Ohio State went into Ann Arbor on Saturday and beat Michigan for an eighth-consecutive year.
It was their 15th win in 16 games, and 17th win in the last 19 meetings.
Some would call it ‘old hat,’ but if the new hat fits so great and looks so good every year, it’s okay to admire it for its individual beauty. There is no reason to just toss it on your pile of other hats. You need to admire them and set them out so that they can be appreciated.
And that’s what Buckeye fans need to make sure they do with yesterday’s win over the Wolverines.
I know it won’t be taken for granted. But things happened in that game that generally don’t happen in that game. Players had performances that aren’t that easy to come by, and just because they are becoming more frequent against Michigan doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be acknowledged.
For instance, freshman wide receiver Garrett Wilson caught three passes for 118 yards and a touchdown, and in doing so he joined a fairly exclusive group. He became just the eighth Buckeye to ever have 100 receiving yards in a game against Michigan.
He joined Parris Campbell (192, 2018), Ted Ginn (104, 2006), John Frank (123, 1983), Santonio Holmes (121, 2003), Brian Stablein (111, 1992), David Boston (217, 1998), and Michael Jenkins (132, 2003) in the Buckeyes’ Century Club.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen the Ohio State record books in a while, but that’s a decent group to be listed among, and yet none of them were true freshmen like Wilson is.
Last year, Chris Olave made his mark in this game as a true freshman with two touchdowns catches and a blocked punt, but even those two receptions went for just 48 yards total.
Junior running back JK Dobbins also joined an exclusive group, as he does just about every week.
He now joins Archie Griffin as the only two Buckeyes with more than 4,000 yards rushing. Dobbins is now at 4,113 yards rushing in his career, and is only a little under 1,500 yards away from overtaking Griffin as the all-time rushing leader at Ohio State.
The other group Dobbins joined on Saturday is the 200-yard club. In rushing for 211 yards in 31 attempts against Michigan, he became just the fourth Buckeye to ever rush for 200 yards in a game against the Wolverines. He joined Carlos Hyde (226, 2013), Beanie Wells (222, 2007), and Ezekiel Elliott (214, 2015).
Dobbins also added 49 yards receiving, so his 260 all-purpose yards is also a school-record against Michigan.
When Ohio State needed their workhorse most, the only thing Dobbins had to say was “Let’s go.” He wanted this moment, just as Garrett Wilson did, just as everyone else did.
Senior defensive end Jonathon Cooper gave up the rest of the season and its possibilities for this one shot at Michigan. He made the most of it, collecting a season-high three tackles and his lone sack of an injury-shortened year.
This was a sacrifice for Cooper, but one he was happy to make and came to peace with.
Michigan, on the other hand, may never find peace with any of this.
Especially when they have to face quarterback Justin Fields for at least one more season.
Against Michigan, Fields became just the fourth Ohio State quarterback to throw for over 300 yards against the Wolverines.
Fields completed 14-of-25 passes for 302 yards and four touchdowns.
In throwing for 300 yards, Fields joined Buckeye quarterback luminaries Joe Germaine (330, 1998), Troy Smith (300, 2005; 316, 2006), and Dwayne Haskins (396, 2018) as the only four quarterbacks in OSU history to pass for 300 yards against the Wolverines.
Fields also joined Haskins and Smith as the only quarterbacks in school history to throw for at least four touchdowns in a game against Michigan.
One of those touchdowns came immediately after Fields left the medical tent, supported by a much bulkier knee brace than the one he began the game with. All Fields was thinking about was getting back on the field so that he could put the finishing touches on a masterpiece.
Which is exactly what he did.
But these kinds of things aren’t supposed to happen, because they haven’t happened all that often.
And just because they’re starting to happen more doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a moment and appreciate the coveted result when a big-time player steps up in big-time moments against the rival of all rivals.
Don’t take any of this for granted, because most of it has been needed to get things as lopsided as they’ve been.
And as long as you’re looking at it from the right angle, lopsided doesn’t look all that bad.
Appreciation – si,
Arrogance – No.
Gerd – well written article on an aspect of brotherhood our players are still handling very well this year…so far. Some others… are providing the usual distractions and foolishness.
It’s a wonderful characteristic of life that there are always challenges ahead… for the person who keeps on thinking as well as paying…forward.
