I have always said that one of the things that makes college football better than the National Football League is the rivalry games, and I will stand by that statement until I'm long gone. This game, "The Game" is one of those rivalry games.
Growing up about an hour from Columbus, I got to experience the rivalry. I've seen die-hard Ohio State fans. I've seen die-hard Michigan fans. I've seen the competition and the hatred.
Since before Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes, these two teams have hated each other, although Bo and Woody faced off in the 10 Year War, and really took this rivalry to a whole new level.
Both teams have had off-seasons. Both teams have had their fair share of struggling against the other. Ohio State fans had to live through the John Cooper era, while Michigan fans had to endure the Rich Rodriguez era.
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| Bo went 5-4-1 against Woody in the 10 Year War. |
Michigan leads the rivalry with an overall record of 58-43-6. This is the 109th meeting between these two teams, and I have to say, this is one of the toughest to pick a winner. Both teams seem very much similar, despite what any Michigan or OSU fan would say.
Both teams have struggled this year throwing the ball. Michigan is ranked 97th in the NCAA averaging about 200 yards per game, while OSU is ranked 103rd, with an average of 180.8 passing yards per game.
Ohio State has the lead in rushing, being ranked 9th and averaging 245.5 yards per game. Michigan is only ranked 36th in the nation, and is averaging 194.5 yards per game.
Both teams average close to the same amount of points per game, Michigan averaging 30.8 (ranking 48th in the nation for points scored), while Ohio State scores an average of 38.2 (ranking 18th in the nation).
Defense could very well be the key here. Michigan's defense is allowing only 18.1 points per game, while OSU is giving up 23.0. That's a ranking of 17th for points allowed for Michigan, and a ranking of 34 for Ohio State.
Let's dig deeper shall we?
Michigan used to be led by quarterback Denard Robinson, and in some ways, they still are. Denard was injured earlier this season, and just stepped back onto the field last Saturday in Michigan's victory against Iowa. And although he did take some snaps at QB, Robinson's role was very much a running back and wide receiver, something that some Michigan fans have been asking Brady Hoke and Al Borges for for some time.
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| Devin Gardner has proven to be quite the QB for Michigan. |
Michigan's man under center now is junior Devin Gardner, who has been quite impressive as QB. In his only three starts for Michigan as a QB, Gardner has thrown for over 800 yards, seven touchdowns, and three interceptions. He has also punched the ball into the endzone six times in those three starts.
Denard also looks to be a huge weapon as a running back/wide receiver. He has rushed for over 1,000 yards this season and hit pay dirt six times as well.
Michigan running back Fitzgerald Toussaint was unfortunately injured last Saturday and doesn't look to play for the rest of this season, but since he is a junior, he'll be back next year. It's still sad that he'll miss a game as important as this.
Gardner also has two reliable receivers in Jeremy Gallon and Roy Roundtree, who have combined for over 1,000 yards and four receiving touchdowns. Gardner definitely has a lot more accuracy than Denard, and is just as much a threat to be able to tuck the ball and run. With his 6'4" frame, he can stretch for those yards a little easier than Denard could.
Does this seem like it'll be the battle of two quarterbacks yet?!
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| Braxton Miller has been an impressive QB for OSU. |
Miller has had quite the year, gaining Heisman talk with stats of 134/236, 1,850 yards, 14 touchdowns and only six interceptions. Miller has also scored 13 rushing touchdowns.
Miller's running back, junior Carlos Hyde will look to ad on to his 824 total rushing yards for this season. He also has 15 rushing touchdowns to his name as well.
Braxton also finds help in his wide receivers. Two of which, Devin Smith and Philly Brown, have combined for a total of over 1,000 yards rushing and eight touchdowns.
Their offenses have been rather impressive this season, but have also had their struggles. The same story is with their defenses. Both teams have defenses that can shut out teams, but also give up many points, and put their team in jeopardy of losing.
Michigan's defensive coordinator is none other than Ravens' former defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. With a defensive coach of that magnitude, you'd have to think that he'll have them ready and willing to flatten that Ohio State offense come Saturday in Columbus, Ohio. But obviously Luke Fickell will look to have his defense ready as well.
