The old guard DFBIA are still hung up on bagmen and online classes and free tattoos ... another faction of DFBIA is celebrating wins from the 1800s ... then you've got the batshit crazy conspiracy theorists who claim that the Big Ten is out to get them ... and of course there are the revisionist historians who are desperately trying to convince themselves that 2-17 isn't really as bad as it looks:
It’s taken a historic run of bad luck for OSU to do what they have done us. Go back and look at the games. Don’t focus on the last two. Look since 2001 and you’ll see that is been bad coaching more then a talent gap. The one position they have destroyed us in is QB. We are not developing the talent that we get. There might be disagreements this but I believe
2003 and 2011 out right wins
2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2016 and 2017 toss ups
2006, 2013 toss ups so spilt this to 1-1
2007 injuries but that team was unleashed in the bowl game. They would have beat anyone that day. Even with the rare Mike Hart fumbles.
2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 bad loses and bad coaching and game plans on defense.
record should be 10 - 9. You could argue but this has been an amazing run of bad luck.
if this were true there would be 4 more BIG titles 2 playoff appearances and possible 1 national championship appearance.
First things first: The Harvard of the West certainly produces a lot of functional illiterates. I can't figure out from his post how he ends up with a record of 10-9 ... or even who's got the 10 and who's got the 9. But I will try to decipher....
Apparently, Michigan gets to keep their two wins, even though 2011 was as much of a "toss up" as any Game in this century.
And Ohio State is fortunate enough to keep its wins from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2019, Games which the Buckeyes luckily won by an average score of 43 to 19.
The other ten games are supposedly "toss ups". Okay, for the sake of an argument, I'll buy that. So let's split the toss ups 50/50, because that's what a toss up means.
That would make the record as follows:
Ohio State 12,
Michigan 7. Nothing to get super excited about, but that would make Michigan semi-respectable, I guess.
Now let's look at some of those alleged toss ups....
2001: Ohio State got up 23 to 0 and then the Buckeyes basically Tresselballed their was to a 26 to 20 win. Michigan had an extremely remote chance for a victory - they needed to go 80 yards in the final 9 seconds of The Game, but they couldn't dial up a miracle.
2004: Ohio State won by 16 points, and left 11 points on the field (two 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line netted just 3 points).
2007: Ohio State won by 11 points, and held Michigan to 3 points, 91 total yards, 3 for 19 on 3rd/4th down, 22 minutes of possession.
2017: Ohio State won by 11 points, and Michigan quit in the 4th quarter.
Double-digit wins are almost never in the toss up category, so let's give those three Games to Ohio State. The 2001 Game was never really in doubt, so that goes to Ohio State as well. That makes the hypothetical tally:
Ohio State 11,
Michigan 2, with 6 potential toss ups still to decide.
2002: This Game literally came down to the last play. Michigan had the ball at the Ohio State 24-yard line, but Will Allen intercepted the final pass near the goal line as time expired to secure a hard fought 14-9 victory. The very definition of a toss up.
2005: Michigan should've won this Game. Ohio State outscored Michigan 13-0, and outgained them 155-18, over the final 7:49 to eke out a 4-point victory. Legit toss up.
2006: Ohio State had a 42-31 lead with 5:27 in The Game; Michigan scored a TD and 2-point conversion with 2:16 left, but couldn't recover the onside kick. A fairly comfortable win for Ohio State, but I'll reluctantly include this in the toss up category.
2012: Ohio State won by only 5 points, but completely shut down Michigan's offense in the 2nd half (0 points, 60 total yards, 10 minutes of possession, forced 3 turnovers). The Game ended with Ohio State taking knees in Michigan territory. Another Game that really favored Ohio State, but I'll call it a toss up.
2013: Michigan had a chance to take a one-point lead with 32 seconds on the clock, but their two-point conversion failed. Definite toss up.
2016: A double OT contest is always a toss up. Michigan came *this close* to stopping J.T. Barrett on 4th down to seal the deal, but they failed to do so and Curtis Samuel did the rest. Toss up.
So, let's split the remaining six toss ups evenly. That makes our final tally:
Ohio State 14,
Michigan 5 if Michigan gets a "normal" amount of luck (whatever that may be). Michigan would've needed extreme luck to get the tally to 12-7, and there's no way in Hell they were going to get it to 10-9 (or 9-10).
Instead of trying to rewrite history with a hundred "what ifs", scUM fans should be damned happy that COVID concerns (regardless of how bogus they might be) prevented Ohio State from taking an 18-2 lead in The Series this century, and in true curb-stomping fashion.