The day has finally arrived.
After a two-year wait, Ohio State will finally play Michigan in the 117th edition of The Game on Saturday at noon in Ann Arbor, where a Big Ten Championship Game berth will be on the line as the Buckeyes vie for their ninth straight win over the team up north while the Wolverines look their first win over the school down south since 2011.
The stakes are high and the tensions will be too as the Buckeyes and Wolverines bring two years of bad blood to the field with College Football Playoff hopes on the line for both teams.
With just a few hours to go until kickoff in the Big House, we share some final thoughts, questions and predictions going into the final game of the regular season.
Final Thoughts
This is what The Game should be
As Ohio State clobbered Michigan in each of the last two meetings between the teams, one could reasonably wonder whether the rivalry was starting to lose its luster. Going into this year’s game, though, the rivalry feels as big as ever.
Both teams are ranked in the top five of the College Football Playoff rankings and control their own playoff destinies entering this game. A berth in the Big Ten Championship Game will be on the line, truly making this one of the most consequential games of the year in college football. And there’s plenty of reasons for both of these teams to want to beat the crap out of each other, from Jim Harbaugh allegedly accusing Ohio State of cheating last year to Michigan being accused of ducking Ohio State last season.
Michigan enters this game with a 10-1 record and looks capable of giving Ohio State a tougher test than past years, so a win is far from guaranteed from the Buckeyes today, but that will only make it that much sweeter for Ohio State if it prevails once again on Michigan’s home turf.
– Dan Hope
OSU has a lot of players brand-new to this rivalry
It's kind of a wild stat, but as Dan pointed out Friday, only 26 Ohio State players have played snaps in previous editions of The Game. Only 10 Buckeyes have played offensive snaps and only another 10 Buckeyes have played defensive snaps against Michigan. Thayer Munford is the only Buckeye who’s played against Michigan three times, while only eight other Buckeyes have played in two previous editions of The Game. Munford (in both 2018 and 2019) and Chris Olave (in 2019) are the only Buckeyes who have already started a game against Michigan.
Considering that we all know this isn’t just any game, will nerves catch up to Ohio State at the beginning of the game? Or will the relatively young Buckeyes remain composed throughout?
– Garrick Hodge
Kudos to Michigan for remaining a legit threat in The Game (on paper)
It’s safe to say there won’t ever come a time when the Buckeyes aren’t over the moon after a win over their archrival, but Ohio State wins in The Game have not exactly been hard to come by over the past 20 years. The one-sided nature of the rivalry’s recent history might threaten to sap some excitement from the matchup – at least on a national scale – if not for the fact that the Wolverines have made themselves difficult to dismiss as a legitimate threat.
Michigan is the first team that Ohio State hasn’t been favored to beat by double digits all season, and with a maize and blue win, the Wolverines are in position for a potential Big Ten title and first-ever College Football Playoff berth. You can’t write Michigan off completely coming into this one, and that’s why anticipation remains sky-high for The Game once again.
– Griffin Strom
We've waited a long time for this
This kind of goes without saying, but when you wait and anticipate this game every single year, waiting an extra year absolutely sucks. And if *we're* feeling that, you know damn well the players and coaches on both sides of the actual game are feeling it, too.
But it's finally here. And I'm never going to take today for granted again.
– Kevin Harrish
Questions
Can Michigan’s defense really slow down Ohio State’s offense?
I don't think Ryan Day is simply placating Michigan when he says the Wolverines’ defense will be the best Ohio State faces all season. The Wolverines’ defense has legitimately been among the best in the country this year, and I think Mike Macdonald will make things more difficult for the Buckeyes schematically than his predecessor Don Brown did.
But I’m still not quite sold that Michigan will actually be able to keep the Buckeyes from putting up another big number on the scoreboard this year. The Wolverines’ pass-rushers are elite, but Ohio State’s offensive line has shut down other top pass-rushers this season. I think their cornerbacks will be overmatched by Ohio State’s wide receivers, and their run defense hasn’t been dominant.
The Buckeyes’ offense hasn’t been infallible this season, as evidenced by the Nebraska and Penn State games, so I don’t rule out the possibility that Michigan could have similar success slowing down Ohio State. That doesn’t mean I see that actually happening, though.
