewers would spend just one fall in Columbus, sitting behind C.J. Stroud before transferring back home to Texas ... where, three years later, he would lead the Longhorns to a win over Michigan in the Big House.

Which isn't to suggest that Ohio State was wrong for choosing Stroud over Ewers, or that the Buckeyes could've done much to prevent the quarterback from transferring. But the fact that the only player who was able to beat the Wolverines was a player who left to go play somewhere else is just one more damning indictment of the program that Ryan Day has built; despite having as much talent as anyone in the country, Day has failed to do with Steve Sarkisian had no problem with. No wonder fans are calling for his job right now.