HATE WEEK STARTS NOW
Ohio State beats Rutgers 42-9, moves focus to That Team Up North.
Welcome to Hate Week.
Ohio State has moved on from its first 11 opponents in the 2025 regular season. Now, it can focus on the one that matters most: That Team Up North.
It's been 2,184 days since Ohio State last defeated TTUN, a 56-27 win in 2019. The 2020 game was cancelled because of a COVID outbreak in the TTUN program. In the following four seasons, the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes 42-27 (2021), 45-23 (2022), 30-24 (2023) and 13-10 (2024).
While the official record books list all four as losses, many Ohio State fans view at least part of that streak as tainted. The NCAA found “overwhelming evidence” that Connor Stalions orchestrated an impermissible in-person scouting scheme, resulting in more than $30 million in fines and multiple show-cause penalties for Stalions, Sherrone Moore (Moore also served a self-imposed two-game suspension and will serve a one-game suspension in 2025), Jim Harbaugh and others. Yet TTUN avoided a postseason ban and did not have to vacate its wins from 2021–23.
With those punishments no longer looming over the program, TTUN has emerged as a College Football Playoff contender in 2025 with five-star freshman Bryce Underwood at quarterback. Following its matchup with Maryland on Saturday (4 p.m. on BTN), the Wolverines will likely be 9-2 after 11 games. Their current wins include New Mexico, Central Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Washington, Michigan State, Purdue and Northwestern, while their losses are to Oklahoma and USC, the only ranked opponents TTUN has faced all year.
The 2025 meeting will be the 121st between Ohio State and TTUN in a rivalry that dates back to 1897. It's the most bitter rivalry in all of sports. It's the greatest rivalry in all of sports. It's all on the line.
Ohio State vs. TTUN.
It's time for war.
