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1. Before I get into The Game itself, I'd like to spend a few minutes talking about The Rivalry. Ohio State has now played Michigan 112 times since 1897. It is a long rivalry. It is a storied rivalry. It has often been a painful rivalry. Along the way, legends have been made, glory has been earned, perfect seasons have been dashed, championship hopes have been crushed. We have seen massive upsets, miraculous comebacks, record-setting performances, ten year wars, snow bowls, shanked field goals, banners torn down, double birds flipped, and so many other memorable moments. But that's all in the past now. It's time to move on.

I have heard so many Buckeye fans say that they want Michigan to be good again, "for the sake of The Rivalry." They say it with longing in their voices. Reverence even. Maybe a touch of pain, as if it really does hurt them that Michigan just isn't quite good enough to beat Ohio State. Quite frankly, I say that it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, wanting your rival to be good.

In the real world, do you really think that businesses and organizations want their competitors to be good? Does the Board of Directors of McDonalds get together and pray that Burger King will produce better burgers? Does Ford secretly hope that GM will produce better cars? Does Coke want Pepsi to win a few taste tests now and then? Will Hillary Clinton's team be upset if the Republicans nominate an unelectable candidate? Of course not!

Even in the world of sports, this love of your team's rivalry, as opposed to love of your team, seems to be unique to Ohio State fans. I have never heard a Pittsburgh Steelers fan wish that the Cleveland Browns would be good again for the sake of the rivalry. Same thing with Auburn-Alabama, Packers-Bears, Yankees-Red Sox, Harvard-Yale, and every other heated rivalry you can think of. Army-Navy might be the only exception, but those guys will eventually shed blood for each other, they're all part of the same team in the end.

I think that this perverse love of The Rivalry is some lingering mental disorder from the Cooper Era, a sort of Stockholm Syndrome response from some of us who survived those dismal years. Back then, when we could never beat Michigan, we at least had comfort in the fact that we were part of the greatest rivalry in sports - we could still share in the greatness of The Rivalry even if it wasn't great because of us. We were like France: "Yes we lost the War, but it was the greatest War of all time."

We don't need The Rivalry any more. We are great because we are great. Let Michigan fans bask in the glory of The Rivalry, hoping that some of our greatness will rub off on them. Get over your love for The Rivalry, and don't ever let it cloud your hate for Michigan.

2. Here's a breakdown of each team's performance in three segments:


TeamYears AnalyzedOverall Record-Win Percent-Record in GameBig Ten TitlesNat'l Champs
Michigan Wolverines1879 to 1950416-115-24.77129-12-4208
Ohio State Buckeyes1890 to 1950328-157-38.66312-29-481

TeamYears AnalyzedOverall Record-Win Percent-Record in GameBig Ten TitlesNat'l Champs
Michigan Wolverines1951 to 2000389-147-12.72127-23-2201
Ohio State Buckeyes1951 to 2000397-130-15.74623-27-2205

TeamYears AnalyzedOverall Record-Win Percent-Record in GameBig Ten TitlesNat'l Champs
Michigan Wolverines2001 to 2015119-69-0.6332-13-020
Ohio State Buckeyes2001 to 2015161-33-0.83013-2-082

Michigan was clearly the better team back in the leather helmet days. During the latter half of the 20th Century, the two teams were fairly even. Since the dawn of the 21st Century, Ohio State is clearly the better team. Let Michigan fans live in the past, recalling faded glory that they never knew. I prefer to live in the present.

3. Ezekiel Elliott reached some milestones yesterday. Zeke had 30 carries for 214 yards and 2 touchdowns, his 21st career 100-yard game (passing Eddie George for second place at OSU) and 5th career 200-yard game (tied with Eddie George for first place at OSU).

4. Zeke (3,812 yards) also moved past Eddie (3,768 yards) and into second place on the Buckeyes' list of career rushing leaders. With 39 career rushing touchdowns, Elliott is now in sole possession of 4th place at Ohio State.

5. For the season, Elliott has 1,672 yards rushing, which is already the 5th best single season in Ohio State history trailing only Archie Griffin (1,695 yards in 1974); Keith Byars (1,764 yards in 1984); himself (1,878 yards in 2014); and Eddie George (1,927 yards in 1995).

6. With one sack yesterday, Joey Bosa now has 26.0 for his Buckeye career. He is in third place at Ohio State, trailing only Jason Simmons (27.5 sacks) and Mike Vrabel (36.0 sacks). Bosa also had his first career interception in the game.