– Dan Hope
How much success will McNamara have against the Buckeyes?
The passing game has not been Michigan’s offensive strong suit in 2021, but it has been trending up entering this weekend. Against Maryland last week, the Wolverines had one of their best passing performances of the season, carving the Terps up to the tune of 352 yards and three scores through the air.
Michigan averaged just 189 yards per game passing through the first seven games of the season, but has put up an average of 299 in the last four. In that same stretch, the Wolverines have thrown 11 touchdown passes, which is four more than they had in the previous seven games combined. The Buckeyes have been hot and cold against the pass this year, but the back seven is coming off of perhaps its most impressive performance of the season against Michigan State.
– Griffin Strom
How is Michigan going to score?
I don't even mean this sarcastically. It's a genuine question I've had all week.
The Wolverines have been extremely reluctant to throw the ball this year, but even if they wanted to, I don't believe they have the talent on the outside to match up with Ohio State, nor do I believe it has the talent at quarterback to get the ball there anyway. I think the Buckeyes are going to be able to confidently sell out to stop the run and trust the corners in coverage.
So that leaves Michigan trying to move the ball on the ground against a defense that just suffocated the best running back in the country.
I'm sure the Wolverines are going to get *something* on the scoreboard, but I have no idea how this offense can hang with Ohio State's offense, even if the Michigan defense comes to play today and keeps it close.
– Kevin Harrish
Is this a big game?
Why yes, it is.
Is Jim Harbaugh the coach for Michigan? Correct again.
Has the Wolverines shown any sign of being capable of staying with OSU for four quarters the last few years? No indeed.
Ohio State by 28.
– Garrick Hodge
Predictions
TreVeyon Henderson breaks Maurice Clarett’s record, gains 150+ yards
Last week, I correctly predicted that Chris Olave would score two touchdowns to break David Boston’s school record for career touchdown receptions. This week, I’m predicting another record-setting two-touchdown day for a Buckeye, as I think Henderson will score the two touchdowns he needs to break Maurice Clarett’s record for the most touchdowns in a single season by an Ohio State freshman.
Beyond that, I think Henderson will follow in the footsteps of Olave, Garrett Wilson and other Buckeyes who made their mark on the rivalry in their first-ever Michigan game by having a huge day in which he gains at least 150 yards from scrimmage.
Henderson hasn’t topped 100 rushing yards in any of Ohio State’s last three games, but that’s mostly because his touches have been limited. Against a Michigan defense that’s been better against the pass than the run, I think Ohio State will lean heavily on Henderson in Ann Arbor, and I expect the star freshman to rise to the occasion.
– Dan Hope
OSU continues explosive offense in rivalry rout
I’m generally overly cautious with my predictions, mostly because college football can be so week-to-week. Last week’s crushing of Michigan State has made me a believer in Ohio State. The Buckeyes will continue to thrive offensively, putting up another 50-burger in a rout to earn a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game with a College Football Playoff berth on the line. Michigan’s defense has had some issues with high-tempo offenses this season, and boy do I have some bad news for the Wolverines.
– Garrick Hodge
Michigan won’t hold the Buckeyes under 40 points
I don’t foresee Ohio State putting up quite the same slaughterous numbers on a revamped Michigan defense as it did Michigan State and Purdue – although I wouldn’t rule out the possibility – but I still think the Buckeyes eclipse the 40-point mark on Saturday. Only three teams all season have managed to limit Ohio State to fewer than 40 points, and given the momentum the Buckeyes have built up over the past two weeks, I see them finishing with 41 in a two-touchdown win that could be close in the early stages.
– Griffin Strom
Ohio State holds Michigan to under 20 points
The Wolverines haven't scored fewer than 20 points all season, but they're going to be held below that today.
For all the talk about Ohio State's high-powered offense, I also think this might be one of the best defenses Michigan has seen all season, especially since it faced Wisconsin early this season before the Badgers really started coming to form.
I think Ohio State shuts down Michigan today and that the Buckeye defense – even more than the offense – will be the difference in the game.
– Kevin Harrish
