2025 January through Fall Camp BMW Thread

[brodybuck21]

didnt know where else to put this so im....

ARE THE BIG TWO BACK? Ohio State is the defending national champion. Michigan won* it the year before. Oregon may have claimed the Big Ten crown last season, and Penn State might look the part this fall, but let’s be honest – this conference still belongs to the Buckeyes and, I hate to write it, the Wolverines.

In a way, "The Big Two" are back.

That’s the premise of a recent feature from The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode, who traced how Ohio State and Michigan reclaimed center stage in the sport – and how Michigan State, once a legitimate threat to both, slowly faded into the middle.

It’s the story of Michigan and Ohio State rising to the top and dispatching Michigan State to the middle. The Wolverines and Buckeyes were bigger than disco in the ’70s, and by the end of the decade, the Spartans were forgotten like bellbottoms.

It wasn’t always that way. In the 1950s and 1960s, Michigan State was a prominent member of the Big Ten’s elite, winning national championships, churning out future head coaches and consistently beating Michigan. The Spartans went 14-4-2 against the Wolverines during those decades. They even outdrew Michigan in attendance during the 1960s, averaging more fans per game despite the Wolverines’ 100,001-seat stadium.

But the tide turned when Bo Schembechler, a former member of Woody Hayes’ staff, took over Michigan in 1969, kicking off The Ten Year War and turning The Game into the defining rivalry of college football.

A made-for-TV drama marked by bitter personal history was born. So was the most important rivalry in the sport.

Michigan State had dominated the Wolverines in the two decades prior, but Schembechler flipped the script. During his tenure in Ann Arbor, Michigan went 17-4 against the Spartans, erasing any illusions of parity between the programs.

Michigan created a gulf, in terms of finances and football, between themselves and the Spartans in the 1970s.

Then came the infamous 1973 Rose Bowl vote. After Michigan and Ohio State tied 10-10 in Ann Arbor, the Big Ten’s athletic directors had to choose which team would represent the conference in Pasadena. Michigan State AD Burt Smith – a Michigan alum – voted for Ohio State, swinging the decision and handing Bo one of the biggest grudges of his career.

Schembechler used the vote as a rallying cry before games against Michigan State for years to come… "You never forget a thing like that."

While Schembechler built Michigan State’s coffin, Hayes put in the nail. After a controversial loss to the Spartans in 1974, Woody submitted information to the NCAA that led to crushing sanctions: no postseason games and no TV appearances for three years – one of the harshest punishments the NCAA has ever imposed.

Hayes… was revenge-minded. He submitted information to the NCAA the following spring on Michigan State recruiting violations, which led to one of the most impactful punishments the association has handed out – three years with no postseason and no games on TV. This got Smith and Stolz fired. It meant the only team in the 1970s that got a piece of a Big Ten title other than Michigan or Ohio State, the 1978 Spartans coached by Darryl Rogers, couldn’t go to the Rose Bowl. It contributed to Rogers’ decision to leave for Arizona State. And it prompted Hayes to proclaim at Big Ten media days in 1976 of the Spartans: “I turned them in. Damn right, I did!”

Hayes’ power move came amid decades when Ohio State wasn’t just dominant on the field – it was dominating everywhere. In the 1960s, the Buckeyes led the country in attendance at over 82,000 per game, ahead of both in-state rivals. Bigger crowds. More wins. More national titles. The machine was humming in Columbus, and apart from a handful of miserable one-off seasons (see: 1988, 1999, 2011), the humming has never stopped.

The Big Ten might have grown to 18 schools and stretched across four time zones, but at its core, the story hasn’t changed. It’s still about Ohio State and Michigan and Michigan State’s role as the once-dangerous, now-faded third wheel.

The Big Two are back – and the Buckeyes never left.

 

[CMic]

didnt know where else to put this so im....

ARE THE BIG TWO BACK? Ohio State is the defending national champion. Michigan won* it the year before. Oregon may have claimed the Big Ten crown last season, and Penn State might look the part this fall, but let’s be honest – this conference still belongs to the Buckeyes and, I hate to write it, the Wolverines.

In a way, "The Big Two" are back.

That’s the premise of a recent feature from The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode, who traced how Ohio State and Michigan reclaimed center stage in the sport – and how Michigan State, once a legitimate threat to both, slowly faded into the middle.


It wasn’t always that way. In the 1950s and 1960s, Michigan State was a prominent member of the Big Ten’s elite, winning national championships, churning out future head coaches and consistently beating Michigan. The Spartans went 14-4-2 against the Wolverines during those decades. They even outdrew Michigan in attendance during the 1960s, averaging more fans per game despite the Wolverines’ 100,001-seat stadium.

But the tide turned when Bo Schembechler, a former member of Woody Hayes’ staff, took over Michigan in 1969, kicking off The Ten Year War and turning The Game into the defining rivalry of college football.


Michigan State had dominated the Wolverines in the two decades prior, but Schembechler flipped the script. During his tenure in Ann Arbor, Michigan went 17-4 against the Spartans, erasing any illusions of parity between the programs.


Then came the infamous 1973 Rose Bowl vote. After Michigan and Ohio State tied 10-10 in Ann Arbor, the Big Ten’s athletic directors had to choose which team would represent the conference in Pasadena. Michigan State AD Burt Smith – a Michigan alum – voted for Ohio State, swinging the decision and handing Bo one of the biggest grudges of his career.


While Schembechler built Michigan State’s coffin, Hayes put in the nail. After a controversial loss to the Spartans in 1974, Woody submitted information to the NCAA that led to crushing sanctions: no postseason games and no TV appearances for three years – one of the harshest punishments the NCAA has ever imposed.


Hayes’ power move came amid decades when Ohio State wasn’t just dominant on the field – it was dominating everywhere. In the 1960s, the Buckeyes led the country in attendance at over 82,000 per game, ahead of both in-state rivals. Bigger crowds. More wins. More national titles. The machine was humming in Columbus, and apart from a handful of miserable one-off seasons (see: 1988, 1999, 2011), the humming has never stopped.

The Big Ten might have grown to 18 schools and stretched across four time zones, but at its core, the story hasn’t changed. It’s still about Ohio State and Michigan and Michigan State’s role as the once-dangerous, now-faded third wheel.

The Big Two are back – and the Buckeyes never left.