Ohio State beats Michigan....AGAIN!!!!

I swear, after all the years of abuse as a Cleveland Sports fan and growing up in the heartland of Ohio for 7 years during the BRUTAL Cooper years (the first Buckeyes coach I remember), this still is surreal.

Watching on Gamecast, the game looked pretty tough to watch (though since I couldn't actually SEE it, it may well have been one of those games where "the defenses imposed their wills on the offense"). Now, Ohio State is undisputed Big 10 champion and headed off to the Rose Bowl (where I SINCERELY hope they will play Oregon, though with Dixon out now, I'm not so sure...). I'm not sure how Ohio State (or THE Ohio State University, as some call it) will do in the Rose Bowl. They've done better than anybody expected, and than the talent on paper suggested they would ever do, though, once again, that's why they play the games. Last week's loss is REALLY disappointing now, but if it means the Bucks don't get killed by LSU, I guess I'll take it.

What is really sweet in all this is, for the first time in my life, a class of Michigan players never beat Ohio State. The Cooper years were ATROCIOUS (to the tune of 2-10-1 in his 13 years). Tressel now is 6-1 against Michigan, and this year's graduating class with Chad Henne (who I swear it feels like has been playing for 17 years at Michigan) at the helm never, NEVER beat the Buckeyes. I never could say that before - now I can. That alone is great. The fact we go into the Big House is even better. And while Michigan does finish 8-4, it's beyond wonderful, sublime, etc. (words fail) that they started their season losing to a I-AA team, then suffering their worst loss at the Big House in some time at the hands of Oregon, and ended it losing in historically bad fashion to the Bucks...again (the 3 Michigan points were the fewest in the series since 1962, and Michigan's total offense was 89 yards on the game - how's that decision to come back for your senior year to beat Ohio State working out for you, Chris Wells?). Again. Now, I can go downstairs and toast to the REAL conquering heroes and victors valiant - THE Ohio State University Buckeyes.

On to January!!! Go Bucks!!!! (and GO DUCKS!)

Victors? No, we don't have any of them here.....

If you had told me, in a year where I don't expect much from the Bucks, that the University of Michigan Wolverines would start the season by losing to a I-AA team at home, and then suffer their worst loss at home since Ohio State's 1968 50-14 smackdown, I would have said you're a moron, but I'd take it.

Some more fun stats from yesterday's Oregon-Michigan "game" (maybe the Wolverines will show up in week three - maybe not). They are easily found in the AP report, but they're worth repeating:

-worst loss for UM at home since 1968.
-first time UM started 0-2 since 1959.
-first time UM has lost four straight in 40+ years.
-Michigan has lost 10 of their last 28 games, dating back to 2004, and 29 games since 2000 (they lost all of 13 games in the 1990s), and are 1-5 vs. Jim Tressel.


Hail to the conquering heroes indeed....

The only thing better than an Ohio State victory to kick off the college football season....

....is a Michigan loss.

To Appalachian State.

A FORMER I-AA TEAM.

AT HOME!!!!

Of course, there's the underdog factor. But, for those who didn't know, outside of baseball (my biggest and fullest sports passion), I'm a big fan of THE Ohio State University (fuckin' Florida). I fully follow the bumper sticker common in Ohio - "My two favorite teams are Ohio State and whoever plays Michigan this weekend". But this loss is something else. As great as any Michigan loss is (I have been a guaranteed Oregon fan once a year for quite awhile, even before meeting Erik, and there is only one time a year I don't mind a Notre Dame victory), this is other-worldly. From an OSU fan, this is, to me, the best non-Ohio State Michigan loss that I can remember in my lifetime. Yes, it's great if Michigan gets killed in its bowl game (especially the Rose Bowl). But I can imagine Michigan getting killed in the Rose Bowl (as has happened recently).

What I never would have even imagined (before today, that is) is that Michigan undid the following fact: "No Division I-AA team had beaten a team ranked in The Associated Press poll from 1989-2006, and it's unlikely that it happened after Division-I subdivisions were created in 1978."

I have no major hopes for OSU this year, beyond some bowl game (I find it irrational to expect that a team that goes to the national title game the year before will be as good the following year). Thus, I hope that predictions about Michigan's dominance (as Chad Henne enters what feels like his 17th year as Michigan's quarterback) are greatly mistaken. But for Michigan to start off its season losing at home to a I-AA team exceeds my wildest imagination. Barring the weirdest college football season ever, Michigan's national-title hopes are already dead. This is, without doubt as a Michigan-hater, the greatest non-OSU Michigan loss in my lifetime. And that speaks volumes.

Oh, and the blocked kick proves it was God's will that Michigan lose.