Tuesday marked the 30-year anniversary since Jim Harbaugh, then a 22-year-old Michigan quarterback, delivered a guaranteed win over Ohio State in the Horseshoe.
Harbaugh returns Saturday, and earlier this week, said his players were free to speak their minds, though as a former play who guaranteed victory, he wouldn't recommend it.
No Michigan players took the bait — outside of Jabrill Peppers saying Michigan plans to hit Curtis Samuel and test Ohio State physically — until Tuesday night during the annual Ann Arbor student tradition of walking to Bo Schembechler's grave before The Game.
There, fans and players (and sometimes a head coach) smash buckeyes with hammers.
Michigan quarterback John O'Korn, who started in place of the injured Wilton Speight, participated in the tradition. When students recognized him and according to Michigan fan site maizenbrew.com, he issued a guarantee of his own.
“I believe in our coaches, and I believe in this team. We appreciate all your support all year and we'll get it done on Saturday.”– Michigan QB John O'Korn
What's most interesting is O'Korn might not start Saturday in Columbus. Let Jim Harbaugh, who is not a doctor, tell it, Speight looks "better every day." Wednesday, Harbaugh also confirmed the QB with the broken collarbone is "practicing."
As for what this means for Ohio State, we turn to linebacker Chris Worley, who offered this gem to reporters Monday afternoon:
“We’d love to hear that, honestly. People just think they’ve just got the win in the bag like that, before you even go out there and fight. You can’t say that because you’re going to get everyone’s best blow. Who’s to say their best blow will be better than ours? Never want to see people go out and say things like that.”
