Why OSU's Loss to U of M Happened at Halftime - An I/O Psychologist's View

The rivalry between The Ohio State University (TOSU) and University of Michigan (UM) has lasted over 100 years. For more than 20 years, the two teams made their schedule so this rivalry is the last game of the regular season. The history of play runs long, and deep and as an alumna of TOSU, I can tell you it is taken very seriously.

The week before the game, the entire city of Columbus, Ohio goes around and places tape in the form of an x over any “M” on any public sign; there are blood donation contests to outdo UM’s contribution of blood donation, and there are pre-parties, tailgates setting up days before the game and an electricity throughout the city of Columbus. If you aren’t a fan of TOSU football, it’s best to stay as far away from campus as possible on game day. Over 300,000 people show up to cheer on their favorite team.

Last year, in 2021, the Buckeyes lost to Michigan for the first time in 10 years. It was a tough loss, and the theme for 2022 was “redemption.” While the Buckeyes played a good season (11-0) and ranked higher than UM going into Saturday’s game, the ultimate result was a 45-23 loss.

As an I/O Psychologist, my focus is on understanding behavior, behavior change, group thought processes and how to shift groups to new or different behaviors that are more positive or successful. For example, if an organization is having trouble with morale, an I/O psychologist can assess where the pain points are and develop a strategy for how to help create a shared vision and actionable steps to help employees shift their behavior individually and as a group towards a more powerful outcome. The same is true when it comes to sports teams. An I/O Psychologist or a Sports Psychologist is often leveraged on sporting teams to assess the general behaviors of a team, understand where there are disruptions that could hurt the team and build a path towards strengthening their thoughts, behaviors and actions to show up to play at their best - especially when the direction of the game starts to turn. While sports psychologists are often enlisted, my I/O (industrial and organizational psych) background in studying neuropsychology, the wiring of the brain, performance and stress helps me be a knowledgeable source in the area of sports and performance.

I’ve worked with many athletes over the years to help them develop a mindset that is unbeatable; that is - no matter what happens, they can reset on the spot and bring out their best. One particular professional golfer I worked with used to lose his round when he would have a bad shot and start spiraling - never to recover his calm mindset. Another would lose his game on the green, getting impatient on his putts. We studied the best behaviors to allow them to overcome these moments of panic, keep their hormone levels at peak states for performance, and let adversity of the game drive greater success. The name of the game is to stay calm and in control under pressure. An NBA player worked with me to keep his head in the game when he was traded and didn’t feel he was coming into a new team that valued him. He had to let go of those thoughts and manifest a different experience. Studies repeatably tell us what we think about is what we create; this is not just a saying, the wiring of our brain allows this to be true. If you don’t believe me, tell yourself how good you look every morning for a week as you look in your bathroom mirror. At first, you may feel silly, but eventually, you will notice you actually start showing up to your day with more confidence. And the cool thing is, you don’t even have to believe it at first. You can actually talk yourself into believing it once you say it enough. (This was something I had to do in my life when I was down on myself for a while).

Getting back to the Buckeyes. I’ve listened to and read the comments of sports analysts. They all seem to point to a defense that didn’t show up or an offense that couldn’t connect. While these are true in the second half, they aren’t the root of what went wrong. I’d like to offer my hypothesis here and get your perspective on it.

The Buckeyes went into half-time with a jaw-dropping, exciting play putting them ahead on the leaderboard. Energy was high as they ran into the locker-room and I’d dare to say most OSU fans were already thinking they were on their way to a sweet redemption year of victory. As the teams came out of the locker room, Michigan had strategically chosen to start with the ball after half-time (this is always a good choice as there is a mental hook with feeling in control in the second half.)

As the second half began, UM looked like an elevated team, connecting passes, staying in sync with each other and having fun. TOSU looked like it was panicking. Another way to say this is UM looked like it was playing to win, TOSU was playing to not lose. There is a difference in mindset. One is empowered, clear-minded and thoughtful; one is anxious, nervous and reactive. TOSU started to have one penalty after another, including an unexpected Unsportmanlike Conduct for one of the players. Coach Day is a class act and teaches the team grace, respect and focus and so this was outside of the type of behavior he commands from his players. This is when I started to form my hypothesis on where it went wrong, and what needed to happen.

Half-time is known as a time for teams to take a break, recover their minds and bodies and get a pep talk and get fired up to get back into the game or unvail a strategy for the second half of the game. Often, coaches will enlist the help of a psychologist or motivational speaker to come in and get the team fired up, as they need to get to a peak state within their minds in order to perform. Whatever is said or not said in the locker-room at halftime dramatically impacts the group think of the team and the efficacy or belief in how they will show up on the field.

Let me preface by saying I was not in either locker-room and do not know what was said. However, based on observing the severe changes in the mental game, the ability for UM to rise up to new levels and TOSU to fall so significantly throughout the final two quarters - I believe the game was decided in the locker-room at halftime.

UM came out and started to play like champions; TOSU came out and played like they were angry at last year’s game but were stuck on the anger and not the energy to overcome. Anger and frustration alone will never win a game- and will always lose a game (this is true in life, too!). Properly channeled anger and frustration into positive, powerful thoughts and actions will win a game.

Think of the study of Navy Seals and everyday people. They were asked to run through an obstacle course with an oxygen tank where their oxygen would be shut off from time to time, but never for long enough to have impact on their performance. What do you think happened? Scientists studied the brain of participants. The Navy and Army participants stayed the course, had no brainwave changes nor hormonal changes and finished. The everyday people panicked, threw off their oxygen tanks, spiked adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormones) and quit. The lesson of this study is that we can train our brain to anticipate challenges and not panic through them. Most often though, an untrained brain will resort to primal tendencies of threat and panic. In those states, we typically cannot perform at our best. (For more science on the mindset of a Nacy Seal - Stress, Mindsets, and Success in Navy SEALs Special Warfare Training - PMC (nih.gov))

This is my view on what happened to The Buckeyes in the OSU/UM 2022 game. It wasn’t about the physical game as much as it was about the mental game. Whoever spoke to the UM team at halftime knew how to light up the pathways of the UM player’s brains to think like a champion and play like a champion. Whatever was said to the OSU players may have also done the, but just didn’t connect enough. There was still a mischanneled feeling of redemption and anger that if properly channeled - would have won the game. Part of this comes down to not only the words that are said at halftime, but if those words are also said throughout training. A brain will connect best with thoughts and patterns it has developed over time. UM simply trained to have the mindset of a champion this year. TOSU needs to focus their team back on mindfulness, practicing control of their emotions, living in an elevated peak state when performing their sport and believing in themselves when the chips are down. I believe this intensive training can and will make a difference. Understanding the science of thoughts/the brain is the key to understanding good to great, peak performance and overcoming the greatest challenges.

What do you think? Share your thoughts with me. All respectful opinions welcome.