This is THE week in most of Ohio. The week that every avid, loyal, die hard Buckeye fan waits for with anticiption. The highlight of the season. It doesn't matter if all other games have been won or lost, the is THE GAME. The OSU- Michigan game. This is the most talked about and well known rivalry in all of College Football. If you have not heard of the Ohio State and Michigan game then you do not know your football. These teams have been going head to head since 1897.
The actual rivalry between these two teams goes back even farther than football itself, it dates back to statehood. The Northwest Territory, in 1803, was divided up into states (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,and uhhh Michigan). In 1837, when Michigan became a state, there was a border dispute between Ohio and Michigan. Michigan wanted their southern boundary to be drawn east to west, at the southernmost point of Lake Erie (south of the Maumee River), Ohio, on the other hand, wanted the southern boundary drawn at the most western point of Lake Erie (north of the Maumee River). This disagreement nearly turned into a shooting war between the two states. The more level headed of the two heads prevailed and the boundary was drawn in accordance with Ohio's wishes. For nearly two hundred years, the rivalry between the two states lives on in areas of education, industry, agriculture, tourism, and of course COllege Football.
There is so much history behind these two teams that any avid fan could sit and be enthralled for hours with stats and plays alone. There is no rhyme or reason to the way these two teams play and a winning season does not necessarily decide who will win. In 1969 Ohio State was #1 coming into the game only to suffer defeat by the Wolverines. And countless times duirng the 1970's were the wolverines facing perfect seasons, until they were taken down by the Buckeyes. 1973 was perhaps one of the most memorable with both teams having an undefeated season and ending the game with a 10-10 tie; Rose Bowl on the line, and a trip to California was at stake; The Big Ten conference voted on who would go and the Buckeyes emerged the victors: the Wolverines stayed home.
While the first meeting between the two teams was in 1897 it was not until 1919 that Ohio State would win in the series. Since 1922 there have these games. Of all of their meetings they have tied a total of 6 times. In 1999 EPSN .com named the OSU-Michigan rivalry the best in all sports.
To lay claim to this being the best rivalry in college football history we would have to look at statistics. Before the 1928 game, Ohio State's only wins came during the 1919-1921 games. Taking out those first 24 games, the series is Michigan 36, Ohio State 32, 4 ties. It has remained pretty even throughout the time since 1928, when OSU finally started fielding nationally recognized teams. Michigan has won 795 games in its history, and Ohio State has won 718. Ohio State has had 6 Heisman trophy winners, Michigan 3. Between them, the Buckeyes and Wolverines have gone to 13 consecutive Rose Bowls between 1968-1980.
So while college football fans all across the nation will be tuning in to watch their favorite team, anyone who knows anything about college football will be tuning in to watch THE BUCKEYES whip some BLUE and Maize ass on Saturday. I for one will be sitting back in my recliner , remote in hand, wearing my OSU shirt since my Mom threw out my lucky OSU crothless shorts ( a couple years ago)I had since 1986, screaming yelling, cursing the refs and of course singing the following song as the Bucks take the field and the famous tuba player dots the I.
We Don't Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan
O, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan
The whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan
We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, we're from Ohio
We're from Ohio...O-H
We're from Ohio...I-O
O, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan
The whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan
We don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan, we're from Ohio
GO BUCKEYESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!
