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.
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.
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.
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.
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