Anyone who reads this blog knows I am a huge Michigan fan. I haven’t written about football all season. In fact, the last time I wrote about football was on January 11th, Watching the Natty, when I reveled in seeing Alabama trounce Ohio State.
Today, I am on top of the world. We beat Ohio State. We beat them 42 – 27. We led almost the whole game and physically beat them on both sides of the ball. We were ran it down their throats and looked like the more dominant team. Wow. Awesome.
After Ohio State slapped Michigan State silly last week beating them 56 – 7, I was worried that Ohio State was peaking. They had 655 yards of offense of which 449 were passing and 206 rushing. While I was hopeful and thought this was a grittier Michigan team then we have seen for years, I harbored an inner fear programmed by eight years of losses that Ohio State might come in humiliate us again like they did in 2018 (62 – 39) and 2019 (56 – 27). It wasn’t just me. All the Michigan fans I talked to were cautiously optimistic.
We came out took the kick-off and scored in a nine-play drive. We looked good. It looked like we could run on them. We held Ohio State to a three and out. We were on our way to a second touchdown when Cade McNamara threw a rare interception. Ohio State started to move the ball but we held them to a field goal in a thirteen-play drive. It was 7 – 3.
Our next possession resulted in a punt. Ohio State returned the favor on their next drive. Our fourth drive was three and out. Had their defense made adjustments? Ohio State started on their own 46 and in six plays scored a touchdown to take a 10 – 7 lead. Garret Wilson made a spectacular catch on the touchdown throw from the freshman phenom C. J. Stroud. I was thinking, “Oh man, here we go again.”
But no, on our next drive we scored a touchdown on an 82 yard thirteen play drive. Cade McNamara connected on a 39 yard pass play to Cornelius Johnson. Hassan Haskins scored with a leaping dive over the Ohio State line. It was 14 – 10. I was starting to think, “Hmmm… we are pushing these guys around.” Ohio State came back but, again, we held them to a field goal and the half ended with Michigan in the lead 14 – 13.
After their 10 – 7 lead, Ohio State never took the lead again.
Ohio State took the second half kick-off and went three and out. I was afraid they would make adjustments during half-time. Our defense would have none of it. We took the ball on our own 19 yard line. We scored in three running plays! Corum for 13 and 55 yards. Haskins scored on a 13 yard run. Just like that we were up 21 – 13.
We held them to another three and out. We got the ball on the 22 yard line. J.J. McCarthy threw a 31 yard pass to Roman Wilson for 31 yards. McNamara came back in the drilled one to Mike Sanistril for 34. Haskins scored on a run and voila it 28 – 13. Did I dare think it was a comfortable lead? Was our offense looking more potent than the vaunted Buckeyes?
It was not that comfortable. Ohio State took the ball on their own 18 yard like and put together a seventeen-play drive. The scored at the beginning of the Fourth Quarter making the score 28 – 20. They were moving the ball but nothing like the big plays the throttled Michigan State with a week earlier. We were able to put pressure on Stroud. The talented receivers certainly made catches but not for big game breaking plays.
They punted to us and A.J. Henning returned the punt 22 yards. We drove again with Haskins punching it in for another touchdown. The score was 35 – 20. We were up two touchdowns again. Ohio State came back on a 13 play 75 yard drive that involved two fourth down conversions include the play they scored on to make it 35 – 27.
You have to know but this point in the game. I was no longer sitting. I have been pacing to and fro in front of the TV. I was texting my son and a few friends any combination of ugh, awesome, OMG, stop them, they can’t stop our running game, etc. We expressed that we were all nervous wrecks… optimistic nervous wrecks because we were not letting Ohio State dominate us on either side of the ball. In fact, it looked like we wanted it more than them. No, it didn’t look like that, we did want it more than them.
There was 4:45 left in the game. We needed to get some first downs and win this game. A.J. Henning took the kick-off and returned it 26 yards to our 37. Then, Hassan Haskins and the offensive line took over. They ran the ball five consecutive times for gains of 15, 6, 11, 27 and 4 yards to score another touchdown making the score 42 – 27.
Now it was the defenses turn to show Ohio State how much we wanted the win. Ohio State started from their own 25. Stroud connect on a 16 yard pass to Wilson. Another pass to Wilson got the ball their 46. It was third down and five and David Ojabo sacked Stroud for a 13 yard loss. On fourth down, Stroud’s pass to Chris Olave was incomplete. Michigan took over with :54 left on the clock. McNamara took a knee twice in the victory formation and the game was over: Michigan 42 – Ohio State 27.
The fans were loud the entire game. The number of offside penalties on their offense was due to that crowd noise. Ohio State were rarely in a position to hear such. When we took over on downs at the end of the game, the crazy loud stadium became frenzied with cheering and celebration. At the end of the game, I have never seen so many jubilant fans stream onto the field. It was a magical moment at Michigan Stadium. The entire Michigan fan base exhaled and realized that we had just beat a pretty darn good Buckeye team.
It was a cold, sleety and snowy, the whole game. It was Big 10 kind of November Football weather. It was Michigan – Ohio State kind of football weather. Did that slow down the Ohio State? Maybe. One of the Fox talking heads thought the weather played to Michigan to Michigan’s favor. When Ohio State coach Ryan Day was asked that same question in his post-game press conference he said “Both teams had to play in the same conditions” to his credit.
This was a great win for Michigan. After years of dominance by Ohio State, it really felt like a 1969 kind of win and hopefully a turning point for our program. I love the grit and desire of this team.
This was a great game. I have give credit to Ohio State. They did not give up. From about halfway through the Third Quarter, there were touchdowns scored on five possessions in a row. Michigan scored three of them.
This is the first time Michigan has won the Big Ten East Championship and it is the first time they will be playing in the Big Ten Championship Game next week. They will be playing Iowa. If they win that… Well, one game at a time.
It has been a great day. Go Blue!
Here is the Box score of the game. The statistics are relatively close with Michigan having many more rushing yards than Ohio State and vice-versa when it comes to passing.
Here are some interesting facts about this game.
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