To earn its first win of the decade against Michigan, Ohio State must continue to do what it’s done best all year while avoiding the pitfalls that have led to four straight losses in The Game.
On paper, Ohio State should have the advantage over its rival on Saturday in Ann Arbor. The Buckeyes have dominated their competition all year long, bringing an 11-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the country into The Game, while Michigan has lost to the only two ranked opponents (Oklahoma and USC) it’s faced all season. Ohio State has the best defense in the country, while its offense has been better than Michigan’s, particularly through the air.
But one need only look back at what happened last year, when Michigan earned a 13-10 win over Ohio State despite being a three-touchdown underdog in Columbus, for evidence that a win in The Game won’t come easily. The Buckeyes have been able to cruise past most of their competition this season, but they’ll need to be at their best in all three phases of the game to earn a pair of Gold Pants.
With the Buckeyes’ biggest test of the regular season looming on Saturday, we’re taking a look today at five of the biggest things Ohio State must do well to snap its losing streak against Michigan and end its regular season with a win over its rival for the first time since 2019.
Dominate on defense
Ryan Day and his players have talked all week about how the Buckeyes’ key to success in The Game will be continuing to do the same things that have led to their success all year long. There’s been no greater key to success for the Buckeyes through their first 11 games than how dominant their defense has been.
Ohio State hasn’t allowed an opponent to score more than 16 points all season. The Buckeyes haven’t allowed any of their last 10 opponents to reach 300 yards of offense. If those trends continue in Ann Arbor, Ohio State will have a great chance of winning The Game.
To be more specific, the biggest key for Ohio State’s defense against Michigan will be stopping the run. The Wolverines’ rushing offense, which ranks 10th in the country in yards per attempt (5.6) and yards per game (223.5) and tied for sixth nationally in rushing touchdowns (32), is better than any Ohio State has faced so far this season. The Buckeyes’ run defense has been excellent, holding opponents to just 80 yards per game (second nationally) on 2.67 yards per carry (fourth) with four rushing touchdowns (tied for second), but they’ve faced just one opponent (Ohio) that ranks in the top 50 nationally in rushing yards per game.
Between 1936 and 2025, this is the first time Ohio State's defense has held its opponent under 100 rushing yards in 10 straight games pic.twitter.com/ebuqQHGAIr
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 23, 2025
Michigan will be without its best running back, Justice Haynes, who underwent foot surgery earlier this month. But the Wolverines still have an excellent running back in Jordan Marshall, who’s rushed for 871 yards and 10 touchdowns on 143 carries this season. Marshall is coming off a shoulder injury that caused him to miss Michigan’s last game against Maryland, but he said Tuesday that he will play against Ohio State.
Even if Marshall isn’t 100%, the Wolverines showed they could still run the ball effectively without him last week – albeit against one of the Big Ten’s worst run defenses – as Bryson Kuzdzal ran for 100 yards and three touchdowns against Maryland to lead a 228-yard, four-touchdown day on the ground for the maize and blue. A big part of what makes Michigan’s running game so dangerous is the dual-threat ability of freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, who’s run for 322 yards and five touchdowns this season.
“You gotta just be aware of him at all times,” Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles said Wednesday. “Gotta keep him in the pocket. Gotta be aware of third downs, QB run, scrambling, stuff like that. So it's gotta be 11 as one on the defensive side of the ball.”
Michigan’s passing game has been unspectacular this season, ranking 101st nationally with only 196.9 passing yards per game, but it is more dangerous than it was when the Wolverines beat the Buckeyes with only 62 passing yards last season. While Underwood has been inconsistent, completing 61.3% of his passing attempts for 2,166 yards and nine touchdowns with six interceptions, he’s got a big arm that gives him the potential to make explosive plays through the air. The Wolverines also have an emerging standout wide receiver in freshman Andrew Marsh, who’s caught 41 passes for 611 yards and three touchdowns in Michigan’s last seven games.
All of that is to say that while Michigan is far from elite on offense, ranking just 54th nationally with 29.3 points per game, the Wolverines are still one of the most dangerous offensive teams Ohio State has faced this season. So while Matt Patricia’s defense has stifled opponents week in and week out, it needs to play one of its best games of the year in Ann Arbor – though it will also need more help from the other phases of the game than the Buckeyes’ defense got when they held Michigan to 10 points and 234 yards in 2024.
Dictate the game on offense
No area of last year’s loss to Michigan has drawn more scrutiny than Ohio State’s offensive game plan. The Wolverines baited the Buckeyes into running the ball between the tackles by dropping extra defenders into coverage, and Ohio State played right into Michigan’s strength, running the ball 26 times for 77 yards against a stout defensive line led by defensive tackles Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant, both top-15 picks in the 2025 NFL draft.
Even without Graham and Grant, Michigan’s run defense has continued to excel this season, holding opponents to just 94 rushing yards per game (tied for 11th in the FBS) and 2.98 yards per carry (10th). So it stands to reason that Michigan will try to lure the Buckeyes into a run-heavy game plan again, but Ohio State needs to resist taking the bait this time.
Ohio State’s offensive game plan could be dictated in part by the health of Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, but all signs are pointing toward both superstar wide receivers returning to action this weekend. Assuming they’re on the field and playing at full speed, Ohio State should aggressively look to make plays throwing them the ball, which has been the Buckeyes’ best offense all season.
The Buckeyes often talk about taking what defenses give them, and Ohio State should look to do that, too. If Michigan shades coverages outside to take Smith and Tate out of the game, opportunities could open up over the middle of the field for tight end Max Klare, who had seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown with Tate and Smith out last week. The Buckeyes certainly aren’t going to abandon the run game completely, especially if Bo Jackson, Isaiah West and/or James Peoples can break off some chunk runs early.
