Preview: #10 Ohio State at Michigan
The faces of the rivalry in 2009
 #8 Ohio State 9-2, 6-1 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
November 21, 2009 12:00 PM ET – ABC —— Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, MI |
 Michigan 5-6, 1-6 Big Ten Roster | Schedule |
For the second time in three years, tragedy has struck one of the programs on the eve of The Game and we’re reminded that there are many, many things that rate ahead of football on life’s priority list.
In 2006, Michigan fans grieved the loss of Bo Schembechler, who passed away the night before one of the greatest games in the long history of the series. Last night, the Ohio State family lost one of their own when Stefanie Spielman passed away after a courageous 12 year battle with breast cancer.
As is often the case, these events touched both sides. Buckeyes mourned the loss of Bo because he played for Woody at Miami, followed him to Ohio State and was responsible for jolting some life back into The Game after a decade of futility for the Wolverines. Likewise, though Chris Spielman tormented the Wolverines on the field, most Michigan fans grew to respect and admire him due to his stellar play with the Lions in the NFL.
Another thing that Chris and Bo shared is a deep respect for this game and all that it stands for. Even with Michigan on the ropes, likely sputtering towards a second-straight bowl season at home and the Buckeyes with a Rose Bowl berth already in hand, this is still the most important game of the season.
It sounds like a bundle of platitudes, but you really can throw out the records and expect one of the hardest hitting games of the year tomorrow in the 106th matchup between the two storied programs. Every year, you hear the same thing from players after taking part in their first edition of The Game: the speed and intensity is unlike anything they’ve seen before and from the first play, you quickly find out what it’s all about.
Opponent
It will be Senior Day in Ann Arbor and besides the curious concept of naming permanent captains during the final week of the season, the Wolverines will be honoring two of their best players before kickoff. We’ve already established defensive end Brandon Graham to be a beast, but another senior, punter Zoltan Mesko is also extremely good at what he does. The Twinsburg native is currently sixth nationally in punting with a sterling 44.7 average and if the 24 punts he contributed in the past two meetings are any indicator of what to expect, he will need to have a solid day.
While there are many things for the Wolverine faithful to complain about this season — most notably the current six game conference losing streak (mercifully broken up by the pounding administered to Baby Seal U) — one thing Rodriguez’s detractors and supporters can agree on is that there has been improvement on the offensive side of the ball. The Wolverines are leading the Big Ten in scoring, averaging 31.3 points per game and their rushing attack is good enough for 2nd in the conference by way of 195.8 yards per game on the ground. By and large, even during the six game conference skid, the offense was doing it’s part.
The unit suffered a setback, however, when running back Brandon Minor — also known as the only Wolverine to score a touchdown on the Buckeyes in the past two years — was ruled out for the game with a shoulder injury. Michigan is one of a handful of schools to issue injury reports and they can’t be considered 100% truthiness, but we’re going to assume “out” means “out”. It’s a big loss for Blue (Minor ran with authority against Iowa, putting up 95 yards and two touchdowns on the ground) and Carlos Brown (also banged up) and freshman Vincent Smith will look to pickup carries Minor’s absence.
Boom gets itAfter a good start, wunderkind quarterback Tate Forcier has slowed down a bit. He was an efficient 20/26 against the Badgers, but he has just three touchdowns against the same number of interceptions over his last six games. Little Man Tate takes a lot of sacks and his line, particularly senior center David Moosman will face some heat, especially after calling out the Buckeye defensive front earlier in the week.
Denard “Shoelace” Robinson will enter the game to spell Tate and provide a different look for the offense. Though he’s the team’s third-leading rusher with 320 yards on the ground, he’s not much of a threat throwing the ball, having attempted only 27 passes on the year. Still, he’s quick and shifty, and you can expect Rodriguez to maybe have something up his sleeve to get Robinson into the gameplan.
As a team that trends towards running the ball, Michigan has a stable of receivers that are decent, but not really a threat to break the game open. You have the usual suspects like Roy Roundtree, Greg Mathews, Martavious Odoms, Junior Hemingway and tight end Kevin Koger, but I’d be really surprised if one of them blew up Saturday.
