Emotional Game: In the rivalry between Ohio State and………

The football rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State has long been a smoldering pot of resentment, animosity, and maybe even hatred.

Taking down the beloved “Go Blue” banner by the Wolverines in 1973, the shoving match between Michigan’s Charles Woodson, the Heisman Trophy winner, and Ohio State’s David Boston in 1997, and the decision by Buckeyes coach Woody Hayes to go for two points instead of three at the end of a blowout in 1968 are just a few of the Game’s memorable and iconic moments.

(To be fair, it’s not entirely clear if Hayes stated that.)

This year, there seems to be more animosity building before Saturday’s game in Ann Arbor because of the scandal engulfing the third-ranked Wolverines (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) and the second-ranked Buckeyes (11-0, 8-0), who many Michigan fans hold responsible for their team’s situation.

Even among the coaches, it seems as though the mutual respect that has served as the cornerstone of what is perhaps the greatest rivalry in college football is missing these days.

“What evidence do people in Michigan have that Ohio State is responsible for it? They don’t. Conversely, Ohio State is attempting to downplay Michigan’s accomplishments over the past two years by claiming that Michigan cheated, Woodson told AP. “There are just a lot of insults being hurled back and forth as there always have been — and sometimes blows.”

It would be a stretch to say that any of the 118 meetings between Michigan and Ohio State have been the biggest or most important in the rivalry’s history.

“This week is not particularly significant. No big deal this month. It’s not a major match. Ohio State-Michigan this week was described as “a way of life” by former Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer on the Big Ten Network.

blatantly unpleasant

Because of the legendary pasts of its rivals, the Game frequently has national championship implications, settles the Big Ten almost invariably, and is frequently replete with narratives.

In order to advance to the BCS national championship game, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan faced off in Ohio Stadium in 2006. Bo Schembechler, the legendary coach who personified Michigan football, passed away at the age of 77 the day before the game. With Schembechler’s death, a classic game became a memorial to one of the rivalry’s founding fathers.

Before retiring in 2014, Bruce Madej served as Michigan’s director of sports information for thirty-four years. Madej recalls rocks being thrown at Michigan buses as well as hotels in Columbus where the Wolverines would stay the night before the game, only to have their running water suddenly cut off.

He recalled the respect that Hayes and Schembechler held for each other as well as how, the week before Ohio State’s 1987 game against Michigan, Earle Bruce, the former coach of the Buckeyes, spent so much time in the Michigan football offices that Madej offered him a position as an honorary director of sports information.

“Hate is a word that I believe should never be used in sports,” Madej declared. “Do I want to see Michigan defeat Ohio State? Indeed, I do. Do I despise Ohio State? No.

The college football equivalent of Spygate has only served to heighten tensions ahead of their 119th meeting.

“People have been able to level allegations on both sides that are likely unjust and baseless,” stated Joshua Perry, a former linebacker for Ohio State who is currently an analyst for NBC Sports.

An in-person scouting and sign-stealing operation, purportedly led by a low-level Michigan staffer who has since resigned, is under investigation by the NCAA. Being able to move faster than the NCAA, the Big Ten punished Michigan by prohibiting head coach Jim Harbaugh from leading the Wolverines on game day for three games, including this one. The Big Ten found that Michigan had broken its sportsmanship policy.

Former Michigan tight end Jake Butt, who works for the Big Ten Network, said, “And a lot of people on both sides, Michigan fans included, have very strong opinions on things that, frankly, they really don’t understand.”

Michigan was poised to take the Big Ten to court and fight the Harbaugh suspension, but the university backed off last week. The next day, the school abruptly fired linebackers coach Chris Partridge.

The final game of Harbaugh’s suspension will be served Saturday, keeping the former Michigan quarterback — who finally flipped the rivalry after a decade and a half of dominance by the Buckeyes — off the sideline as his team tries to make it three straight against Ohio State.

Who exactly tipped off the NCAA to a scheme apparently orchestrated by former recruiting analyst Connor Stalions is unclear.

This has caused rash conjecture, baseless gossip, and finger-pointing at Columbus. The internet is just plain mean.

One of the founders of the Cohesion Foundation, which supports Buckeye athletes, Gary Marcinick, was an Ohio State football player in the mid-1980s. “There is definitely a level of vitriol this year, and there is so much at stake,” Marcinick said.

Things are not the same.

When Ohio State and Michigan engaged in what became known as the 10-Year War in the 1970s, Hayes and Schembechler were like-minded opponents.

“We’ve had arguments and fights for years, but we’re still great friends,” Hayes stated in 1986 to the Ohio State student newspaper.

There are no indications of a similar bond between Harbaugh and Ohio State coach Ryan Day.

Harbaugh took a jab at the coach who took over a national championship contender from Meyer when he said, “Sometimes people that are standing on third base think they hit a triple,” following Michigan’s eight-game losing streak against Ohio State in 2021.

When asked this week about the respect he receives from Day and his team, Harbaugh said it has no bearing on the game.

Day approached the same question in a comparable manner.

“I think with everything going on and the things that are out there, we’ve just kind of stayed away from all the distractions we have and just focused on our team, and I think our guys have done a good job of it,” Day stated.

Both Ohioans, Perry and Butt, hope to set an example for rivals to be civil after college. They have become close friends. They have been encouraging supporters of each school to compete with donations for a charity drive called “The Game Gives Back” for Boys & Girls Clubs in Ohio and Michigan.

John Kolesar has spent his entire life enmeshed in the rivalry. In the 1950s, his father was a Michigan player. He was a mid-80s player for Michigan. And now Caden, his son, plays for the team.

He dismissed the current heated rivalry as the product of mostly irate fans on social media and thought of another quote that the legendary Buckeyes coach Hayes was said to have said, maybe or not.

“He says, ‘Men, you’re going to need assistance at some point in your life. “I want you to call your teammates when you’re done,” Kolesar said. “‘And if they don’t pick up, call the Michigan player you lined up against; he will pick up.'”

Perhaps not quite as quickly these days, though.