COLUMBUS, Ohio — Every day, Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon walks past the countdown in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, a gentle reminder throughout the year of the matchup against Michigan and what’s to come in late November.

That reminder is no longer very gentle.

The Buckeyes matchup against the Wolverines on Saturday is set to take on a bit of a different tone than previous years, as 6-5 Michigan is looking to play spoiler over 10-1 Ohio State with a fourth-straight win over the Buckeyes.

But the countdown for Simon and other Ohio State seniors, more importantly, will reach 1,827 days on Saturday — the five-year stretch from Ohio State’s last win in the series in 2019 to its next potential win. It’s now the last chance for Simon, and for the entirety of the famed 2021 recruiting class, to get the job done.

“It’d just be everything,” Simon said of what a win would mean to him. “You can’t describe it with anything tangible. Just fulfillment in a lot of areas and joy for the team. And for all the seniors that came back, too.”

Senior receiver Emeka Egbuka knows exactly what he’d do after a win over Michigan, too.

“You come to Ohio State to beat The Team Up North, to win a pair of gold pants,” Egbuka said. “Just handing the gold pants to my mother is a memory I’m really looking forward to.”

That chance has never come, though. Ohio State has lost, in 2021, 2022 and 2023, to Michigan in equally deflating ways.

In 2021, it was because Michigan ran the ball at will right at, and through, Ohio State. In 2022, it was big plays allowed and three points scored in the second half that doomed the Buckeyes. And in 2023, Michigan played a mistake-free football game — with, once again, a ground-and-pound approach. Add in the sign-stealing scandal, and there’s a cloud over the last three years that no one can quite shake.

That, amongst other things, kept Egbuka and a bevy of other draft-eligible players from last year’s team on the fence about what to do with their futures. So when it came time to decide what to do for the 2024 season, the Michigan game certainly factored into the equation about nearly all of them returning for a last run.

“I think that we’re worried about what we got going on in our building,” Egbuka said. “We’re not too focused on the negative aspect of The Team Up North, but we’re focused on the positive energy and the love that we have for everybody in this building. So we’re going into that game ready to spill blood for each other because we love each other. Not necessarily going to war because we hate the other side.”

That hatred is certainly there, though. And it’s played out in part through coach Ryan Day, who has undergone the most criticism of anyone in the program since 2021.

“I think that he’s gone through a lot of things that a lot of people shouldn’t have to go through — all the scrutiny and all the stuff that people are saying about him,” Egbuka said. “But he’s a fantastic, great head coach and I wouldn’t have anybody else leading our team in the entire country. So we all have his back 100%, we’re rallying behind him and he says he wants to do this for us, but we also want to do it for him as well.”

Every player that has been around for a few years has come to the defense of Day, who has been at the center of it all — from the losses, to the sign-stealing scandal, to barbs from Michigan’s former head coach.

“He’s gone through so much, I don’t think he deserved any of that stuff he’s gone through,” Simon said. “He’s our leader, no matter he’s always standing in front of the team, and he’s taken all the heat. Taken all the bullets for everyone. If we can get this done for him, it would mean everything.”

It’s hard to encapsulate what “everything” would mean for the Buckeyes, but it also fits considering most players needed to take a beat when asked what the win would mean.

Ohio State is a program that hasn’t beaten its rival in almost 2,000 days. It has had to watch Michigan hoist a national title trophy and have the floor to make whatever comments they want.

Now, with a weakened rival and perhaps the best Ohio State team of the last four years, there’s one more chance — likely the best chance — for the Buckeye seniors to topple Michigan.

And when it comes to legacies for the Ohio State captains, beating Michigan is first on the list.

“It’s kind of hard to put into words,” Egbuka said of what playing in the rivalry is like. “I think over the last three years you kind of see the depths of the rivalry and how it affects people and all that type of stuff. So, for the most part, football is just a game, but this rivalry definitely runs deep. I think it’s hard to explain and put into words, but once you experience it, you kind of know.”