Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry
The Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, referred to as The Game by some followers, is an American college football rivalry game that is played annually between the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes. As of 2025, Michigan has the most wins and Ohio State has the second most wins of any program in NCAA Division I football history. The rivalry has gathered profound national interest as many of the games determined the Big Ten Conference title and the resulting Rose Bowl Game matchups, as well as the outcome of the NCAA Division I college football championship. In 2000, the game was ranked by ESPN as the greatest North American sports rivalry ever. The rivalry is listed in Rivals!: The Ten Greatest American Sports Rivalries of the 20th Century, published by Wiley. Encyclopædia Britannica includes the rivalry as one of the ten great sports rivalries in history.
The teams first met in 1897 and have played annually all but once since 1918. The only break in over a century came in 2020 due to a COVID-19 outbreak on Michigan's football team during the COVID-19 pandemic. The game has been played at the end of the regular season since 1935. Since 1918, the game's site has alternated between Ann Arbor, Michigan and Columbus, Ohio, and has been played in Ohio Stadium since 1922 and Michigan Stadium since 1927. The Ten Year War from 1969 to 1978, which matched up legendary coaches Woody Hayes from Ohio State and Bo Schembechler from Michigan, was a peak period for both teams and saw seven matchups where both were ranked in the AP top 10, although neither finished atop the polls during this era. Through 2010, Ohio State and Michigan have decided the Big Ten Conference championship between themselves on 22 occasions, and affected the determination of the conference title an additional 27 times. Since the creation of the Big Ten Conference Championship Game in 2011, this rivalry game has affected the determination of the division title 10 times, with six of those instances becoming a de-facto division championship game between the two schools. Since the Big Ten went division-less starting in 2024, this game has played a role in determining the participants in the Big Ten Championship Game twice.
For many years, the game aired on ABC, usually in the 12:00 p.m. Eastern time slot. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, ESPN College GameDay would originate that weekend from the game site. Beginning with the 2017 season, the game airs on Fox as a result of that network acquiring the Big Ten's tier-1 rights in the most recent broadcasting contract, and GameDay competitor Big Noon Kickoff originates from the game site. It is often the most viewed college football game of the regular season.
Series history
Early years (1897–1949)
When Michigan and Ohio State met for the first time in 1897, the Toledo War might conceivably have remained in the memories of some still living, and the unproductive wanderings of two hostile militias might have been used to stoke the rivalry between a few supporters of the two opposing teams. The inaugural game, held at Ann Arbor, resulted in a shut-out victory for Michigan, with the Wolverines posting a 34–0 win over Ohio State's Buckeyes. The teams did not meet in 1898 or 1899, but played again in 1900.The first game foretold a long Michigan winning streak, with Michigan winning or tying every game from 1897 to 1912 and thereby compiling a 12–0–2 record before the contest was postponed for several years. The Ohio State Alma Mater "Carmen Ohio" was written on the train ride home to Columbus following the 1902 contest, which saw Ohio State lose to Michigan 86–0. The lyrics and melody have remained largely unchanged since its conception.
Ohio State became a member of the Big Ten in 1912. In 1917, Michigan rejoined the conference after a ten-year absence. In 1918, the teams played their first conference matchup, with Michigan prevailing 14–0 and lodging its eleventh shutout over the Buckeyes. The rivalry has been scheduled annually since then. In 1919, the Buckeyes won their first game in the series, beating the Wolverines 13–3. The Buckeyes won the following two contests as well, to bring the series record to 13–3–2.
File:Michigan Stadium opening 3c27311.png|thumb|350px|Ohio State was the opponent in the dedication game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
Harley's prowess spurred the university to campaign to build a stadium for Ohio State football. The stadium was completed in 1922, and the first of many historic games in Ohio Stadium took place on October 21, 1922, the day the stadium was dedicated in Columbus. In front of a record 71,000 fans, the Wolverines posted another shutout of the home team Buckeyes, 19–0. According to lore, there was a wager on the outcome of this game, and yellow flowers on a blue background still exist today in the upper part of the stadium's rotunda. Michigan won the next five games before OSU picked up the final two victories of the decade. At the end of the 1920s, the series stood at 19–5–2 in favor of Michigan.
File:Football signed to Gerald R. Ford from Woody Hayes.jpg|thumb|right|A football signed by Woody Hayes and gifted to President Gerald Ford that lists the scores of the Michigan–Ohio State game from 1932 to 1934, the three years that Ford played on Michigan's varsity team.
Michigan won three of four contests between 1930 and 1933, claiming the national championship twice. In 1934, Francis Schmidt came on as the head coach for Ohio State. The team had lost nine of the previous 12 Michigan-OSU contests, and when a reporter asked Schmidt if Ohio State could beat Michigan that year, he replied, "Of course we can win, Michigan puts their pants on one leg at a time just like we do". The Buckeyes thereupon ran off four straight shutout victories against Michigan, outscoring the Wolverines 114–0 from 1934 to 1937. Schmidt's quote spawned an OSU tradition—since 1934, every Ohio State player receives a gold pants pendant after a victory against Michigan.
Michigan won the three games from 1938 to 1940. The 1940 game, won by Michigan, 40–0, was the benchmark performance of what some consider to be the greatest Michigan team in history, and was the final collegiate game of the tailback tandem of Tom Harmon and Paul Kromer.
