"Well, Sherman, set the Wayback Machine to 1906. You may recall that Michigan was terrific that year and all the way up until 1954. Let's go live there and tell those Buckeye fans how important we are."
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1906 may not be the best year. That's when they got kicked out of the conference, and became decent-but-irrelevant until 1918, when they claim a highly questionable NC at the height of WWI drafts. Only 5 games were played, and obviously most schools lost their best athletes to more important things.
When normal Big schedule resumed in 1919, they had a losing record.
It wasn't until 1922 that Yost got his 2nd wind - his first under an equal playing field.
They were consistently dominant in the 20s... and id say this is where the rivalry really starts. Ohio State got first win in the series in 1919. And from then 'til 1929, went 5-6.
Michigan experienced another drought from 1933-1943, including some abysmal 1-7 seasons in there. '34 - '44 was the first time there's a 10yr period where Ohio State had winning record... 5-4-1.
But Michigan was, once again, bailed out by the War Department and WWII. And having the Navy V12 program, which brought in transfers - like Elroy Hirsch*.
From 43-50, Michigan was 1 or 2 in conference with 2 claimed NCs**.
In this period, we beat them just once - in 1944.
The WWII wave would last only so long, from '51 to '63 they won nothing and frequently finished in bottom half of the conference. AP continued giving them pity rankings for awhile but even that tapered off.
The good times start here. We go 6-4 from 51-60, and 7-3 from 61-70.
By start of '64 they hadn't seen a top25 in 8 years. Their best finish was tied for 5th in conference.
So they have a good year in '64. Win the conference, ranked 4th by AP... and go right back to being shit until they hire Bo in '69.
That catches us up to 10yr war and more recent history everyone knows well.
*Originally a Wisconsin RB. Inducted Pro HoF. Later Wisconsin AD who voted for Ohio State to go to Rose in '73.
**AP awarded ND in '47.