Jack Sawyer says Ohio State’s National Championship ‘kind of erases’ loss to Michigan

Does Ohio State’s National Championship ‘erase’ their loss to Michigan? Jack Sawyer thinks so.

The Ohio State Buckeyes won the National Championship this season and deserve all the glory that comes with such a feat. However, their season was not perfect, with losses to Oregon and Michigan during the regular season.

Ohio State lost 13-10 to the Wolverines in Columbus, which was Ohio State’s fourth consecutive loss to Michigan. However, former OSU defensive end Jack Sawyer, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers last month, feels OSU’s National Championship negates the loss to Michigan.

Here’s Sawyer’s full quote about the Michigan loss.

“When you win a national championship, if anyone tells you they’d rather go 1-12 and just beat the ‘Team Up North,’ you’re crazy. You know what I mean? You’re playing this game to win championships,” Sawyer said. “Make no mistake about it, no one wants to beat those guys more than we do, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing we could have done after (we lost to the Team Up North). We have our shot to chase the ultimate goal, which is to win the national championship. Like, in the NFL, you lose four games in the regular season and you’re probably the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. That’s kind of the approach we took, especially with the expanded playoffs, and I think it’s gonna continue to be like that.

“Obviously, The Game is still gonna be The Game, because it is The Game, the best rivalry in sport. But at the end of the day, I think you’d be crazy to say you would rather beat them and not win a national championship instead of win a national championship and not beat them. In a perfect world, you do both of those things, but obviously we didn’t. But winning a national championship kind of erases all of that. For me, it does, at least.”

Winning a National Championship certainly lessens the sting of the Michigan loss greatly. It’s even fair to say the loss made OSU dig down and do some soul-searching before the College Football Playoff that led to the championship run. However, to say it ‘kind of erases’ the loss? That’s a big stretch. Especially for a player like Sawyer, who had a complete meltdown when Michigan planted its flag at midfield. Does the National Championship win erase that, too? Because the videos of Sawyer’s antics haven’t been deleted and you can watch them below.