In 1941, Michigan and Ohio State met for the first time with each team ranked in the AP Poll, which had started in 1936. The 14th-ranked Buckeyes played the 5th-ranked Wolverines to a 20–20 tie in Ann Arbor.
In 1945, Michigan quarterback Howard Yerges led Michigan to a 7–3 victory over Ohio State. Yerges played for Ohio State in 1943 as a freshman and then transferred to Michigan in 1944, making him one of three players to play on both sides in the rivalry. Five more times during the 1940s, the teams were both ranked for their annual matchup. Michigan won five of the next seven games before playing to their second tie of the decade in 1949. The series record stood at 30–12–4 at the mid-century mark.
"Snow Bowl" and Woody Hayes (1950–1968)
One of the more famous games in the rivalry is the 1950 contest, colloquially known as the Snow Bowl. Eighth-ranked Ohio State, coached by Wes Fesler, was scheduled to host the game on November 25 in Columbus amidst one of the worst blizzards on Ohio record. The Buckeyes, who led the Big Ten, were granted the option to cancel the game against Michigan, which would have, by default, given the Buckeyes the Big Ten title outright. Ohio State refused, and the game was set to be played. Amid howling snow and wind, in a famous example of a "field position" game, the teams exchanged 45 punts, often on first down, in hopes that the other team would fumble the ball near or into their own end zone. Ohio State's Vic Janowicz, who would claim the Heisman Trophy that year, punted 21 times for 685 yards and also kicked a field goal in the first quarter for the Buckeyes' only points. Michigan capitalized on two blocked punts, booting one out of the back of the end zone for a safety and recovering another one in the end zone for a touchdown just before halftime. Despite failing to gain a single first down or complete a single forward pass, Michigan gained a 9–3 victory, securing the Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth. Heavy criticism of Fesler's play calling led to his resignation and the hiring of Woody Hayes as his successor.Between 1951 and 1968 under Hayes, the Buckeyes won 12 of 18 contests, including a 1957 victory in Michigan Stadium, the first game in the series attended by over 100,000 fans. In 1958, Ohio State had a 20–14 lead towards the end of the game. On the final play, Michigan fullback Gene Sisinyak ran the ball from the one-yard line for what might have been a game-winning touchdown, but Ohio State defensive tackle Dick Schafrath hit Sisinyak, forcing a fumble. In the 1968 game, Ohio State won 50–14, outscoring its foe 29–0 in the second half and attempting an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt on its final touchdown. In the post-game interview Hayes was asked why he went for two points with an already insurmountable 50–14 lead and he replied, "because they wouldn't let me go for three". The victory gave top-ranked Ohio State the Big Ten title for the first time in seven years en route to an AP national championship. The Buckeyes had also narrowed the series margin to 37–24–4.
"Ten-Year War": Hayes vs Schembechler (1969–1978)
Wolverines coach Bump Elliott resigned after the 1968 loss and Michigan hired Miami head coach Bo Schembechler, who had previously been an assistant coach at Ohio State under Hayes, to revitalize its football program. On November 22, 1969, Hayes led his top-ranked Buckeyes into Michigan Stadium to face Schembechler's Wolverines in the first matchup between two coaches who would come to define the rivalry between the two programs. The Buckeyes brought a 22-game winning streak into Ann Arbor, but behind an inspiring 60-yard punt return by Barry Pierson that set up a Wolverine touchdown in the second quarter, and a defense that intercepted Ohio State six times, the Wolverines won a defensive battle for a 24–12 upset. The contest was the first in the famous "Ten-Year War" between Hayes and Schembechler, which pitted some of OSU's and UM's strongest teams against one another. Four times between 1970 and 1975, Ohio State and Michigan were both ranked in the top five of the AP Poll before their matchup. The Wolverines entered every game during those years undefeated and won only once, a 10–7 victory in Ann Arbor on November 20, 1971. The Michigan graduating class of 1975 shared or won the Big Ten championship every season, yet went to the Rose Bowl only once, in 1972. They only lost or tied with Ohio State during the regular season in that period.In 1973, both teams entered undefeated, with the winner guaranteed a trip to the Rose Bowl. The rivals played to a 10–10 tie in Ann Arbor on November 24, and the athletic directors of the other Big Ten institutions were forced to vote on the Big Ten representative for the bowl game. In a secret ballot, Ohio State won the vote, to the outrage of Michigan athletic officials and fans. Schembechler argued that Michigan was robbed of its on-field achievements, and for months afterward, Ohio State newspapers were flooded with angry Wolverine letters and threats of lawsuits.
Hayes coined the phrase "That state up north" and "That team up north", so he would not have to say the word "Michigan". He was famous for his intense hatred of all things Michigan and according to legend, once refused to get gas in an empty tank, saying: "No, goddammit! We do NOT pull in and fill up. And I'll tell you exactly why we don't. It's because I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan! We'll coast and PUSH this goddam car to the Ohio line before I give this state a nickel of my money!"
During the "Ten-Year War," Ohio State and Michigan shared the Big Ten title six times. Between 1976 and 1978, Michigan won the game each year, and Ohio State failed to score a touchdown in each of those contests.
The Schembechler-Hayes "War" ended in 1978 after Hayes was fired as a result of punching Clemson linebacker Charlie Bauman on December 29, 1978, during the Gator Bowl. The 1978 OSU-UM game was won by Michigan, 14–3, giving Schembechler a record of 5–4–1 against Hayes. At the end of Hayes' tenure, the series stood at 42–28–5.