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This Week at The Wolverine Den

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The greatest rivalry in sports resumes on Saturday as Michigan and Ohio State meet for the 120th time. Michigan leads the all-time series 61-51-6. Great rivalries are created when the teams are evenly matched over time and the games decide championships. Since the start of the "Bo" era at Michigan in 1969, the two teams have played 54 times with Michigan winning 24, Ohio State winning 27 and two games that ended in a tie (plus the vacated game by Ohio St in 2010). In those 54 games, the Big Ten Championship was on the line in 42 of them. The teams have traded dominance in the recent past. OSU won 14 of the 16 games between 2004-2019 while Michigan won 12 of the 15 games between 1985-2000. Now Michigan has won the last three in a row. And amazingly, the underdog team has won 20 times over those 54 most recent games! This is indeed the greatest rivalry.

Pre-game Menu

Zingerman's Sandwiches

This year's version of "The Game" looks, on paper, to be a dominant win for Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 10-1 on the season and ranked #2. Michigan is 6-5 on the season and unranked. OSU is #1 in the nation in total defense, Michigan is 23rd. OSU is 28th in total offense while Michigan is 128th. The Buckeyes have star power on both sides of the ball and at every level.

The Wolverine Den Trivia

How many consecutive Michigan vs. Ohio State games have The Wolverine Den staff attended in person?

So how do the Wolverines compete? I offer the following:

Michigan has won three straight over Ohio State and each was in dominating fashion. Do the Wolverines have the Buckeyes' number? Ohio State was ranked higher than Michigan in each of the last three games and, in fact, were ranked #2 in the country in each game. They are ranked #2 again this year. We are in their head.
Ohio State is not the offensive juggernaut we have seen in recent years. Will Howard is a good game manager but he is not to the caliber of C.J. Stroud or Justin Fields. He is probably as good as Kyle McCord, who was run out of town after losing to Michigan last year (and now McCord leads the country in passing yards for his new team, Syracuse).
Ohio State has injuries on their offensive line. Both the left tackle and the center are out for this week's game. It is likely that Michigan's defense can be a big factor given the depleted line.
Michigan played is best game of the season last week. Sure, it was Northwestern, but the Wolverines are rounding into form. The defense held NW to 6 points and only 127 total yards. The previous game against undefeated Indiana saw the Hoosiers get only 18 total yards in the 2nd half. Meanwhile, the Maize and Blue put up 50 points with a balanced running and passing attack. Michigan is getting pressure (11 sacks in the last two games), they are not committing penalties and have only 2 turnovers in their last three games.

Michigan leads the all-time series 61-51-6.

The spread on this game at the start of the season was 10 points. A week before the game, it had jumped to 23 points and has now settled at 21. The largest spread ever in this game was 17 points, both in 1969 and 1996. Michigan won both of those games straight up. The over/under is only 44 while the last 10 games between Michigan and OSU have gone over 50 points. I'd say take the points and the over.

Steve's Prediction

24-23

Tim's Prediction

23-21

Brown's Prediction

24-22

Craig's Prediction

29-28

Tim 28, Steve 28, Craig 27½, Brown 26½