7. Urban Meyer becomes only the second Buckeye head coach to win his first four games against Michigan. The other was Francis Schmidt (1934 to 1937), who won all four games by shutout. Schmidt then lost three in a row (1938 to 1940) and was replaced by Paul Brown for the 1941 season.

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8. It looks like The Agony in Ann Arbor will keep the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten Conference Championship Game. I don't care - I still love that play. There will always be other CCGs, but there will never be a fail quite so epic as that one.
 
I've seen the light on the Michigan issue, we don't need them to be good at all. We won a national championship while they were bad. Hell, two; and played for two others.

We *do* benefit from the B1G being understood to have returned to a position of power, and so I'll always pull for B1G teams who are playing an OOC game, but beyond that? #ScrewBlue

We should have gone for 50. Harbaugh is a good coach, but he's just the next victim in a line of them. Just their bad luck for suffering our golden age of Buckeye football.

This has been a great season. One loss, and worst case scenario is something like the Rose Bowl -- and yet it's also a disappointing season. That's a golden age. We're witnessing players, games, coaches, and seasons right now that will be discussed and referenced for generations.

Were the 1996 and 1998 teams as stacked with NFL talent as this one? Only time will tell, but I'm not so sure.

Zeke doesn't have the Heisman Eddie does, but he's raised a national championship trophy and his numbers are equally gaudy with greater consistency.

We've never had the athletes we do now, the crazy combination of speed and strength.

I see TTUN fans already "Golden Doming" it up and guaranteeing that they beat us next year or the year after. Hey maybe, but they have nothing but raw hope on that front. Yep, we're losing a ton of talent after this season. How do you replace a Bosa? Oh wait, with a Bosa. A Zeke? Samuel is ready to go, and it wasn't long ago that opponents were drooling about Carlos Hyde leaving and our inability to replace him.

Protip to opposing fans: look to something besides attrition in the Buckeye ranks. Our third and fourth stringers will stand with most of your firsts. We're that deep.

Dear recruits; it's Ohio State, Alabama, and then everyone else. Be one of us, or lose to us.

/bluster

Another great write-up LJB. Promoted this one on FB as well.
 
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The one regret that I have about The Game was that Meyer did not pull a Dantonio and put Boren in the backfield when the Buckeyes got fairly close to the goal line but that was almost the entire game.

Oh, I am is forgot, screw *ichigan..
 
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I have heard so many Buckeye fans say that they want Michigan to be good again, "for the sake of The Rivalry." They say it with longing in their voices. Reverence even. Maybe a touch of pain, as if it really does hurt them that Michigan just isn't quite good enough to beat Ohio State. Quite frankly, I say that it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, wanting your rival to be good.
Maybe there's a middle ground on this. I kind of like it when Michigan is good enough to generate a little national excitement, and have high hopes coming into The Game, only to get bitchslapped once again. Then again, I also like it when they lose to Appalachian State and Toledo. So I guess I'm good either way, as long as it ends with a righteous embitchenning.
 
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So Michigan has 14 peers with a single NCAA-listed National Championship since 1950. The list of 15 programs with more than Michigan's solitary title:
Alabama (10)
Ohio State (7)
USC (7)
Oklahoma (7)
Notre Dame (5)
Nebraska (5)
Miami (5)
Texas (4)
Florida St (3)
LSU (3)
Florida (3)
Michigan St. (3) missed one in the original post!
Auburn (2)
Penn St. (2)
Tennessee (2)
 
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I haven't ever heard anybody say they want Michigan to beat Ohio State. Have not heard a single Buckeye fan with this take. I have heard the take, and definitely understand the take, that they want Michigan to cease being an absolute dumpster fire so that when Ohio State does defeat them in The Game each year, that win is not rendered meaningless and against a "scrub" opponent in the eyes of SOS pundits and the national audience/media.

Secondly, football really is entertainment at its core, whereas gigantic corporations are in business to make money. Naturally, in the latter scenario, you don't want your opponent to be be good and the more they suck the more you profit. Unfortunately, in this specific situation regarding the rivalry and The Game, the Wolverines are offering diminishing returns- and those returns have long since diminished entirely (until this year, with Harbaugh seemingly reviving things and Michigan once again, allegedly, on the "up and up" or so the media says). People want to be entertained, and while I would argue that beating Michigan no matter what is entertaining in my eyes, I don't think comparing two football teams in a rivalry that play for the entertainment of its fans to corporations competing for profit is the greatest analogy.

I personally wanted Harbaugh to go to Michigan. Urban vs Harbaugh is going to be hugely entertaining. It means Michigan will likely get much better over the next few years...and I am okay with that, not because I don't dislike them- I do- but rather because The Game is going to be much more meaningful and entertaining for me. And the wins that much sweeter.

