In partnership with
Hello and welcome back to another edition of Cus Words Sports!
When teams have been playing each other since 1897, they tend to amass many interesting facts.
That is certainly true of Ohio State and Michigan, who are getting set to play an intercollegiate football contest for the 121st time Saturday.
Michigan won the first game 34-0 with the student newspapers from each side noting the game was not marred by “slugging” or other “objectionable features,” a welcome sight at the time apparently.
The Wolverines scored all their points in the first half then reverted to a kicking game according to the accounts from the time. That meant when they got the ball, they would just punt it back to Ohio State to try to make the Buckeyes drive the length of the field, something they proved unable to do.
Michigan may try a similar style this year, but we’ll get to that later in the week.
For now, please enjoy these factoids from The Game (after the ad, which I would love for you to give a quick click so I can get a little scratch to put in the postseason travel fun!) and feel free to use them to wow and impress your friends and family at the water cooler today, over Thanksgiving dinner Thursday or at the bar Wednesday night.
Introducing the first AI-native CRM
Connect your email, and you’ll instantly get a CRM with enriched customer insights and a platform that grows with your business.
With AI at the core, Attio lets you:
Prospect and route leads with research agents
Get real-time insights during customer calls
Build powerful automations for your complex workflows
Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.
Michigan leads the series 62-52-61
The Wolverines have won four in a row after losing 15 out of 16.
Prior to Michigan’s win in 2021, Ohio State had made the rivalry as close as it had been since 1905, the year before the forward pass was legalized. At that time, Michigan led 6-0-1.
Michigan last won The Game five years in a row from 1922-27.
Ohio State is 22-25-3 at Michigan Stadium, which opened in 1927. The Buckeyes had evened their record there before losing the last two.
Last year marked the fourth time in the last six years the underdog (by ranking) won The Game, but the previous time an unranked Michigan team had beaten Ohio State was in Ann Arbor in 1993. Unranked Ohio State teams beat ranked Michigan teams in 2001 and ’04.
The underdog won eight of 12 meetings from 1993-2004, including four wins for each team. There were no upsets for the next 13 years until No. 10 Ohio State upset No. 4 Michigan 62-39 in 2018.
2021 was the first Ohio State recruiting class to go winless against Michigan in four tries since the 1990 group went 0-3-1. The last to go 0-4 was John Cooper’s first recruiting class in 1988. Coincidentally, ’21 was Day’s first recruiting class.
Sherrone Moore won his debut game in the rivalry as Michigan’s full-time head coach. The last Michigan coach to start 2-0 against Ohio State was Lloyd Carr in 1995-96. He finished 6-7. Moore was the interim head coach when Jim Harbaugh was suspended in 2023, but Michigan still credits that win to Harbaugh.
Ohio State previously faced Michigan as the No. 1 team in the nation five times and won three:
1954 Won 21-7 against No. 12 Michigan
1969 Lost 24-12 against No. 12 Michigan
1973 Tied 10-10 against No. 4 Michigan
1975 Won 21-14 against No. 4 Michigan
2006 Won 42-39 against No. 2 Michigan
Ryan Day beat Michigan in his first try but has lost his last four.
The last Ohio State coach to beat Michigan less than twice in his first six tries was John Cooper, who was 0-5-1 in his first six and got his first win in 1994 (seventh game). He finished 2-10-1 against the Wolverines.
Urban Meyer won his first six and finished 7-0 against the Wolverines.
Jim Tressel started 5-1 and finished 9-1.
Earle Bruce started 4-2 and finished 5-4.
Woody Hayes started 3-3 and finished 16-11-1. Also of note: Woody lost two of his first three then won four of his next five and eight of the next 10.
One team has gotten its first loss of the season in The Game 10 times: Ohio State in 1969, ‘93, ‘95, ‘96, 2022 and ’23 and Michigan in ‘70, ‘72, ‘74 and ‘06. The teams ruined a perfect season for each other in 1973 with a 10-10 tie.
Michigan has ruined a perfect Ohio State season seven times and given the Buckeyes their first conference loss 14 times. Ohio State has ruined five perfect Michigan season and 11 perfect conference seasons. These all include 1973 when the teams tied 10-10.
Ohio State avoided having a perfect record ruined in 1979, 2002, 2006, 2012 and 2013.
Michigan’s Bryce Underwood is set to become the seventh true freshman to start for either team in The Game since freshmen became eligible in 1972. The last was Wayne High School grad Braxton Miller in 2011. The previous youngsters are 1-5 with Terrelle Pryor claiming the only victory in 2008 when Ohio State pummeled Michigan 42-7.
Here is the full list:
Rick Leach, Michigan, lost 21-14 in 1975
Art Schlichter, Ohio State, lost 14-3 in ’78
Chad Henne, Michigan, lost 37-21 in 2004
Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State, won 42-7 in ’08
Tate Forcier, Michigan, lost 21-10 in ’09
Braxton Miller, Ohio State, lost 40-34 in ‘11
According to research by the Michigan Sports Information Department, the teams have met with potential for major ramifications on the Big Ten standings 51 times since The Game was moved to the last game of the regular season in 1935. This will be No. 52 as both teams are still alive for a berth in the Big Ten Championship Game next week in Indianapolis.
Ohio State is in with a win while Michigan is a long shot but could make it with a win and some help. Ohio State also has a small chance to make it with a loss, but that would require Indiana being upset by lowly rival Purdue in the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
This seems like too few, but as near as I can tell the only redshirt freshmen to start The Game are J.T. Barrett in 2014 and C.J. Stroud in 2021. Barrett won (though he was knocked out of the game with a broken leg) while Stroud lost. Julian Sayin will become the third on Saturday for Ohio State.
Michigan has only seven players from Ohio, one less than last year, and sophomore running back Jordan Marshall of Cincinnati Moeller is the only one who plays a significant role since senior safety Rod Moore (Northmont High School) has never quite gotten back to full strength from a knee injury he suffered in the spring of 2024. Marshall missed last week’s win over Maryland with a shoulder injury, but it seems pretty likely he’ll be in the lineup Saturday.
That’s all I’ve got for today, but we are scheduled to talk to Ryan Day on Tuesday at noon as usual, so you can be sure there will be more content coming as the Buckeyes prepare for their chance at redemption after four years of embarrassment at the hands of the Wolverines.
I’ll also have a breakdown of the statistical comparisons and more before getting on the road to go north with Press Pros Magazine on Friday.
1 Ohio State officially does not recognize its win in 2010 because of NCAA violations, but Michigan does in case you see a discrepancy in numbers this week.