Awesome Rivalry

[Zurp]

I grew up mostly watching the Bucks during the Cooper era, and thought Michigan typically owned The Game. That may have been true during the Cooper era, but check out what I found out about The Game, starting in 1951 (beginning with the Woody Hayes era).

The two teams are tied with records of 26-26-2 against each other.

The number of times Ohio State finished the season with a better record than Michigan is 24 times. The number of times Michigan finished the season with a better record than Ohio State is 24 times. (They finished with the same record 6 times.)

I came up with a new stat: I call it the "Blowin' it" stat. Maybe I should call it the "Cooper stat." I base it on this: take the two teams' records, excluding the results of The Game. If the team with the better record does not win The Game, they get one point in the "Blowin' it" stat. (A tie counts as blowin' it.) Since 1951, both teams have blown it 10 times.

Seems like a pretty even rivalry to me. Any other suggestions for rating The Game?

[HineyBuck]

Bunch of good stuff on THE rivalry in here:

http://library.osu.edu/sites/archive...vsmichigan.htm

[BB73]

The Cooper years were frustrating, but how about this period for scUM.

From 1970 to 1975, scUM came into the game undefeated for 6 straight seasons (they had two ties in 1975). They were ranked either #3 or #4 in the AP poll when all 6 of those games were played. They came out of The Game with one win.

Those were good years.

[Zurp]

To clarify something, in my "Blowin' it" stat, I counted a tie as a loss for the team that was "supposed" to win. That only affected Michigan in 1992. (They had a better record than tOSU, and they tied that game.) Cases like that are arguable.

Also, I only researched the final records of the two teams. I don't know how either team did in their bowl games, each year. When I was looking at which of the teams had better records, excluding results from The Game, results from bowl games were included with the regular season games. If anyone's interested, you can exclude bowl games from consideration. I know I'm not going to go through all the trouble.

[Dryden]

A few things I've been keeping track of for the past several years ...

History since 1935 (when "The Game" was moved to the last game of the regular season schedule):

UM 35 - OSU 31 - TIES 4
UM 27 Big-10 Championships - OSU 26 Big-10 Championships
UM 2 National Championships ('48, '97) - OSU 5 National Championships ('42, '54, '57, '68, '02)
UM 3 Heisman Trophies ('40, '91, '97) - OSU 6 Heisman Trophies ('44, '50, '55, '74, '75, '95)
UM 17-18-0 in Bowl Games - OSU 17-18-0 in Bowl Games
UM 7-11-0 in 18 Rose Bowl Appearances - OSU 6-6-0 in 12 Rose Bowl Appearances
UM 527-196-17 - OSU 528-182-22

It's amazing how similar the records are regarding Big-10 titles, bowl game records, and total wins. The one stat that is diminished (or not a true reflection of the parity of the two programs) is the Rose Bowl appearances measure. OSU missed the Rose Bowl in '02 for the Fiesta and declined the Rose invitation in 1960. I haven't checked, but I'd be interested to know which program was penalized more by the old "no repeat" rule. In any event, once that was dropped, UM or OSU represented the Big-10 in Pasadena every single year from 1968 to 1980.

The NC measurements are also, of course, subject to debate. I'm tracking the generally accepted consensus and/or split titles from the AP, UPI, and Coaches Polls. If you count the NCAA's record book for titles recognized by schools, the line would actually read:

UM 3 National Championships ('47, '48, '97) - OSU 7 National Championships ('42, '54, '57, '61, '68, '70, '02)

[Zurp]

Originally Posted by Dryden

I haven't checked, but I'd be interested to know which program was penalized more by the old "no repeat" rule. In any event, once that was dropped, UM or OSU represented the Big-10 in Pasadena every single year from 1968 to 1980.

I always thought that the "no repeat" rule was pretty dumb. Does anyone know the reasoning behind that rule's creation.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Dryden, good research, but I see a couple minor glitches...we "declined" the Rose Bowl in the 1961 season, not 1960. Also, according to their scoreboard in the Pig House, Michigan claims 11 national titles...1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, and 1997.

[Dryden]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Also, according to their scoreboard in the Pig House, Michigan claims 11 national titles...1901, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1918, 1923, 1932, 1933, 1947, 1948, and 1997.

Originally Posted by Dryden

History since 1935 (when "The Game" was moved to the last game of the regular season schedule):

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Dryden

Oops. If I step on my dick any harder, I'm going to [censored] in a horizontal spray...

[Yertle]

I'd like to see home team records for each team. It seemed that in the early to mid 80's there was a stretch of 5-6 games when the away team won. It might have even started in 1979 with Schlitcher and the blocked punt.

[BuckBojangles]

scUM is ahead in the rivalry overall. Every year we keep winning under Tress, we will push the "tied back to" date back and back and back until we're on top.

[MililaniBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Yertle

I'd like to see home team records for each team. It seemed that in the early to mid 80's there was a stretch of 5-6 games when the away team won. It might have even started in 1979 with Schlitcher and the blocked punt.

Here ya go...count 'em up for yourself.

[Zurp]

Originally Posted by MililaniBuckeye

Here ya go...count 'em up for yourself.

I'm bored out of my pants at work (would you stop looking at me?), so I figure I'll do the work for you.

I'm following Dryden's precedent of using games since 1935. Ohio State has won 31 times, Michigan has won 35 times, and they've tied 4 times. Ohio State is 13-19-3 in Ann Arbor, MI. Ohio State is 18-16-1 in Columbus, OH. The home team, therefore, is 37-29-4 since 1935.

To answer Yertle's question about the stretch of away teams winning, the away team won 4 straight games from '78 to '81. Ohio State broke the streak by winning in Columbus in 1982. The home team won 4 straight, the last was in 1985, in Ann Arbor. Michigan then won in Columbus (the first The Game that I attended) in 1986. No great streaks existed after that, as scUM dominated Cooper pretty good.

There was a five-game away team winning streak from '63-'67. Then, from '68-'72 (5 games) the home team won. If you include '73 and '74, the home team was 6-0-1 in those 7 years.

Other streaks:
scUM was 6-0-1 against tOSU from '45 to '51.
From '52 to '75, scUM never won back-to-back games vs. tOSU. Ohio State was 16-7-1 in those years.
scUM basically owned tOSU from '85 to '00 (as we all know). scUM was 12-3-1 in those years.

And since I'm following Dryden's trend of considering back to 1935 for the stats, the "blowin' it" stat now looks like this:

Michigan has come into The Game with the better record and "Blown it" (not won The Game) 15 times since 1935.

Ohio State has come into The Game with the better record and "Blown it" 15 times since 1935.

This time, bowl games are not included with the regular season stats. The teams' results in the bowl games do not affect my stats.

Also, if you decide to not include the 1992 game (Michigan had the better record, and they tied), then you'd also not include the 1949 game, where the same thing happened to Ohio State. The numbers for both teams would be 14.

Now, to figure out how many times the winner of The Game won at least a share of the Big Ten Championship............

[thackattack]

Can you say "Best Rivalry in Sports?"

[Zurp]

Ok.. here's my compiling of results of The Game and their Big Ten Championships: (Still using 1935-present)

OSU won The Game and at least a share of the championship 17 times.
UM won The Game and at least a share of the championship 20 times.
OSU lost The Game and won at least a share of the championship 6 times.
UM lost The Game and won at least a share of the championship 4 times.
When the two teams have tied, OSU won at least a share of the championship 2 times, and UM won at least a share of the championship 3 times.

I agree with your "best rivalry in sports" comment. You hippies in Boston can take your Red Sox-Yankees arguments and stuff them in a pillow case, because you're all wrong.