On December 12 at noon, one of college football’s greatest rivalries will kick off featuring the number four ranked Ohio State Buckeyes against the unranked Michigan Wolverines. This rivalry has led college football as one of the greatest and has led broken seasons to amazing endings. With this year, comes the 117th matchup against these two legacy-riddled teams. Despite a rough year, I believe Michigan will come out of this one victorious as they look to make yet another great moment in history.

These two teams started the rivalry all the way back in 1918. As of today, Michigan is in the lead with 58 wins, 51 losses, and 6 ties; however, even though the Buckeyes seem like a clear favorite this year, history shows that anything can happen in rivalry games. In 1995, the Wolverines faced off against the number two ranked buckeyes in what seemed to be a heavily favored matchup for Ohio State. This game was legendary, as Michigan running back Tim Biakabutuka had one of his best games ever rushing for 313 yards in the 31-21 upset win against a talented Buckeyes team. Following that loss, Ohio State missed out on the Rose Bowl therefore missing out on another national championship shot. One year later, Big Ten fans around the country witnessed deja vu as the number twenty one ranked Wolverines traveled into the heart of Columbus to face the number two ranked Buckeyes once again. Sixty minutes of football later and Ohio State coach John Cooper took arguably his worst loss ever, resulting in the Wolverines being victorious 13-9, and prevented the Buckeyes from making it to the National Championship once again.

Despite a struggling season so far for the Wolverines, the team has the talent and skill to pull off yet another upset. Despite struggles on the offense, the Wolverines run game led by Hassan Haskins will be looked to ground and pound through the Buckeyes defense like in past years more than ever this year. Also with Ohio State losing twenty three players due to COVID-19, Michigan will look for the holes in the defense as well as the offense of the Buckeyes. Also, Don Browns’ defense is something Michigan fans used to take pride in. However, even though for the past year, Michigan’s defense has underperformed, coach Don Brown has shown how great his defenses have been. For example, from 2016-2019, Michigan’s defense was constantly high ranking in college footballs polls. Therefore, Michigan will look to be able to fall back on their defense to make some big plays against the Buckeyes this Saturday.

Even though odds may be against the Wolverines this year, history shows crazy events can occur during a heated rivalry game in college football. If Michigan can play up to their potential then one of college football’s biggest rivalries could live up to its name this Saturday.

The Game: Ohio State over Michigan