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Game Thread THE GAME: #1 Ohio State 42, #2 Michigan 39 (11/18/06)

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[SIZE=+2]Perfect match: OSU-Michigan[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+1]Teams likely will be unbeaten on Nov. 18[/SIZE]
October 2, 2006

Sure, the game is 47 days away. But it's safe to dream about it now.

The 103rd edition of the Ohio State-Michigan game will take place Nov. 18 in Columbus. And it could be the first to feature undefeated teams since 1973.

After pummeling Iowa on Saturday, top-ranked Ohio State's toughest remaining opponent is overconfidence. Check out the Buckeyes' schedule: home for Bowling Green, at Michigan State, home for Indiana and Minnesota, at Illinois and Northwestern.

Asked what remaining questions he has about his team, Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel replied: "Can you handle the success of being 5-0? [And] will we get better at practice? We're very capable, as long as we do the things we need to do."

Michigan looks nearly as capable after five games, outscoring opponents by an average of 19.6 points and getting big-time production from its passing game. Chad Henne threw three first-half touchdown passes in the Wolverines' 28-14 victory at Minnesota.

And unlike Illinois, which looked foolish in attempting to plant its flag in Michigan State's turf to celebrate its upset Saturday, Michigan claimed the Little Brown Jug with style. Rather than trying to embarrass Minnesota's players on the Gophers' home field, the Wolverines walked to Minnesota's sidelines, hoisted the trophy and then took it home.

Michigan's toughest games left are at Penn State (Oct. 14) and against Iowa (Oct. 21).
 
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The 103rd edition of the Ohio State-Michigan game will take place Nov. 18 in Columbus. And it could be the first to feature undefeated teams since 1973.
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Not quite accurate. Both with perfect records hasn't happened since 1973, but both teams were 'undefeated' in 1975, with 2 ties for TSUN.

Since 1935, when The Game was moved to the end of the regular season (with the exception of 1942, when each team played one more game after Thanksgiving), there have only been 3 times where each team came into the contest undefeated. All 3 were between 1970 and 1975, when TSUN came in the game without a loss for 6 straight years, and only beat tOSU in one of those 6 years (1971).

The Game with 2 Unbeaten Teams, since 1935

1970: tOSU (8-0, #5 AP) 20, TSUN (9-0, #4 AP) 9

1973: tOSU (9-0, #1 AP) 10, TSUN (10-0, #4 AP) 10 (tOSU voted to Rose Bowl)

1975: tOSU (10-0, #1 AP) 21, TSUN (8-0-2, #4 AP) 14
 
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The one thing that I feel is a an extra edge for the Buckeyes looking to this game is the likely improvement in our Defense.

As good as they have been playing we know that they still need to really learn to stop the run. These next few games give them both good practice at that, and when they go to East Lansing once more a very reasonable test.

By the time they get to host TSUN in Columbus we could be talking about a much improved run stuffing D.
 
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Another thing to consider is how much is Mike Hart going to wear down by November 18. He's tough, but also a little guy. Giving him the ball 25-30 times a game for 11 games before getting into C-Bus will take its toll.
 
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CPD

Weekly Wolverine Watch



Monday, October 02, 2006

Another week, another offensive star for Michigan. This time it was junior receiver Adrian Arrington, who, like fellow receiver Mario Manningham, sounds like a soap-opera character.
Arrington caught the first two touchdown catches of his career in Saturday's 28-14 win over Minnesota, Manningham caught a touchdown for the third straight game and Michigan put up a season-high 518 yards on Minnesota, though they also gave up a season-high 330 yards.
Michigan's 5-0 for the first time since 1999, and . . . ugh, that's enough, let's start prepping for Ohio State-Michigan on Nov. 18. Because the way Iowa quarterback Drew Tate played against the Buckeyes, there's no way he'll go into Michigan and lead the Hawkeyes to victory. So 11-0 vs. 11-0 is looking quite likely.
Let's start this week with stat comparisons, where Michigan is gaining more yards and giving up fewer yards than the Buckeyes.
Total defense: Michigan, 238.2 yards per game, Ohio State, 293.0. Total offense: Michigan, 389.4 yards per game; Ohio State, 386.6. Turnover margin: Michigan, plus 6; Ohio State, plus 9. Overall scoring margin: Michigan, 170-72, Ohio State, 162-49.
Days to Michigan-OSU: 47.
 
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NFBuck;623181; said:
Another thing to consider is how much is Mike Hart going to wear down by November 18. He's tough, but also a little guy. Giving him the ball 25-30 times a game for 11 games before getting into C-Bus will take its toll.
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Very true... they still have some tough games left, and grady is a pretty marginal #2 RB (according to UM fans).
 
