For Ohio State left tackle Taylor Decker, there’s only one thing that can help aid the disappointment that came with Saturday’s 17-14 loss at the hands of Michigan State.
“Nothing would make me feel better than winning my fourth pair of gold pants,” the Buckeyes’ senior captain said Monday. “I think getting a win, and a big win at that, is the best way to bounce back and kind of show what this program is about.”
The gold pants Decker was referring to are, of course, the charm Ohio State players receive for beating arch-rival Michigan. As a fourth-year senior, Decker has three pairs already to represent his perfect 3-0 record against the Wolverines. A fourth pair would put Decker and the rest of his class in iconic territory.
Going 4 for 4 in this rivalry isn’t something that happens a ton for players on either side. Ohio State is currently in the middle of an incredible run of 10 wins in the last 11 versions of this game, but those types of streaks are a rarity when you look at the previous 111 versions of the Ohio State-Michigan game.
“I know when I first came in, I told my dad, I said that’d be really, really cool to leave here like that,” Decker said. “I’ve seen videos of former players here in the NFL, that will be a point of trash talk for them if they didn’t win four pairs of gold pants.
“My four years here, the rivalry kind of transcends that. But for me to be able to say that our class did our part in winning four of those games, I think that’d be huge. That’d be everything.”
Of course, Decker isn’t the only player on Ohio State’s roster looking to remain unbeaten against Michigan. Linebacker Joshua Perry, defensive tackle Adolphus Washington, and center Jacoby Boren, among others, are also unbeaten against the Wolverines in their first three meetings and will be playing in their final rivalry games in the scarlet and gray.
Having that opportunity helps create some added incentive for the Buckeyes after they suffered such a gut-wrenching loss at the hands of the Spartans.
“It’s just something to brag about, something you can always talk about and something people around here through all eras of Ohio State football can really appreciate,” Perry said. “National championships come around every so often, but you play that team every year.”
The last three editions of The Game certainly haven’t lacked drama. In 2012 — Urban Meyer’s first game in the series as the Buckeyes’ head coach — Ohio State shut out Michigan in the second half to cap a perfect season in a 26-21 victory. In 2013, it was Tyvis Powell’s interception of a two-point conversion attempt that sealed the Buckeyes’ 42-41 win. And in 2014, after quarterback J.T. Barrett was lost due to an ankle injury, Ezekiel Elliott broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to cap Ohio State’s 42-28 triumph.
Those games were all with Brady Hoke as Michigan’s head coach. Now, with Jim Harbaugh at the helm, the Wolverines have returned to national prominence. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry feels as if it’s been revived a bit.
Meyer said he expects another closely-contested game Saturday.
“When someone says, ‘Are you surprised they have very good players up there?’ Not at all,” Meyer said. “For those of you who have been covering this game, just check out the last few games we’ve played with them. I mean, it is just swinging as hard as you possibly can against very good players.”
The first matchup between Harbaugh and Meyer is undoubtedly the biggest storyline in this year’s version of The Game. But for guys like Decker and Perry, players who are trying to make their own history, Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game is about personal pride.
For them, it’s about beating the Wolverines for the fourth-straight time.
“It’s always big to be a part of the first of something, but we still have a mission,” Perry said. “We still have an objective and we have to make sure we prepare the right way so we can achieve our goal.”