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| Urban Meyer looks to beat Michigan in his 1st year as OSU coach. |
And let's not forget the coaches! Jim Tressel resigned as Ohio State's head football coach on May 30, 2011 due to NCAA trouble. Luke Fickell was named interim-head coach for the 2011 season, and since then, Urban Meyer was hired as the head coach of the Buckeyes. Meyer has ties to Ohio State and obviously the state of Ohio, and will be looking to gain a victory over Michigan in his first season as Buckeyes head coach.
Michigan head coach Brady Hoke has ties to Michigan as well, being a defensive coach for the Wolverines when they won the National Championship in 1997. Hoke dislikes Ohio State so much, he won't even say "Ohio State". He will only refer to their team as "Ohio". Just as well, many OSU fans and coaches refer to Michigan as "that team up north".
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| Brady Hoke is 1-0 against the Buckeyes as Michigan head coach. |
Brady Hoke gained a victory over Ohio State in his first year as head coach of the Wolverines (last year - 2011), and like I said before, Urban Meyer will look to do the same thing this season.
I have followed this rivalry since I was a kid, and I can say that with Brady Hoke at Michigan and Urban Meyer at Ohio State, I really could see this being the start of the "new" 10 Year War. Woody and Bo did it in the late 60's and 70's. Will Brady and Urban do it in the 2010's and 2020's? Only time will tell.
"The Game" will start at noon ET and air on ABC. It'll take place at Ohio Stadium, "The Horseshoe" in Columbus, Ohio. Pick who you think will win if you must (or if you can), but it is lined up to be quite an entertaining game!
- Matt Lytle
@mattlytle
The stats that you share are very good, however I do not think that this is the beginning of a new 10 year war. I feel like Urban Meyer has a significant head in recruiting in the southern part of the nation. I feel like Brady Hoke will be a short term coach at Michigan. I feel like Michigan if they want to be relevant in the rivalry game going forward will have to acquire a coach that is a recruiting superstar like Urban Meyer, Nick Sabin, or the old Ball Coach at South Carolina. Michigan notoriously has been able to pull a lot of top recruits out of Ohio this is a well known fact. However in urban Meyers short tenure at the Ohio State University he has already proven to be able to lock down the recruits in Ohio as well as travel all the way across the country. The big 10 as a whole should be rooting for Ohio State to win a national title very soon. This would never bully allow the other coaches in the Big Ten to travel nationally and have a serious chance of locking down 5 star recruits. Back to the game looming on Saturday is going to be full are for what we saw in the sixty's and seventy's. Remember, that Michigan is traveling to Columbus this will definitely not bode well for the Wolverines. I feel like all OHIO State fans including myself are not really looking at the wind or a loss we are using this as a measuring stick to see how we stack up against Alabama and the top programs in the country . The Crimson Tide routed the Michigan Wolverines somewhere in the neighborhood of 40- 14. And this is the sad thing about (the game). Until Michigan is capable of recruiting 5 star athletes nationally had a consistent basis they will continue to get beat by The Ohio State University football team. With that being said I feel like there is going to be at least a 20 point spread in this game.
ReplyDeleteUmmmmmmm, read your comment again and think about it. Hoke will be at Michigan for awhile, he beat Ohio state and sparty in his first two years. Don't get me going on recruiting, get on Espn or Rivals.com and look at hoke's classes.
DeleteThe first comment on this is obviously someone who hasnt paid attention to Michigan Football. Have you seen Brady Hoke's recruiting classes? Michigan Football is back and Brady Hoke will.be running this program for years to come. I guarantee a National Championship within the next 5 years. Go Blue!
ReplyDeleteIt is a really sad thing that Ohio state barely beat Michigan this year. Michigan showed us once again how to pair of wool they are in the game against Alabama. I also felt that Ohio State had made more progress . This is just another blow to the Big Ten. OHIO state nor Michigan can compete at the national level at this point what's the top teams in the country. It is apparent that everyone did not read the first persons comment clearly. I think that they were talking about 5 star recruits. And Brady Hoke does not have the capacity to bring them in in any quantity as Urbam Meyer was able to do in 3 months of recruiting.
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