The college football experts universally picked #4 Michigan to defeat #10 Ohio State. But when the “underdog” Buckeyes took the field, they had a game plan ready and absolutely dominated the Team from up North.
Ohio State didn’t just upset Michigan. The Buckeyes totally embarrassed the Wolverines, 62-39, the most points giving up by the Wolverines in the history of the series.
The Buckeyes also doubled the previous high point total by a Michigan opponent this season.
That is the 7th win in a row for the Buckeyes, with coach Urban Meyer now 7-0 against the rival team.
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh’s 0-4 record against Ohio State will be cited continuously over the next year.
The victory earns the Buckeyes a trip to the Big Ten Championship to take on No. 19 Northwestern and pride in the fact that they ruined any chance of the Wolverines competing for a national championship.
There also still hope of making the College Football Playoff.
Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins was fantastic, throwing touchdown passes, tearing apart Michigan’s supposedly great pass defense.
Haskins broke Drew Brees’ single-season conference record for touchdown passes. He stated his case for a trip to New York as a Heisman finalist by tossing five touchdown passes against one of the nation’s top defenses.
The last time Michigan defeated Ohio State in Columbus, Dwayne Haskins was 3-years-old. Today, he had 5 passing touchdowns against the Wolverines.
As if Haskins’ production wasn’t enough, Parris Campbell broke off a 78-yard touchdown run on an an end-around play.
The Buckeyes made Michigan’s defensive look pedestrian.
Parris Campbell’s 78-yard rushing TD is the longest rush by an Ohio State player against Michigan in the series history and the second-longest rush by either team.
The game had an unsung hero in Ohio State freshman Chris Olave. Coming into the game with five receptions, Olave caught two touchdown passes and blocked a punt that led to a Buckeyes third-quarter touchdown.
For all the hand-wringing over the Buckeyes before The Game, the door has swung wide open for them to climb into the Top Four when the final College Football Playoff rankings are released on December 2nd.
Ohio State cleared its first hurdle before it even took the field against Michigan. Washington State’s loss to Washington will knock the Cougars down from the No. 8 spot.
No. 9 Central Florida is undefeated heading into the AAC title game against Memphis, but star quarterback McKenzie Milton suffered a leg injury in Friday’s 38-10 win over South Florida that required surgery.
It’s also unclear if the selection committee would put a non-Power Five conference team in the Top Four.
The two biggest obstacles still in Ohio State’s way for a CFP spot are Georgia and Oklahoma.
The 11-1 Bulldogs have to defeat top-ranked Alabama in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 1 to avoid a second loss.
The same day, the Sooners will try to avenge their loss against Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game.
No. 7 LSU is also above Ohio State, but two losses and the lack of a conference title-game appearance could hurt the Tigers.
Even though Northwestern isn’t the definition of traditional powerhouse, at least the Buckeyes will have the eyes of the selection committee on them next weekend when they play the Wildcats in the Big 10 title game.
There’s also precedent from the selection committee to give Ohio State the benefit of the doubt in close cases, per Sporting News’ Bill Bender:
“In 2014, Ohio State started at No. 16 and made the jump up to the No. 5 spot before championship weekend. The Buckeyes slid into the No. 4 spot after a 59-0 victory against Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game. TCU dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 despite beating Iowa State 55-3. In 2016, Ohio State (11-1) didn’t play in the Big Ten championship and lost head-to-head to Big Ten champion Penn State (11-2), but the Buckeyes got the benefit of the doubt from the Playoff committee.”
Any discussion about the Buckeyes’ loss to Purdue is valid, but assuming chalk prevails next week, their win over Michigan is better than any victory Oklahoma has had this season.
Everything is set up perfectly for Ohio State to make its third trip to the College Football Playoff thanks to Saturday’s dominant win over Michigan.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines made mistakes all over the field.
There were dropped passes. A blocked punt. Missed tackles. Blown coverages. Defensive pass interference penalties. You name it, it went wrong.
Michigan fans aren’t taking it too well. The Detroit Free Press said this about Michigan’s performance:
But Harbaugh couldn’t do it. Couldn’t get his team to play up to the Buckeyes’ level. Couldn’t call the right plays. Couldn’t make the adjustments. Couldn’t find the right wrinkles. And he made some seriously questionable decisions, chasing points early in the game and failing on a pair of 2-point conversion attempts.
This was a game Michigan had to win. That Harbaugh had to win, after losing three straight to Ohio State.
So make it four in a row for Harbaugh.
All hail, Ohio State.
URBAN’S HEALTH
The talk on sports TV and radio all week whether this would be Urban Meyer’s last game on the sidelines at home as the Buckeyes coach.
He has looked miserable on the sidelines all season, suffering from massive headaches, although he seemingly had no episode today against Michigan.
Urban Meyer’s health has been a question all season.
Here’s the pregame salute to all OSU seniors, including starters OL Malcolm Pridgeon, OL Demetrius Knox, OL Isaiah Prince, WR Terry McLaurin, WR Johnnie Dixon and WR Parris Campbell.
Needless to say, there will be a lot of “experts” explaining why they got their predictions wrong, including every single analyst at CBS Sports.
Then there was this:
Ohio State is getting lit!!!! LOL at this dude’s face pic.twitter.com/n45Sc37tWO
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) November 24, 2018