You've made it to Pride and Pettiness.
We're still living in tough times. Some people, like our very own Ramzy, like to cope by looking back at happy memories. I, personally, like to revisit moments of satisfying pettiness.
My philosophy is simple. From Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:
For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?
That we do, Jane. Today we're packing into that Scarlet and Gray Schaden-Ford Shelby Mustang and traveling back in time to relive Ohio State's demolition of Michigan in 2018.
The Setup
This iconic showdown didn't have a similar setup as recent classics in the series.
Ohio State, as you may know, has dominated college football's best rivalry for the better part of this century. More often than not, Ohio State has come into The Game every November the past two decades as a favorite to varying degrees — whether with a huge point spread (hello Rich Rod era, you sweet, sweet angel) or one that was either more respectable or nearly even.
That wasn't the case in 2018. The Buckeyes entered the year needing to replace their record-setting quarterback in J.T. Barrett, who started 12 out of the five years he was on campus, and there were serious questions about a defense that had vastly underperformed the prior season (and that was before Nick Bosa went down for the year in Week 3).
Meanwhile, 200 miles north in Ann Arbor there was a quiet confidence among the Michigan faithful. There was an opportunity for 2018 to be their year after a disappointing five-loss season with several key starters back and the exciting transfer of quarterback Shea Patterson.
That sentiment was only emboldened over the course of the year. Ohio State suffered a blowout loss to a school named Purdue (I checked, they're an actual member of the Big Ten) and willingly gave away points as if they were allergic to them. The week before the showdown with Michigan, the Buckeyes needed to stop a two-point attempt in overtime to avoid a 53-52 loss to Maryland.
Things were going better for Jim Harbaugh's squad. After a Week 1 seven-point loss to eventual College Football Playoff participant Notre Dame, Michigan ripped off 10 consecutive wins behind the strength of the nation's No. 1 defense and an offense that thrived under Patterson's steady, ball-control hands. Team leader and human crustache Chase Winovich had dubbed the season Michigan's "Revenge Tour," and it was running on schedule after avenging the prior-year losses to Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin.
All that culminated in the Wolverines opening the week favored over the Buckeyes for the first time since 2011, and in the days leading up to the game, that line grew like the confidence the Michigan team was experiencing itself. Five days before kickoff, Michigan running back Karon Higdon offered a surprising prediction.
It was a bold strategy indeed, Cotton, and it would be interesting to see if it would pay off for the Wolverines.
The Pettiness
It did not, in fact, pay off for Michigan.
You may recall this, but Ohio State went on to torch college football's best defense with 567 yards of total offense in the 62-39 rout. Dwayne Haskins threw for 397 yards and six touchdowns, and a rushing attack that hadn't packed much punch that season churned out 171 yards.
In one of the rare instances in which I found a reason to criticize Urban Meyer (yes, the biggest occurred during the previous offseason), the coach robbed us of hanging 69 points on Michigan by taking a pair of knees near the goal line as time expired.
Meyer later revealed he and his team felt disrespected when they heard about Higdon's guarantee, but on that afternoon, the only thing you could arguably deem disrespectful was how the Ohio State offense operated.
Unashamed self-promotion to follow.
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