Turning to defense, you find the unit that has most often let the team down and as a result, is receiving most of the incoming hate from the faithful. The hiring of Greg Robinson in the offseason to be defensive coordinator was interesting, given the relative lack of success he’s had at all but one or two stops in his career. Put quite simply, teams are able to run on and control the clock against Robinson’s unit. Whether that’s an indictment of Robinson, much celebrated S&C coach Mike Barwis, or a combination of the two, I’m not sure, but there’s definitely a problem.
Sophomore end Mike Martin turned in a solid game opposite Graham last week, but the Buckeyes should be able to do some damage up the middle (DAVE!). Linebackers Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton have each been exposed repeatedly on the run and over the top in the passing game, and the third backer, senior Stevie Brown is pretty undersized for his position and could be fun to exploit.
Like the linebackers, the Wolverine secondary has been a bit of a hot mess. Smallish walk-on Jordan Kovacs, a redshirt freshman is responsible for stopping home run plays up the middle. This should bring a smile to your face.
Buckeye Breakdown
Being obsessive Buckeye fans, we all have a pretty good idea of Jim Tressel’s MO by now. Especially with this team, he’s going to want to come out and run the ball and establish field position in the hope of wearing down the Wolverine defense and maybe getting some easy short drive scores. It can be incredibly frustrating — when all most of us want is for him to drop the hammer on Michigan, you can be assured of a probable close score at the half. After all, a much superior team took a 14-7 lead into the half before exploding for 28 second half points last year.
The word is everyone is back to healthy for this weekend, which even if not true, we would be told, anyway. With injuries to Adams, Shugarts and others, the line has been a grunting set of musical chairs for most of the season, but they have stringed together a series of nicely played games over the course of the last month. They’re playing well to finish the season and should continue that progress tomorrow, but with the intensity of this game and Brandon Graham on the other side of the line, they will need to step up. An afternoon off could be trouble against a team playing a one game season.
Going to miss these helmets Saturday
If the line is on, both Boom and Zoom have proven in recent weeks that they are: capable of carrying heavy loads and breaking off long runs when they have a window. Tressel has been running the wildcat Buckwild, and always to the right with Herron over the past handful of weeks, so you can bet he’ll have something different in store when the team lines up in that look.
For Pryor, it needs to be more of the same that we’ve seen the last four weeks. He (and Tressel/Bollman) were hammered by some for not throwing downfield against the Hawkeyes, but it really takes a herculean effort to hate on a 14 of 17 afternoon. In his toughest stretch of conference play, he’s made smart decisions and, more importantly to Tressel, he’s taken care of the ball. He has just one turnover since Purdue Harbor and you’re starting to see some poise and decisiveness creep into his play. He’ll likely be up for the game, so it’s important to keep a cool head on his shoulders.
The defense will be in for a challenge taking on offense that likes to mix it up with runs to all corners of the field. On the flip side, this front will easily be the best the Wolverines will see this year and hate should propel Heyward, Larimore, Williams, Gibson and company upfield and into Forcier’s face. He certainly has moxie, but he’s also tiny and one solid early lick could put him into a tentative mindset for the rest of the afternoon.
It will be the last regular season and Michigan game for Spitler, Russell and Coleman. Coleman has been steady all season, but it’s been nice to see Spitler and Russell turn things on a bit lately. The Wolverines don’t exactly stretch the field through the air, so expect to see plenty of Hines and the secondary playing closer to the box. Also, look for Rolle to make up for the Chekwa interception he broke up last week against Iowa.
Prediction
Michigan is a very difficult team to figure out. The hot start. The sudden swoon. The fact that they lose a lot but are often in games with a chance at the end. The crazy stat that indicates they actually have a better record this season when losing the turnover battle than they do when winning it. Really perplexing.
Though the Wolverines are 5-2 at home this season and parts of Tresselball can be thoroughly maddening, one thing you can count on out of him is he will have his team focused and ready for the Michigan game. He understands it. He typically saves some of his ballsiest stuff for this game and weather permitting, we will get to see some of that Saturday. Not only will one more win push the streak to seven six in a row, it will seal the school’s best mark against the Wolverines for a decade, passing the 7-3 mark the team compiled in the 1960s.
