Ohio State On This Date: Four Wins Over Michigan Highlight Buckeyes’ History on Nov. 23

Four of Ohio State’s most iconic wins against Michigan have taken place on this date. 1935 was the second game in Francis Schmidt’s incredible four-game run in the series, 1968 saw the Super Sophomores drop 50 on Michigan, 1974 created controversy for the Big Ten and 2002 set the stage for Ohio State to go 14-0 for the first time in school history.

1974: Tom Klaban and Ohio State Edge Michigan by a Foot

Fifty years ago, Woody Hayes and Ohio State’s No. 1 offense went head-to-head against Bo Schembechler and Michigan’s No. 1 defense. The backdrop to this game was more than the Buckeyes' potent offense going up against the Wolverines' stellar defense.

The 1973 game ended in a 10-10 tie after Michigan's kicker, Mike Lantry, missed two field goals in the final minutes of play. The tie ruined Ohio State's perfect season and its chances of winning a national championship. The 1974 version of The Game would also be determined by the foot of a kicker; this time, that foot belonged to Ohio State's Tom Klaban. 

Michigan gave the 88,000-plus fans in Ohio Stadium pause as the visitors from Ann Arbor scored a touchdown on their fourth offensive play of the game. Dennis Franklin used play-action to fool the Buckeyes' defense and he connected with Gil Chapman for a 42-yard touchdown. Later in the quarter, Lantry found some redemption as his 37-yard field goal gave the Wolverines a 10-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Enter Klaban. The soccer-style kicker connected on three field goals in the second quarter. He was good from 47, 25 and 43 yards to cut Michigan's lead to 10-9 at the half.

In the third quarter, Klaban kicked his fourth field goal of the game. This time, he was good from 45 yards out and Ohio State led 12-10.

The defenses took over and neither team had legitimate scoring opportunities for the rest of the third quarter. Halfway through the fourth quarter, Lantry lined up for a 59-yard field goal attempt to give Michigan the lead. The try was well short and Woody Hayes' team still led by two. 

With 57 seconds to play, Michigan started its final drive of the game from its own 47. Franklin guided his team to Ohio State's 16-yard line and the left-footed Lantry was called upon to ice the game. 

For the second time in as many years, Lantry was unable to come through for Michigan. With his kick sailing wide left, Ohio State held on for the 12-10 victory and the Buckeyes won their 18th Big Ten title and earned their ninth trip to the Rose Bowl, where they suffered a one-point loss to No. 5 USC. 

1935: Schmidt Slays Michigan Again

Francis Schmidt won over many Ohio State fans as he guided his Buckeyes to a 34-0 victory during his first year in Columbus during the 1934 season. At the time, the 34-point win was the largest for the Buckeyes over the Wolverines and it could have been larger as Ohio State had three touchdowns called back due to penalty.

Ohio State’s 1935 win was even more dominant.

A vivid description of the game per the Nov. 24, 1935 edition of The Dispatch:

Coach Francis Schmidt's Scarlet Scourge gave Michigan fans an exhibition of sky manuevers hitherto the chief in stock-in-trade of Wolverine elevens. Ohio scored in every quarter, threatened on four other opportunities... 

There was never any doubt about the outcome of the contest with Ohio State the aggressor from the opening whistle until the gun craked at the end of the game. Sweeping end runs, terrific smashes through the line, forward passes, laterals, double laterals and even triple laterals followed each other in bewildering succession to enable the Bucks to pile up yardage.

Following the 38-0 blowout win – still Ohio State's largest margin of victory in the series –only two-thirds of the Buckeyes returned to Columbus. The players who remained in Michigan stayed with friends or went to Detroit for a dance that was held in their honor.

Schmidt on the players who stayed behind: "Let them go where they please, the season's over. I'm proud of those seniors who played their last game today. Every one of them played one of the best games of his career." 

Ohio State was now 2-0 against its rival and Schmidt owned the two widest margins of victory over the Wolverines for any coach in program history. The Buckeyes would also beat Michigan in 1936 and 1937, making Schmidt the first coach in program history to start 4-0 against the Wolverines.

1968: Super Sophs Start Slow Then Stomp Michigan

Hayes' team of talented youngsters led by the backfield of Rex Kern, Jim Otis and Larry Zelina trailed early to a Michigan team that entered Ohio Stadium with eight straight wins and ranked fourth in the country after dropping the season opener to Cal. The then-record Ohio Stadium crowd of 85,371 sat stunned in the 60-degree weather after the Wolverines took an early 7-0 lead after 4:36 of play.

Ohio State responded with touchdown runs by Otis and Kern as the latter gave the Buckeyes their first lead of the game in the early moments of the second quarter. A short Ron Johnson touchdown run when Michigan faced 3rd-and-goal knotted the game, 14-14, at the midway point of the second stanza. Ohio State responded in the waning moments of the first half with another Otis touchdown and took a 21-14 lead into halftime. 

The second half was all scarlet and gray. The home team dropped 29 points on its rival as Otis finished the day with 142 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Kern ran for 96 yards and two scores, with Zelina scampering for 92 yards and a touchdown in the Buckeyes’ 50-14 win.

