WATCH VIDEO 

By Reilly Cahill

Last season, Ohio State captured the first 12-team College Football Playoff, but there was one team that still had bragging rights over Ohio State: the Michigan Wolverines.

Before the Buckeyes went on a run to win their ninth national championship, they were stunned by Michigan 13-10 in their last regular-season game.

As part of The Lantern-Michigan Daily rivalry edition, the Sports and Society Initiative and School of Communication gathered at WOSU on Thursday with a panel of experts to discuss how much the Ohio State and Michigan game matters because of the evolution of college football.

The panel was moderated by Sports and Society Director Nicole Kraft, a professor of journalism practice in the School of Communication.

Although the intensity of the game is as strong as ever, changes to college football, such as no Big Ten divisions and the expansion of the College Football Playoff, changed the magnitude of the game, according to members of the panel.

“The game at the end of the year is the game, period, full stop, never de-emphasise, never take it for granted,” Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said. “But then, oh, what about the next game that happens in the same season?”

Columbus Dispatch columnist Rob Oller, who has been covering the Buckeyes since 1995, said  The Game’s postseason implications aren’t as impactful because of the playoff expansion.

“Objectively, the rivalry is not what it was,” Oller said. “Simply because you can lose the Michigan game and win the national championship.”

Just two years ago, No. 3 Michigan defeated No. 2 Ohio State 30-24 on Nov. 25, 2023. While Michigan made both the Big Ten championship and the four-team playoff, the Buckeyes didn’t make either. The Wolverines captured the title that season.

Although the game does not hold as much weight in terms of post-season implications as it once did, Oller thinks the game is subjectively bigger than ever, because of social media and the increased interest from fans because of Michigan’s recent success and cheating scandal.

Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors, a 2014 Ohio State graduate, who was on campus during the Buckeyes’ eight-game win streak over Michigan from 2012-2019, said the intrigue for the game is higher now than it was.

“Ohio State won the national championship last year, but Michigan fans are still able to talk trash for 52 weeks because they won that game,” Hope said.

Following last season’s loss to Michigan, many Buckeye fans wanted Ohio State head coach Ryan Day fired.

But the way that the Buckeyes were able to bounce back following that shocking loss, to win the national championship, changed many fans’ perception of Day.

“You think about him walking out of the stadium, the horrible things that were being said to him, then six weeks later, he’s a hero because [he] led Ohio State to a national championship,” Hope said. “I think that run was exactly what he needed, to do a complete 180 of how he was viewed within the Ohio State fan base.”

Former Buckeye running back Chris “Beanie” Wells, who defeated the Wolverines in all three seasons with the Buckeyes from 2006-2008 but lost two national championship games, said he wouldn’t trade any of his wins over Michigan for a title.

Wells said that when the scarlet and grey meet the maize and blue in The Game, mental preparation beats talent.

“I think the team that understands the magnitude of the moment, understands the rivalry and is mentally prepared going into it, you have a great opportunity to win it,” Wells said.

The Buckeyes have fallen short against the Wolverines four straight times, but there have been longer winning streaks in the rivalry.

Michigan holds the longest streak, winning nine straight from 1901-1909, while the Buckeyes won eight straight from 2012-2019, and will look to start their own winning streak on Nov. 29 in Ann Arbor.

“There have been iterations of a surge by one team or another,” Bjork said. “And right now they have the surge, and we’re trying to get it back.”

Although the rivalry may not have the postseason implications it once did, the magnitude of the game is still relevant.

“It’s an incredible game, one of, if not the best rivalry in all of sports, not just college football,” Wells said.