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jwinslow;623378; said:
Very true... they still have some tough games left, and grady is a pretty marginal #2 RB (according to UM fans).
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Agreed that Grady hasn't shown much since his first carry of the season, but I disagree about Hart. After MSU, Iowa, and PSU, the Wolverines have three cake-walks leading into osu (NorthWorst, Ball State, and Indiana). That should give them plenty of time to heal any lingering injuries, and should also give Grady and the other young RBs some more quality playing time. If osu can manage to avoid any suspensions or incarcerations between now and November, both teams should be at their best.
 
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Lantern

We don't give a damn for Michigan, or do we?

Brandon Castel

There's a saying among many Buckeye fans that goes: My two favorite teams are Ohio State and whoever is playing Michigan. The good news for them is their favorite team is No. 1 in the country and 5-0 after a 38-17 win over Iowa Saturday. The bad news is their second favorite team has been getting its butt whipped.

Five teams have played Michigan this season and all five of them have come away with a loss. In the meantime the Wolverines have climbed to No. 6 in the polls and the idea of both Michigan and OSU being undefeated for their Nov. 18th matchup has college football fans around the country salivating.

It has also left many Buckeye fans torn on whether to root for an undefeated Michigan.

The rivalry between these two schools is as bitter as any in sports. The pure hatred between players and fans of these two teams is rivaled only by that of the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry.

For both teams and their respective states, this game makes or breaks every season.

Coaches careers are defined by their success in this one game, just look at John Cooper. Despite a record of 111-43-4 at OSU, it was primarily his 2-10-1 record against Michigan that got him fired after 13 seasons. Three times in the 90's Cooper and the Buckeyes entered the game undefeated, and all three times they were upset by the Wolverines.

Lloyd Carr was as untouchable as a coach could get after winning a national title with the Wolverines in 1997 and a decade of dominance over his rival Buckeyes. Even Carr found himself on the hot-seat entering this season due in large part to his 1-4 record against the Buckeyes in the Jim Tressel era.

The rivalry is founded on the notion of two power-house teams battling for national supremacy. It has its roots in the "10-year war" between Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, where from 1969 to 1978 the Buckeyes and Wolverines shared the Big Ten title six times, and both teams were ranked in the AP polll top five for four games between 1970 and 1975.

I for one will be rooting for Michigan to keep on winning, because it will be all the sweeter when we beat them. Rivalries don't really work when one of the teams is good and the other stinks.

It was not that long ago when the USC-UCLA was rivalry was considered as good as any in the country. Even the storied rivalry between the Steelers and Browns has taken a back seat to that of the Bengals-Steelers simply because the Browns are never good enough to contend with the Steelers.

But that raises the age-old question, should a true Buckeye fan really root for Michigan each Saturday leading up to "the game?" Would we rather Michigan be 11-0, 0-11 or somewhere in between heading into that game?

Regardless of whether the Wolverines do make it to 11-0, if the Buckeyes are still No.1 in the country going into their matchup, it's guaranteed that Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and the rest of the GameDay crew will undoubtedly be in Columbus.

In a game that has never needed any additional hype a matchup of undefeated rivals would create a circus-like environment in the streets of Columbus. The Buckeyes have played some enormous games under coach Tressel, but none of them would be bigger than a battle with undefeated Michigan at the 'Shoe. A pair of tickets for the game is already going for as much as $2,695 on ticketsgalore.co
 
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No question we root for Michigan, and root for them to win big. If they think they're better than they are (and they do right now, since they played out of their ass while NA played awful) they will be prime for a beat down.
 
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Personally...#1 vs. #2 would be nice in The Game...but after some thought about it I really could care less. It's The Game no matter what Michigan's record. I don't care if they are #2 or unranked...beating them won't be any less sweet as long as it stamps our ticket to the National Championship Game. If Michigan trips up along the way to this game, I won't be sad...I'll laugh, because Lloyd Carr is a horrible coach, and his team always loses games it shouldn't. Fuck Michigan...one things for sure...come November 19th, they ain't going to be undefeated.
 
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osugrad21;624017; said:
Lantern

We don't give a damn for Michigan, or do we?

Brandon Castel
The rivalry is founded on the notion of two power-house teams battling for national supremacy. It has its roots in the "10-year war" between Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler, where from 1969 to 1978 the Buckeyes and Wolverines shared the Big Ten title six times, and both teams were ranked in the AP polll top five for four games between 1970 and 1975.
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I read this in the lantern today, and have to say Castel doesn't know the history of OSU-scUM rivalry. It actually originated in the border dispute between Ohio and Michigan long before the first game was ever played. The "10-year-war" only embittered the rivalry.
 
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