Just hope the new uniforms aren’t a curse. Nah…
Ohio State 28, Michigan 13
Finally, if you haven’t already done so, please consider joining us and donating to Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research.
Condolences to Chris and the entire Spielman family.
Stefanie was a real warrior, hero, and true Buckeye.
Ok boys, go out there and make both Stefanie and all of us proud!
Go BUCKS!!!!
Way to start off the blog. Very brave woman.
first of all, hilarious with the little man tate reference, and i’m a little angry i didn’t think of it first
second, i GUARANTEE that Tress will run something crazy out of the Buckwild formation that we haven’t seen yet. he has been following his M.O. with new stuff prior to the michigan game to a T, ie, run a new formation but call the exact same play for it a billion times so you can do something else against michigan.
Evil Tressel seems to victimize exactly two particular teams without fail, and the one with purple unis won’t be in town
By the way, to avenge the flags being raised on campus, I hope someone is painting that stupid rock up in AA scarlet and gray!
Wait, whats this about flag being raised on campus? Are you saying somebody had the balls to raise a UM flag in Columbus on campus?
If that’s true i’d rather take my chances robbing a bank and getting into a shoot out than to get caught doing that.
Why the uniform change? I don’t get it.
The Uniform change was imposed by Nike. I don’t think the team or university had any real say about it.
I find that bizarre. If you guys lose (i know its a big if) I’d suggest dropping Nike
Well there are 13 schools that have changed the unis for one game. Florida, FSU, TCU, and Oklahoma are also in that mix. I don’t like it, but that’s the way it goes. I woudln’t be shocked if other companies such as Adidas follow suit after this season.
adidas is just as lame.
i just wish nike would stop taking dumps on CFB unis and calling them cutting edge.
Nike suggested, the team (players and assistants) said they wanted to do it. Tressel said it was up to them.
I just have a feeling that maybe that was the uniform they agreed too, but Ohio sState would end up taking the field in some sort of rivalry, throwback, combat uniform no matter what.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see some new wrinkles out of the BUCKWILD either. It also wouldn’t surprise me to see Posey drop back for another pass. I realize that I could be counting chickens before they hatch, but I think this game is going to be a laugher. Michigan may be better on offense but they couldn’t get much worse. They did score some points on Iowa, but Penn State kicked their asses. I think this is the game the offense really blows up. It’s been on the verge the for a few weeks now, and I think they come out tomorrow firing on all cylinders. They are finally healthy, and tomorrow they’ll all be jacked up. We know the D is going to be there and I finally think tomorrow we see the offense we have all been waiting for. It’ll be a good springboard going to the Rose Bowl to put a hurting on Oregon.
just hope we don’t see another first drive pick by pryor, otherwise, UM might score first..and we don’t want that. Fast QB’s are most difficult to stop in the red zone.
Probably the only game all year where I feel Tressel throws out his offensive philosophy. Which consist of one pass for every six runs! I wonder what changes inside his mind, maybe because he is a traditional coach. He understands the tradition of this game, or maybe the fact that “he knows why cooper got fired”.
Either way for someone who plays it nice, I honestly get the feeling he hates Michigan.
That makes me feel good!
All in favor of another 42-7 rout… OH
IO
Chris:
You and your family have conducted yourselves with Class and dignity since you arrived on campus. You and your wife are directly resonsible for saving and improving many lives with your foundation and fundraising…… many condolences to you and your children and may Stephanie be always remembered for the great woman she was.
Well said.
I was talking with my wife last night and we are relatively young (33, 32) but have had lump issues, which is about the scariest thing possible, and when the news had this week where nationally they are saying that you shouldn’t get a mammogram until 50 we just shook our heads. Stephanie was 42. She was fighting for a long time, and I think this is a huge example to why that 50 thing is way off base.
I was extremely blessed to have met this brave and charming woman on the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer in Feb. 2k Buckeye fans, former Buckeyes and coaches sailed to Cozumel and raised 250k on the ship alone for the Spielman Foundation. The ship personnel also donated their tips to the fund. She looked beautiful and never seemed to take a break. I never saw her and Chris when they weren’t holding hands. We had all hoped she could join us again in 2010, but sadly it was not meant to be. Chris always said she was 10 times tougher off the field than he was on. We all know how he played, so that is saying something.
