If Ohio State’s players and coaches needed a reason not to overlook a miserable Michigan team and proud program mired in unprecedented turmoil, all they have to do is harken back to last season.
“Their personnel will play their very best against us,” head coach Urban Meyer said, “and that was as obvious as you can be last year.”
In a dramatic and unexpectedly fiercely competitive 42-41 win, the heavily-favored Buckeyes slipped out of Ann Arbor and avoided disaster at the hands of the Wolverines.
In the process, though, a previously anemic Michigan offense torched Ohio State’s defense for 603 total yards and came a two-point conversion away from pulling off what would’ve been a colossal upset.
“We don’t wanna have something like what happened last year happen again, so I think we’re going to prepare really well for this game,” junior linebacker Joshua Perry said.
“Guys are going to take it really seriously. We know what’s at stake and it’s a little bit more than what people imagine. Like I said earlier, you gotta throw records out the window on this one. You gotta know that everybody’s gonna play their best.”
Because in a game that’s billed as college football’s equivalent to war, there is a special sense of urgency around the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. Meyer booms LL Cool J’s “It’s Time For War” on an infinite loop.
Signs and posters around the facility are posted with the sole purpose of remind Ohio State the importance of a game that’s lost its luster as Michigan continues its freefall from national relevancy.
“The great thing about this game is one team could not have won a game all year and the other one can be undefeated,” Perry said, “but you never know what’s going to come out the gate. That’s why you play it, that’s why you enjoy it and why you prepare."
And the Buckeyes maintain the Wolverines — which had early success on the recruiting front under head coach Brady Hoke — have the talent to challenge an Ohio State team that’s favored to win by almost three touchdowns Saturday.
“They're going to give us everything they got and what they've got is a lot,” Meyer said. “Motivation won't be an issue. Expectation of facing a very talented team or facing a top 10 defense in the country and for the two days now we've been pounding, watching it, they're really good. So there's no issue. Very athletic and talented on special teams, too.”
Added senior linebacker Curtis Grant: “They have a lot of talent, from that quarterback position to the receivers. They have talent all over the field. It’s kind of hard to wonder what’s going on up there, like ‘How come they’re not winning more games?’
“I just got done watching film. They have multiple running backs. They have good receivers. Any time this team wanted to explode, they could and just go crazy.”
At least on offense, Michigan did exactly that in 2013.
The memory of that game — and the countless times before that where either program successfully played the role of spoiler — keeps Ohio State wary of the Wolverines.
“The stakes are raised for both sides. If we want to go where we want to go, we have to beat them; if they want to make it to a bowl they have to beat us,” senior defensive tackle Michael Bennett said.
“Then it's just the classic rivalry. There are so many different reasons to play each game and this one always has more. It's going to be exciting, it's not going to be some 11-1 team vs. some 5-5 or 5-6 team, whatever they are. It's going to be the team up north vs. Ohio State like it is every year.”