But what the Buckeyes can’t do is allow Michigan to scheme their best players out of the game. With Heisman Trophy candidate Julian Sayin at quarterback and the best wide receiver duo in college football, Ohio State should be dictating how Michigan defends it, not the other way around. Playing with that mindset could be the key to unlocking the explosive offense that eluded Ohio State in last year’s game, when the Buckeyes gained just 252 yards.
Start fast
Slow starts have been a recurring trend in Ohio State’s four consecutive rivalry game losses. The Buckeyes fell behind 10-3 in the second quarter of last year’s game and 14-3 in the second quarter of the 2023 game. They didn’t allow Michigan to pull away until the second half of the game in 2022 or 2021, but they never took a lead of more than seven points, leaving themselves susceptible to the post-halftime onslaughts that came.
If Ohio State can race out of the gates and build a multi-score lead early – much like it did in last year’s College Football Playoff wins over Tennessee, Oregon and Notre Dame – the Buckeyes could run away from the Wolverines, who aren’t built to play from behind with their run-heavy offense.
Struggling out of the gates and allowing Michigan to build an early lead, on the other hand, could be the recipe for the Wolverines to pull off another upset. Ohio State hasn’t trailed in the second half all season, so we truly don’t know how the Buckeyes will respond if they face real in-game adversity for the first time this year.
While Day and his team have projected confidence all week, they did going into last year’s game, too, only to play tight after falling into an early hole. Another slow start could, theoretically, be all it takes for self-doubt to creep in for the Buckeyes against their rival once again – even though their national championship run last year, coupled with their 11-0 start that’s already locked them into this year’s CFP, should be exactly what they need to be loosely and confidently this time around.
The importance of a fast start could also be amplified by the weather, as it’s expected to snow at some point Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor. As of Wednesday night, the forecast called for precipitation to begin around 4 p.m. – after the game will have already concluded. Should bad weather come earlier, however, it could make it tougher to pass the ball, which would mitigate Ohio State’s most pronounced advantage.
Finish drives in the red zone
Ohio State’s offensive efficiency in the red zone has improved as the year has progressed, but it’s still not an area where the Buckeyes are elite, ranking 23rd in red zone touchdown percentage (71.2%) and 31st in red zone scoring percentage (89.8%).
It’s also been an area where Ohio State has struggled in recent editions of The Game, particularly last year, when the Buckeyes had just one touchdown and one field goal on five red zone trips. They were a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone in their 30-24 loss in 2023, but scored just one touchdown (with two field goals) on four red zone trips in 2022 and two touchdowns (with two field goals) on four red zone trips in 2021.
You’ll notice that winning the rushing battle isn’t one of our five keys to the game. Even though the team that’s won the rushing battle has won the last 23 editions of The Game, we believe Ohio State worried too much about that statistic last year, and shouldn’t be afraid to lean into its passing advantage this year. The red zone is one area where the rushing attack could be crucial, however, as the Buckeyes need to be able to finish off drives with their ground game near the goal line – an area where they’ve been hit or miss, though they’ve shown big improvement down the stretch with 10 red zone touchdown runs in the last three weeks.
Bo Jackson had two red-zone touchdowns against Rutgers, though he also had a fumble at the 1-yard line. (Photo: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Had Ohio State finished off a couple more drives in the red zone last season, Michigan never would have had the opportunity to plant a flag in the middle of the Shoe. The Buckeyes can’t squander prime opportunities to score seven points in a game of this magnitude, but at a minimum, they need to make sure their red zone trips end with three points, which brings us to our last section…
Execute on special teams
For all the philosophizing that’s taken place over the last 362 days about why Ohio State didn’t beat Michigan last year, the Buckeyes would have won the game if not for a pair of missed field goals inside 40 yards by Jayden Fielding. Ohio State’s kicker, who said last week that he feels like he’s in the best form of his career after battling a hip injury last season, is certainly hungry to make up for those misses this season.
“To have a game like I did last year, to be able to come back this year and turn the tables and flip the script would be a dream come true,” Fielding said.
Jayden Fielding said it would be "a dream come true" to make a big kick against Michigan this year. pic.twitter.com/uLze5aoFlK
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 20, 2025
Fielding has been reliable for the most part this season, making 13 of 15 field goal attempts, but he hasn’t yet faced any high-pressure kicks this year like he faced in that game. And he wasn’t the only part of Ohio State’s special teams that struggled against Michigan last year. Joe McGuire averaged just 36 yards per punt on three punts in last year’s rivalry game, and he hasn’t been tested much down the stretch – with just six punts in Ohio State’s last five games – after struggling early in the year.
Ohio State’s special teams have shown more ability to make impact plays as the year has gone along, most notably two weeks against UCLA, when Lorenzo Styles Jr. returned a kickoff for a touchdown and Caden Curry blocked a punt. There are many examples of special teams plays making a big impact in The Game – Chris Olave’s punt block that Sevyn Banks returned for a touchdown in 2018 comes to mind – and a blocked kick or explosive return could certainly go a long way for the Buckeyes this year in Ann Arbor.
More importantly, though, the Buckeyes need to avoid making costly mistakes on special teams like they did last year. In a game where Ohio State should have the advantage on both defense and offense, special teams could be the great equalizer if the Buckeyes don’t execute cleanly in that phase of the game – though neither team has been particularly good on special teams this year, as they enter The Game tied for 125th out of 136 FBS teams in ESPN’s special teams efficiency metric.