Don't tell me you didn't grin each time they showed a distraught Harbaugh during Saturday's massacre. You did and I did too.
 
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I haven't ever heard anybody say they want Michigan to beat Ohio State. Have not heard a single Buckeye fan with this take. I have heard the take, and definitely understand the take, that they want Michigan to cease being an absolute dumpster fire so that when Ohio State does defeat them in The Game each year, that win is not rendered meaningless and against a "scrub" opponent in the eyes of SOS pundits and the national audience/media.

Secondly, football really is entertainment at its core, whereas gigantic corporations are in business to make money. Naturally, in the latter scenario, you don't want your opponent to be be good and the more they suck the more you profit. Unfortunately, in this specific situation regarding the rivalry and The Game, the Wolverines are offering diminishing returns- and those returns have long since diminished entirely (until this year, with Harbaugh seemingly reviving things and Michigan once again, allegedly, on the "up and up" or so the media says). People want to be entertained, and while I would argue that beating Michigan no matter what is entertaining in my eyes, I don't think comparing two football teams in a rivalry that play for the entertainment of its fans to corporations competing for profit is the greatest analogy.

I personally wanted Harbaugh to go to Michigan. Urban vs Harbaugh is going to be hugely entertaining. It means Michigan will likely get much better over the next few years...and I am okay with that, not because I don't dislike them- I do- but rather because The Game is going to be much more meaningful and entertaining for me. And the wins that much sweeter.

Don't tell me you didn't grin each time they showed a distraught Harbaugh during Saturday's massacre. You did and I did too.


M*ch*g*n only "gets good" by taking from us. That's the only way they've ever been good. 21 players from Ohio up there right now iirc. When M*ch*g*n "gets good", it is because they're doing well in turning young impressionable Ohio boys against their own "countrymen". They teach treason and treachery and dishonor. Why would anyone want to see them succeed at that? They are evil. Fuck them.

There is nothing entertaining about losing to those cockholes. NOTHING!
 
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I haven't ever heard anybody say they want Michigan to beat Ohio State. Have not heard a single Buckeye fan with this take. I have heard the take, and definitely understand the take, that they want Michigan to cease being an absolute dumpster fire so that when Ohio State does defeat them in The Game each year, that win is not rendered meaningless and against a "scrub" opponent in the eyes of SOS pundits and the national audience/media.
For The Rivalry to mean anything, Michigan has to beat Ohio State approximately half the time. Otherwise, they become a "scrub opponent" like Indiana or Purdue or Maryland or Rutgers, a guaranteed win. I want Michigan to be a scrub opponent. I want Ohio State to beat Michigan every single year. I want The Rivalry to be rendered meaningless.

Secondly, football really is entertainment at its core, whereas gigantic corporations are in business to make money. Naturally, in the latter scenario, you don't want your opponent to be be good and the more they suck the more you profit. Unfortunately, in this specific situation regarding the rivalry and The Game, the Wolverines are offering diminishing returns- and those returns have long since diminished entirely (until this year, with Harbaugh seemingly reviving things and Michigan once again, allegedly, on the "up and up" or so the media says). People want to be entertained, and while I would argue that beating Michigan no matter what is entertaining in my eyes, I don't think comparing two football teams in a rivalry that play for the entertainment of its fans to corporations competing for profit is the greatest analogy.
College football teams are gigantic businesses (albeit not organized as corporations) that are part of the massive sports entertainment industry, which is itself part of the much larger overall entertainment industry. Naturally, a college football program, just like every other business entity, wants their opponents to suck so that it can profit at the expense of those opponents.

If Ohio State ultimately needs a "foil" in order to provide entertainment; in other words, if there must be other successful college football programs in order for the college football industry itself to survive; then let that foil be someone other than Michigan.

I personally wanted Harbaugh to go to Michigan. Urban vs Harbaugh is going to be hugely entertaining. It means Michigan will likely get much better over the next few years...and I am okay with that, not because I don't dislike them- I do- but rather because The Game is going to be much more meaningful and entertaining for me. And the wins that much sweeter.
If you're entertained by watching a good Michigan team, then it would seem that your loyalties are divided. A good Michigan team will eventually beat Ohio State. I'm not okay with that.

You're a fan of The Rivalry. That's fine, but just realize what that means.

Don't tell me you didn't grin each time they showed a distraught Harbaugh during Saturday's massacre. You did and I did too.
I never grin at an enemy.
 
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