Teams pore over film of their next opponent as they prepare for a football game, usually paying close attention to their closest contests and battles against the best teams either in the country or their conference.
The 2016 schedules for Ohio State and Michigan pitted the Buckeyes and Wolverines against six of the same teams, all during Big Ten play. Michigan's lone loss came at Iowa, a team Ohio State did not play. The Buckeyes fell under the lights at Penn State in their only loss of the season. The Wolverines beat the Nittany Lions by 39 at Michigan Stadium.
To get a better sense of how Jim Harbaugh's and Urban Meyer's respective teams played against the same competition this season, let's take a deeper dive into those games.
Penn State
Ohio State Result: Nittany Lions 24, Buckeyes 21
Michigan Result: Wolverines 49, Nittany Lions 10
Breakdown
Michigan opened Big Ten play against Penn State and ran for 326 yards and six touchdowns against the Nittany Lions, who had to play with walk-ons and a converted safety at linebacker due to injuries. Their game also kicked off at 3:30 p.m. on a perfect day from Michigan Stadium.
The Nittany Lions gained only 12 first downs and 191 total yards against the vaunted Michigan defense, not getting on the scoreboard until early in the third quarter. The outcome was never really in doubt.
When Penn State played Ohio State, however, everything from the location, kickoff time and other circumstances could not have been more different. Penn State got two starting linebackers—Jason Cabinda and Brandon Bell—back from injury after not playing the weekend before it hosted Ohio State. The duo combined for 31 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and two sacks against the Buckeyes.
A blocked punt and field goal that Penn State returned for a touchdown helped the Nittany Lions erase a 21-7 deficit and stun Meyer and the Buckeyes. Ohio State nearly escaped its second straight road night game against an opponent coming in with more than a week to prepare but special teams blunders were the difference in the end.
Wisconsin
Ohio State Result: Buckeyes 30, Badgers 23 in OT
Michigan Result: Wolverines 14, Badgers 7
Breakdown
Wisconsin's only losses this season are to the teams currently ranked second and third in the country, Ohio State and Michigan. The Buckeyes battled a spat of driving rain during their trip to Camp Randall Stadium and relied on J.T. Barrett to take them to the winner's circle. He did, rushing for two touchdowns and throwing the game-winning score to Noah Brown in overtime.
Ohio State's Rushmen package of Jalyn Holmes, Nick Bosa, Tyquan Lewis and Sam Hubbard all then met at quarterback Alex Hornibrook's feet and took him down to seal the victory for the Buckeyes. As closely a contested game that you'll find in college football this season, Ohio State made one more play to win.
No one scored until the second quarter in Michigan's game against Wisconsin two weeks earlier when the Wolverines jumped out front on a 1-yard touchdown run by Khaled Hill. Wisconsin evened things in the third quarter, then Wilton Speight hit Amara Darboh with a 46-yard touchdown pass with just under 8 minutes to play. Michigan's defense then held serve and Jourdan Lewis' spectacular interception of Hornibrook sealed it late.
Michigan more than doubled Wisconsin's offensive output from a yardage standpoint (349-159 yards), picked off Hornibrook three times and still only won by one possession at Michigan Stadium.
Rutgers
Ohio State Result: Buckeyes 58, Scarlet Knights 0
Michigan Result: Wolverines 78, Scarlet Knights 0
Breakdown
Because Rutgers is such a bad football team and there is no sense embarrassing Chris Ash's new place of employment, we are not going to spend too much time on these matchups.
Of note, however, is the Oct. 8 matchup between Michigan and Rutgers represented the first time all season the Wolverines played a game somewhere else other than Michigan Stadium. It is also the only time Harbaugh's team left the state of Michigan before Halloween.
Ohio State and Michigan combined to outscore Rutgers 136-0 and outgained the Scarlet nights 1,269-155. Barrett also set the school record for career touchdown passes in this game. Let's move on.
Michigan State
Ohio State Result: Buckeyes 17, Spartans 16
Michigan Result: Wolverines 32, Spartans 23
Breakdown
Michigan State and Mark Dantonio got the rare pleasure of hosting both Michigan and Ohio State this season. The Spartans scored first in both contests but couldn't find the staying power to finish the job, something that haunted them throughout their 2016 campaign.
Michigan State and Michigan faced off three weeks before Ohio State made the trip north, and both games kicked off at noon. The Buckeyes struggled to throw the ball due to windy conditions and some snow flurries but their biggest problem was containing L.J. Scott. Michigan couldn't do that either—Scott tallied 416 total yards and three total touchdowns combined in games against the Buckeyes and Wolverines. And Sparty still lost both.
Ohio State needed an interception of Tyler O'Connor both on a 2-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter then on Michigan State's final drive to give the Buckeyes the win. Michigan gave up a touchdown with 1 second left that made it a one-possession game in its win over the Spartans. Jabrill Peppers then recovered a fumble on Michigan State's ensuing 2-point conversion attempt and returned it to the end zone to give his team a nine-point victory.
Maryland
Ohio State Result: Buckeyes 62, Terrapins 3
Michigan Result: Wolverines 59, Terrapins 3
Breakdown
Much like the Rutgers game, it doesn't seem prudent to spend too much time on Ohio State and Michigan's games against D.J. Durkin and the Maryland Terrapins.
Michigan beat the turtles into submission at Ohio Stadium on Nov. 5. The Buckeyes did the same thing a week later in College Park. Injuries wrecked Durkin's chances to pull upsets in these games all season but the games probably wouldn't have been competitive anyway.
Moving on.
Indiana
Ohio State Result: Buckeyes 38, Hoosiers 17
Michigan Result: Wolverines 20, Hoosiers 10
Breakdown
Ohio State fans left their team's 21-point home win in angst, mainly because the Buckeyes struggled to put Indiana away and relied on running Barrett to win the game. He carried the ball 26 times for 137 yards and a touchdown, two more carries than Curtis Samuel and Mike Weber combined.
Via Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports.
The downfield passing game questions grew louder after this game for Ohio State, as Meyer elected to count on Barrett to hold onto the ball and make the necessary plays to win the game. He did that.
Harbaugh essentially asked the same of backup quarterback John O'Korn against the Hoosiers last weekend. With Wilton Speight dressed but never seeing action, O'Korn threw for just 59 yards at Michigan Stadium as snow fell the majority of the second half. De'Veon Smith ran 23 times for 158 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead touchdown with 4:02 remaining. The game between the Hoosiers and Wolverines was scoreless after the first quarter and Michigan trailed 7-3 at halftime.
It wasn't pretty for either team against Indiana. It hardly ever is, but a win is a win.
Putting stock into like opponents is at times a pointless exercise in college football, with injuries, weather and other intricacies causing games to be closer than they should be or really are.
But now you know what Ohio State and Michigan did against similar opponents in 2016 before they meet at Ohio Stadium on Saturday at noon.