GO BUCKS! BEAT Wisconsin again!
Ditto, Don. I work w/ Desmond Effin’ Howard’s brother. Cannot wait to see him tomorrow…
I wonder what the Georgia Coach thinks about Justin Fields transferring to Ohio State and the success Fields is having. I believe he’s doing just as good a job as Fromm is doing or perhaps even better. Anyway, OSU should be thankful the Georgia Coach allowed Justin to transfer. I’m also very happy that Joe Burrow is having a great year and leading LSU to an undefeated season this year. Its too bad there were two great QB’s at OSU at the same time when he was at OSU, but am happy for both him and Haskins as they both two talented QB’s. Wouldn’t it be great to see OSU meet LSU in the National Championship Playoffs? My only concern would be that Clemson could possibly with the National Championship again. Their QB is awfully good and the rest of the team is very good as well. The only problem with Clemson is that their schedule is filled with mostly nobodies! So maybe they aren’t on the same level as OSU, LSU, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn. Oklahoma, Baylor, Utah, and maybe a couple others. Who are they gong to play in their Conference Championship? Probably Virginia, ranked 22 this week? How does that compare to Ohio State playing Wisconsin ranked 10, LSU playing Georgia ranked 4-5, Great conference Clemson is in, yeah right! How would they fare in the SEC, the B1G or even the BIG 12 Conferences? That would be interesting to see, but of course it would never happen. How about an 8 team National Championship? I’d be in favor of that and maybe drop one game of of the regular season and not have such a long time between the end of the regular season and the bowl games. Maybe even drop a couple or so worthless bowl games that nobody watches. But, I guess its good for those teams that get to play. I think a team should win 7 games before they deserve a bowl bid. Oh well. what ever will be will be. Anyway, GO BUCKS BEAT WISKY once again!
Anyway, not taking anything away from Clemson, they have a good coach with a good team and one of the best QB’s in the nation. GO BUCKS, SHOW THEM ALL IN THE COMING WEEKS! IT TIME FOR ANOTHER NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!
Dondh – can we learn what Georgia is or is not learning for themselves?
IDK….
But IMO we can learn from our ‘experience’ with a loyal Buckeye ‘gone, but not forgotten’ – a veritable Beau Geste aka Beau Burrow we may yet encounter this year in the Arena.
Jenkins was in 2003. The scary thing is we have four wr’s in the 20′ class that are as good or better than these guys.
I doubt I will ever get complacent when it comes to winning The Game. I was very confident that we would win this year, but I didn’t expect us to win by this big of a margin. 56-27? 300 yards by Fields? 200 yards by Dobbins? 100 yards by Wilson? All unexpected and very much appreciated by me!
Go Bucks! Beat Badgers!
Is it true that with yesterday’s results OSU overtook Ttun with the all time winning %?
Kurt…yes, Tom wrote about it earlier in the week.
when we “took over” by 0.0002 …
was the race for ‘all-time’… over?
Timely article. What makes the recent performances so demoralizing are the total yardage racked up against MI that in the past was unheard of.
agree Kurt – as we repped our traditional mantras for decades… we successfully and experientially “unheard” how to think, let alone think tactically.
what loyal Buckeye can forget all those great Buckeyes telling our coaches & teams how they ‘can’t adjust’ … ‘that fast’?
Is Coach Day and his staff ‘just doing it’ now? Iz it ‘just happening’?
Could this ‘be’ …’on purpose? ;-{)}
GO BUCKS!
Tomorrow is the best day when we all go back to work and see the mi fans. I work with a kid in Cleveland who wears a mi hat everyday of the year. I will wear my osu jersey and tell him to not wear his hat since his team lost. I think I will wear my ohio state hat everyday also.
for those of us who suffered through the 90’s with much better OSU teams losing over and over to scUM, believe me-NONE of this is being overlooked ..this is just crazy awesome!
Ditto Todd
What a wonderful and rare opportunity to learn how to ‘act like you’ve been there before’.
Be cause we have been there, but not done that…. 1969, 2015 – with our latest two “best teams evah!”
Appreciation from a 55 years’ ‘EXPERIENCED’ Buckeye ‘vet’ for the example our ‘kids’ are setting this year… so far.
GO BUCKS!