"The Game" is one college football's most storied rivalries — the annual end-of-year matchup between Ohio State and Michigan, two of the winningest programs in the history of the sport, demands national attention nearly every year.
And yet, this rivalry has become one of the most one-sided affairs in college football this millennium, with the Buckeyes posting a 15-3 record since 2000. What will it take for the Wolverines to add to get a few more wins on the board?
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This week, Sporting News is looking at five rivalries that have taken on a one-sided feel, and whether that will change in 2018. Today, we’ll look at the next chapter in the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
Ohio State vs. Michigan
Current state
Ohio State is 6-0 in "The Game" under coach Urban Meyer. The Buckeyes can match the seven-year win streak from 2004-10 this year at Ohio Stadium, their longest win streak in the rivalry. That would be 14 wins in 15 years, a stretch of dominance former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel started.
It’s been how long?
Jim Harbaugh is 0-3 against Ohio State, but the Wolverines' trouble in this rivalry extends far beyond that. Brady Hoke led Michigan to its last win in the rivalry in 2011. The last one before that was in 2003, under Lloyd Carr. Michigan hasn’t won at Ohio Stadium since 2000 — when Drew Henson was quarterback and John Cooper was the Buckeyes' coach.
2018 LOOKAHEAD: Ohio State | Michigan
How we got here
Tressel and Meyer have dominated the rivalry, while Michigan hasn’t found an answer among Lloyd Carr — who was 1-6 against Tressel — Rich Rodriguez or Brady Hoke, who combined for a 1-6 record in this rivalry. Add Harbaugh to the mix, and It adds up to a 2-15 record since 2001. Michigan was close in 2016, but close doesn't cut it in this rivalry.
This year
Michigan will try to break that losing skid at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 24. "The Game" will be televised at noon on FOX.
What's new?
Both teams are excited about their new quarterback. Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins filled in for an injured J.T. Barrett and led the Buckeyes to a 31-20 victory in Ann Arbor last season. Haskins won the starting job in the spring and figures to be among the Heisman Trophy contenders in 2018. Michigan also has a new quarterback in Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson, who has generated a lot of excitement for the program. Will that be enough to bounce back from last year’s 8-5 record?
OSU: Follow the Leader
UM: Patterson the answer?
What it needs?
Michigan needs to break through and a win a game or two to restore the back-and-forth nature of the rivalry. The 10 Year War between Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes finished at 5-4-1. Ohio State fans don’t want to hear that, and quite frankly, they don’t have to. Meyer has dominated the rivalry and has shown no signs of slowing down in Columbus. It's on the Wolverines to change that in Harbaugh’s fourth season.
Will it change?
It’s still a throw-the-records-out-type game. Michigan played into the fourth quarter last year and had a chance to take the lead late. The 30-27 double-overtime thriller in 2016 was one of the best games in the history of the rivalry. Ohio State has beaten Michigan by an average of 10.5 points per game the last six years under Meyer, but three of those games were decided by five points or fewer. This year figures to be one of those games again, and the Big Ten East could be on the line. Still, it's on Michigan to break up the monopoly, or we’ll be writing the same article next year. That’s been the story for most of the millennium.
