Ohio State On This Date: Three Wins Over Michigan Highlight Buckeyes’ History on Nov. 30

Ohio State's first game on Nov. 30 was a 10-8 home loss against Kenyon at Recreation Park. The last time the Buckeyes played on this date, they embarrassed Michigan 56-27 in Ann Arbor five years ago. 

Overall, Ohio State has a 5-3 record on Nov. 30, including three straight road wins over Michigan. Today will mark the fifth consecutive time the Buckeyes have faced Michigan on this date. The last time for Ohio State to face an opponent other than the Wolverines on Nov. 30 was 1911 against Cincinnati. 

1963: Warfield Leaves Ohio State a Winner

Woody Hayes defeated Michigan and Bump Elliott for the fourth straight time, joining Francis Schmidt as the only Ohio State head coaches to claim this accomplishment to that point. The victory didn't come easily as the Buckeyes trailed 10-0 in front of a sparse Michigan Stadium crowd of 36,424. 

In his last game in a scarlet and gray uniform, Paul Warfield caught five passes for 76 yards – the second-highest total for a game in his career – and a spectacular 35-yard touchdown. The acrobatic touchdown catch had Warfield falling backward with his feet up in the air before he landed safely in the end zone for Ohio State's first score of the day with only 0:41 remaining in the first half.

The score remained 10-7 in favor of Michigan until Ohio State's quarterback, Don Unverferth, found the end zone on a 5-yard run over the left end in the fourth quarter. Dick Van Raaphorst's extra point gave the Buckeyes a 14-10 lead with 7:20 to play.

Ohio State would hold on for the victory and Woody Hayes' 13th season came to a close with a 5-3-1 record, tying the Buckeyes for second place in the Big Ten. It wasn't the head coach's best record at Ohio State, but it was a remarkable coaching job due to the team being without two-way halfback Bo Scott for the season due to academics and losing his starting right halfback, Bennie Espy, to injury for the majority of the year.

2013: Tempers and Fingers Fly in Ann Arbor

The 110th version of The Game turned into a high-scoring affair as the rivals slugged it out for sixty minutes. The slugging began following a second-quarter kickoff as a pack of Wolverines tried to bully Ohio State's returner, Dontre Wilson. At the end of the return, the Michigan players surrounded Wilson and started shoving him. Wilson stood his ground and pushed back.

Mayhem resulted, and when the dust settled, Wilson and Marcus Hall were ejected while backup linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone was the only Michigan player to get the boot. Although the Buckeyes lost out on the quantity and quality of players to get disqualified, it provided this epic image of Hall giving the Michigan fans the double bird on his way out of the stadium.

The scuffle set the tone for the rest of the game as the teams entered the locker rooms tied at 21 apiece following Braxton Miller's 21-yard scamper with 1:03 to go in the first half. Urban Meyer, in his second year with the Buckeyes, said the correct words at the break as his team scored twice in the third quarter to lead 35-21 heading into the final 15 minutes of play.

Brady Hoke's boys responded with two unanswered touchdowns, the second being a 2-yard touchdown pass from Devin Gardner to Jake Butt with 5:01 remaining, to tie the game at 35-35.

Ohio State responded on the ensuing drive with a six-play drive of all runs as the Buckeyes drove the ball 65 yards down the Wolverines' throat and scored what appeared to be the game-clinching touchdown with just over two minutes to play.

Drew Basil booted the ball to the Michigan 4-yard line on the kickoff and Dennis Norflett had a return of 12 yards to his own 16-yard line. The Wolverines needed to go 84 yards in 2:20 to take the game into overtime. Over the next 10 plays, Gardner guided his team to the Ohio State 2-yard line. On 2nd-and-goal, Gardner connected with Devin Funchess to put his team within one point. It appeared the Hoke was going to send his PAT unit on the field, but after calling a timeout, his players convinced him to go for two and the win. 

Gardner took the snap and fired the ball to his right. Instead of finding his target, Tyvis Powell intercepted the potential game-winning pass. Bradley Roby recovered the ensuing onside kick and Ohio State escaped with a 42-41 victory.

Carlos Hyde finished the day with 226 rushing yards. Miller threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns and also ran for 153 yards and three scores. Gardner played on a broken foot and threw for 451 yards and four touchdowns.

Meyer improved to 2-0 against Michigan and the Buckeyes were 9-1 in the last 10 games of the series. The Buckeyes headed to Indianapolis, but the team finished the season with losses to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game and Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

2019: Ryan Day Starts The Game the Right Way

In Ryan Day's debut in The Game as head coach, Justin Fields and J.K. Dobbins ran roughshod over Michigan as Fields threw for 302 yards and four touchdowns and Dobbins ran for 211 yards and four touchdowns in the Buckeyes' 56-27 destruction of the Wolverines.

At the start of the game, it appeared Michigan was going to have a legitimate chance at stopping Ohio State's seven-game winning streak in the series. The Wolverines led 6-0 after Giles Jackson scored on a 22-yard run to end the opening drive of the game.

However, Ohio State responded on its first two drives of the game when J.K. Dobbins capped off a 75-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run, and then Justin Fields found Chris Olave for a 57-yard touchdown strike giving the Buckeyes a 14-6 lead. Ohio State led the rest of the game from that point on.

Fields' other three touchdown passes were to K.J. Hill for six yards, Garrett Wilson for 30 and Austin Mack for 16 yards. His four touchdown passes tied Troy Smith (2006) for the most ever by an Ohio State quarterback against Michigan.

One week later, the Buckeyes beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game before losing a controversial game to Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl.

Stat Superlatives

Five Fun Facts

1. The assassination of John F. Kennedy pushed Ohio State's game at Michigan back a week and was the reason only 36,424 were in Michigan Stadium to watch the Buckeyes win 14-10.
2. The win over Michigan in 2013 was the 24th straight for the Buckeyes, a program record.
3. J.K. Dobbins surpassed Ezekiel Elliott for second on Ohio State's all-time rusher list and became the second running back with 4,000 career rushing yards.
4. The last time Ohio State played at home on this date was in 1918, 106 years ago.
5. Ohio State is looking for its first-ever win in Ohio Stadium on this date.