Thank you Stefanie for all you did while on earth and what we will continue to do in your honor. God bless.
Michigan isn’t that difficult to figure out. Their “hot start” came against the likes of Western Michigan (5-6) Eastern Michigan (0-11) and Indiana (4-7). They have one win against a team with a winning record, and that was a last-second comeback against very mediocre Notre Dame (6-4) that will probably barely finish the season with a winning record. Their in-conference point average has been *much* lower.
In his second year, RichRod has taken them from horrible to merely bad. Once they started playing actual teams instead of Directional U, they were as overmatched as last year. I’m pretty sure if they played Toledo and Utah this year they’d be 3-9 again.
I agree, before the season, ESPN and Michigan fans championed the fact that DickRod always takes his school to the next level the 2nd year his system is in place. Now, the media really doesn’t seem to care for him, but the fans are under the impression that he needs 5 years. I love this idea. Look at what giving 5 years to Cheeseburger Charlie has done for Notre Dame. Sure they’ve scored a lot points in some years, but they never have a D and have stayed nationally irrelevant.
You can’t tell Michigan fans that, though. They’ll point to numerous proofs that Lloyd Carr was actually completely incompetent, and that their top 10 recruit rankings were all a lie. I’ve seen them claim with a straight face that they would have gone 3-9 last year even if Carr had stayed! Despite the fact that Carr never had a losing record in all his years there.
The question really is, was there more attrition than during a normal coaching transfer because of Rodriguez’ personality or choices, and more importantly, what has he done to fix it. If the defensive back situation were as bad at Ohio State as it is Michigan, you know that Tressel would 3-4* cornerbacks lining up in the next class and then playing as freshmen. If he came in too late to do that, he’d have wide receivers moving over.
The point being that even if he is an offensively minded coach, the fact that two walk-ons are starting and playing poorly in the defensive secondary at the winningest program in NCAA history during his second year is still his fault.
I know what you mean, it’s a joke. Then they say it’s not always about wins, it’s about being a Michigan Man. Was there anyone more classy and more of a Michigan Man than Lloyd Carr before he was forced out? THe other new one that I’ve been reading recently was that Mallet was gone no matter what. I have never seen this prior to about 3 weeks ago when the Hippie had it on “good authority” from a source “close to the team” that Mallet was transfering with or with out Carr being the coach.
I think Michigan made a similar hire that UK basketball made with Billy Gillespie. The got a guy who had success at some smaller schools, then good success at West Virginia but I hardly include them as an Elite program. Two years of bad teams, whether the offense has improved or not, is pretty tough to swallow. I hope they keep him around though, he’s not going to right the ship up there.
@Brian: Lloyd Carr wasn’t forced out. People grumbled near the end of his tenure because, well, people will always grumble if you don’t go 12-0 (e.g. look at some of your own fanbase’s response to Tressel after the USC loss this year).
As for the Mallett issue, you’re straight up wrong. There was discussion of Mallett wanting to leave two weeks after he enrolled early. He wanted to stay in AR/TX, but the marquee programs were blocked by better and/or established QBs. This particular Mallett storyline stretches back nearly three years.
I don’t see the parallels between the RR hire and the Weis hire at all. Michigan’s problem, right now, is talent. The secondary and LB corps are beyond thin due to a number of factors outside of RR’s control (e.g. Witherspoon not qualifying, Cissoko forgetting he’s student, too, etc). Weis has never had a problem getting talent, but he’s had a helluva problem doing anything with that talent. The results, at this point, may be similar, but they underlined by dramatically different paradigms.
You mean to tell me that losing to App State, coming up short in a couple BCS bowls and losing some of the magic against Ohio State, Lloyd car was not forced out? You are crazy if he didn’t resign he would’ve been fired.
Charlie Weis has landed lots of talent on the OFFENSIVE side of the ball, he has never landed a defensive player. Dick Rod has never had great defense, I’m sorry but West Virginia winning big east games by the score of 48-30 in the Big East means he’s never recruited defense. Weis has had some great offenses, but hmm, can’t stop anyone on defense, sound familiar?