Woody Hayes on the victory:

"The turning point came when it was tied 14-all and Larry Zelina made that fine (59-yard) kickoff runback. The officials played 'drop the hanky' (on a clipping penalty) and we still drove down the field to score before halftime.

I told Rex Kern before he went out on the field not to worry about the penalty, that we had time to go all the way...to play straight football and not worry about it. A score like that just before the half means a lot. We thought we could run on them and we did.

We beat the No. 4 team so convincingly, I believe we deserve to be rated No. 1 now. A great victory, wasn't it?"

At the time, the 50 points scored were a program record against Michigan. A record that stood for fifty years until the 2018 Buckeyes dropped 62 on those bastards.

Following the blowout victory over Michigan, thousands of fans carried the goalposts through the city and dropped them off in front of the Ohio Statehouse. The students then continued north on High Street with a police escort carrying American flags that had been on poles for a parade celebrating Columbus astronaut Donn Eisele the day before.

The win improved Ohio State’s record to 10-0 and the team headed to Pasadena to take on USC. The Buckeyes defeated the Trojans and finished the season with a perfect 11-0 record and the national championship. 

2002: Ninety-Nine is Fine

The 99th meeting between Ohio State and Michigan fell on this date 22 years ago. The only thing separating the second-ranked Buckeyes from a perfect regular season and a berth in the BCS National Championship Game was the 12th-ranked Wolverines.  

A then-record crowd of 105,539 fans packed the Shoe and filled the stadium with anxious anticipation of a sweet victory over their hated rival with everything on the line. The anxiety came courtesy of the numerous times Ohio State fell short of winning the national championship since the special season of 1968. 

The anxious fears of the fans weren't allayed with the news that Maurice Clarett was still nursing a stinger that kept him from playing against Illinois the week before. Ohio State's offensive spark didn't start the game, but he did hit the field in the first quarter to cap off a 10-play, 76-yard scoring drive with his 2-yard touchdown run to give the Buckeyes an early 7-3 lead. 

However, Michigan controlled the ball and the game for the majority of the first half and took a 9-7 lead into halftime courtesy of three Adam Finley field goals. 

As the overcast gray day progressed, so did the tension building up in the stadium. Neither team took control of the game during the third quarter as the defenses strangled any signs of life from either team's offense.

Ohio State caught a break in the fourth quarter when Chris Gamble was interfered with when attempting to catch a punt. Following the 15-yard penalty, the Buckeyes were still trailing by two points, but had the ball on their own 43-yard line with 8:30 remaining in the game.

On the first play of the drive, Craig Krenzel connected with Brandon Schnittker for a 15-yard pass to Michigan's 42-yard line. Three straight runs later, Ohio State faced 4th-and-1 at the Michigan 33-yard line. Krenzel called his own number and plunged ahead to get the critical first down and set up one of the game's biggest plays.

For the majority of the game, Clarett was used sparingly. When he was on the sidelines, the talented freshman was consistently stalking head coach Jim Tressel and telling his coach observations from the game and plays he thought would work against the Wolverines. Tressel used one of the plays Clarett was calling for on the first down play following Krenzel's fourth-down sneak.

"He told me two quarters earlier," Tressel said. "He said, 'You'd better call that play. They can't check me.' So we waited until the opportune time."

The timing couldn't have been better as Clarett ran the wheel route down the sideline for a 26-yard gain down to Michigan's 6-yard line. Two plays later, Maurice Hall took an option toss from Krenzel for the potential game-winning touchdown.

Like the pass play before, the option call was also a suggestion made by Clarett. "On a couple of fourth-and-shorts I kept on telling him to run the option play," Clarett shared after the game.

Hall's touchdown put the Buckeyes up five points, but Michigan still had just under five minutes to put together a game-winning drive. The Wolverines' first crack at pulling off the upset ended after Will Smith recovered a John Navarre fumble at the Buckeyes' 36-yard line. Ohio State couldn't run out the clock and had to punt the ball back to Michigan with 1:04 to go. 

Navarre promptly guided his team back into Buckeye territory and had two chances from Ohio State's 24-yard line to win the game. The first shot was to Braylond Edwards deep down the left sideline, but the pass was incomplete through the back of the end zone.

With one second remaining on the clock, Navarre took one final snap. He again threw for the end zone, but this time Will Allen intercepted his bullet pass at the 3-yard line to secure a 14-9 win.

The fans stormed the field and for the first time in school history, Ohio State was 13-0. The team faced Miami in the BCS National Championship Game and defeated the Hurricanes in double overtime for the school's first national title in 34 years.

Stat Superlatives

Five Fun Facts

1. Jim Tressel joined Francis Schmidt as the only Ohio State coaches to win their first two games over the Wolverines. Urban Meyer joined this select group 11 years later.
2. The 12-10 victory over Michigan in 1974 was Ohio State’s first win without scoring a touchdown since beating Northwestern, 3-0, in 1951.
3. The Game was played in the final week of the regular season for the first time in 1935.
4. Tippy Dye returned a punt 73 yards for a score against the Wolverines in 1935.
5. Dye had a rabbit foot and squirrel foot sewn into his football pants for the 1935 game against Michigan. The rabbit foot was given to him by a fan in 1934 and the squirrel foot was handed to him by a train employee as he left the station in 1935.