Brian, Lloyd has said several times that he ONLY came back in 2007 because he felt like there was the potentiality that Henne, Hart, Long et al could put together something special. Retrospect is a bitch, obviously. There was no talk of firing Lloyd because EVERYONE knew he wanted to be done. He wasn’t forced out. Post-Moeller Michigan is and always will be patient with their revenue hires.
As for the RR defense meme, he strung together some decent-to-good defenses in 2005, 2006, and 2007 at WVU. Weis’ has consistently brought in great talent on defense and done absolutely nothing with. The issue is moot because RR will get 4 years and, I think, they team will turn around nicely. Believe what you want, it’s obviously pure conjecture at this point.
You may be right about Rodriguez, but if you only have fair to good defenses in the Big 10, you better have a damn good offense. That may fly in the Big East where every week they were in shootouts. I remember every Thursday night seeing West Virginia putting up a ton of points, but giving up a ton as well. So, if now it’s give him 4 years and the team will be awesome, we’ll see. Coming into this year, everyone said look for Michigan to be much improved as Rodriguez will have his system in place and players to fit it. Are they much improved? I think maybe their schedule set up much better than last year where they played Utah and Toledo non conference.
It just seems like if they were so sure he was leaving and it was that clear they would’ve positioned themselves better for a new hire, and one that would be a much smoother transition. It seems like Michigan was left to scramble, and had to settle on a 2nd or 3rd or 4th best.
OSU 49, UM 3 and after this game, your title of “greatest rivalry in sports” will be lost.
who cares??? Keep Beating the crap out of them until they can do something to stop it!!!! I remember the 1990’s and it won’t be even until it is 11-2 (no ties anymore)!
I don’t think a 6 year run will affect the best rivalry tag too much being as the rivalry is over 100 years old and that prior to the last 8 games, the bucks were 2-11-1.
The record since Bo took over is 19-19-2.
I remember about 4 years ago or 5 years ago, the previous 50 years the record was 24-24-2 or something like that. So yeah, the series for the last half century has been pretty even. Sure both teams have gone on streaks, but it always seems to snap back.
how convenient of you to leave off the exploits of Fielding Yost! just bc those wins were from an era where women and african-americans could not vote does not make them irrelevant!
see that nail… he hung his hat on it….. snore
I’m a buckeye fan so hopefully I didn’t come off sounding otherweise, I’m just saying that if When they bucks win 6 strait, it doesnt take away the title Greatest Rivalry in sparts.
or sports for that matter lol. It’s hard to post and work at the same time.
i had sparts last week. spent way too much time on the toilet.
i was being facetious.
I thought so, just wanted to clarify lol.
win would push the streak to six*
don’t know if anyone has seen this…
http://www.nike.com/nikeos/p/usnikefootball/en_US/rivalries09?school=osu&tab=uniform
make sure to click on gameday t shirt too
dude… where have you been for weeks?????? this has been a hot topic of discussion….. can’t wait to see the Bucks take the field in these.
wiat, what?!?! where did these come from?!?!?! OH MY GOD!
that’s right, wiat. f spelling and f michigan too.
MUCK FISHIGAN!
yeah I knew about the jerseys a LONG time ago just wanted to share that link bc I didn’t know if everyone had heard that little thing
Ha, fixed. Guess I was getting a little ahead of myself.
Just want to extend my condolences to the Speilman family and all OSU fans.
anyone know what Ken Gordon tweeted this morning that was supposodly offensive? He has deleted it
I’ve been checking the Michigan blogs today to see what the enemy is up to, and I have to say I’ve been disappointed with what I’ve seen. They are barely even talking about the game, save to mention very briefly the fact that they expect to lose. What a bunch of fucking weak ass fans. I mean, yes they probably will lose, but what self-respecting fan picks against his team in this game? It is baffling.
Also, I have learned to my sorrow that expecting a loss before it happens does nothing to mitigate the resulting heartbreak. You may as well talk as much shit as possible and hope for the best.
I’d love to see a massacre, but at the same time knowing the fans expect a loss, wouldn’t a close game that ends in a hearbreak be nice to give the fans. All hope is lost, then a little peaks back in, just to be crushed at the end.
Yes, it is hard to decide whether shame or heartbreak is the most appropriate gift to give them. I wish there were a way to give them both. ‘Tis the season, you know.
lol yeah! Truthfully, even though they say a loss is expected, you know they think, We’ve got a Chance” So, a nice 4 TD ass whooping would probably provide both andmake DickRods seat white hot.
Have the team captains for the Michigan game been named yet? If not, anyone know when that announcement will be made?
NIKE Jersey Feedback:
Response (Shane) – 11/19/2009 01:41 PM
Hey Ace,
I’m so glad to see that you are such a great Nike consumer, and you enjoy our shoes. I also want to thank you for contacting me in regards to this.
I think it is great to see you sending me this e-mail and letting me know exactly how you feel about our jerseys! It is consumer’s feedback like this that makes a difference in regards as to what Nike produces and designs. I am definitely going to be submitting this into feedback for you. Feel free to contact our Corporate Department, and have them take down feedback as well. The more feedback the better.
We do have a big say as to what goes on the jersey, but the teams would not wear something they would not agree to. Nike does not have complete say as to what the teams wear. We mainly just produce the products and make sure they help maximize the athletes performance.
Corporate – 1-800-344-6453 From 7 a.m. – 4 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday thru Friday 1-800-344-6453
Thanks for the great feedback Ace! Take care!
Shane,
Nike
View Nike’s online privacy policy at http://store.nike.com/help/us/#/faqs/article/privacy-policy.
Customer – 11/19/2009 10:54 AM
Have enjoyed your shoes for years and they are my first choice when making purchases for my family. Nike sports jersey designs however are the worst.
The U of Oregon football jerseys have been an eyesore over the last 5 years. The new alternate Ohio State jerseys are an insult to that schools football tradition. I hope you rethink the US 2010 World Cup jerseys because that “sash” look is downright silly.
Stick to making shoes and leave the jersey designing to the teams.
Ace
Secondary prediction: One of the 3 between Taint, Denard, or the incoming Gardner will NOT play for scUM next year.
Nice piece of writing Jason. I hope the team dedicates this game to the Spielman family who have done so much and meant so much to the OSU and Columbus family.
Time to put all the other BS aside, the new unis, the Boren thing, the trash talking from Graham, Taint Forcier’s bulimia, knowing Denard Robinson never learned how to tie his shoes, or the fact RichRod can’t spell Schembechler or follow NCAA rules. Strap on those pads and helmets and go take care of business in Ann Arbor boys! Let’s get six! Go Bucks!
“Let’s get six! Go Bucks!”
Then another six, then six more, and so forth.
Go Bucks, indeed.
Ray Ray is a captain.
Zolten Meeeeeesko. Keep an eye on the left side of the vid….will forever be my lasting memory of the Z-man:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IB5Noyv8Vw
I wanna see Homan and company tearing that banner down tomorrow.
NO DOUBT!
Great video to get you ready for tomorrow and churn the emotions. Go Buckeyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PymIQ3BuNYA
I have for the first time in 7 years heard Mark May pick Ohio State. He even complimented Pryor for being good! This could be the kiss of death.
Yes, I am now rubbing my buckeye necklace to erase whatever hex he put on us for tomorrow.
“You’re going to Michigan? Why, you dumb no-good son of a bitch. You go right ahead! You go there, and when you play against Ohio State we’ll just see whether you gain a yard against us all day. We’ll break you in two.”
Lets fucking curb stomp these bastards.
Just watched the 06, back when Tress was called one of the best play callers in the game it made me laugh, to think how powerful that O was because it was veteran laden and he could trust his QB to run the game. I think we could have hung 60 on them if the field wasn’t is such bad condition that day. Ah, it feels so good to know that it’s less than 12 hours to kick off and we’re going up to the big house and bringing home a W.
I just watched that tonight, too, and laughed when the announcer said that (was it Herbstreit? I can’t remember which one). We can only hope Pryor develops like Smith did…
Much celebrated strength coach Mike Barwis has been running the biggest con in all of sport! He and his methods are very poor as evidenced by the Wolverines pathetic second half showings. The media circus hype and Barwis’ pro wrestling interviews are comical in hindsight.