Ohio State freshmen delivering big performances in The Game is a staple of its lore. Especially in the last 25 years.
Maurice Clarett. Ted Ginn Jr. Beanie Wells. Chris Olave. Garrett Wilson. All legends in the pages of Buckeye history books, all delivered iconic performances as true freshmen in the greatest rivalry in all of sport.
Bo Jackson became the latest Buckeye to leave an unforgettable mark on The Game as a first-year player. He gouged Michigan’s top-10 run defense for 117 rushing yards at a clip of 5.3 yards per carry. He proved an effective safety valve for Julian Sayin in the passing game, with four receptions for 49 yards.
All told, Jackson, one man, had more yards from scrimmage (166) than Michigan’s entire offense (163) on Saturday. He’ll likely achieve even greater heights in his college career, but even if he never plays another snap for Ohio State, he’s forever etched into the collective memory of its fans after this past weekend.
“It was really a dream come true,” Jackson said afterward on Saturday.
Jackson started dominating on Ohio State’s second drive.
Following carries of 3 and 5 yards, he came open in the flats on a passing play and Julian Sayin checked the football down to him. Jackson caught the pass 1 yard downfield, turned on the jets and turned it into a 23-yard gain. The next play produced not only one of the best highlights of The Game, but of Ohio State’s season so far.
Jackson took a stretch handoff to the right side and encountered one of Michigan’s surest tacklers, linebacker Jimmy Rolder, behind the line of scrimmage. He threw on the brakes, stutter-stepped to his left, then burst back out to the right toward the sideline and outraced Rolder alongside the rest of the Wolverines’ defensive front. Rolder dove to try and trip him up and caught nothing but turf pellets in his face.
By the time Jackson finally got escorted out of bounds, he’d turned what should have been a 2-yard loss into a 36-yard gain.
This angle of Bo Jackson making everyone miss pic.twitter.com/wh7SAIR6jG
— BuckeyeMOB (@Buckeye_Mob) December 1, 2025
66 of Jackson’s 117 rushing yards came after contact, per Pro Football Focus. It sent echoes back to the performance of Ohio State freshman Maurice Clarett in The Game in 2002. In fact, Clarett is the only back who shares Jackson’s company for a freshman rusher in that setting. Jackson came within two yards of breaking Clarett’s record for rushing yards by a first-year Buckeye vs. the Wolverines. Clarett collected 119 yards and a touchdown in 20 carries during Ohio State’s 14-9 win that sent it to the BCS National Championship game. He, too, racked up plenty of yards after contact to get there.
But Clarett only had 35 receiving yards in that contest, leaving Jackson as Ohio State’s new school recordholder for yards from scrimmage by a freshman in The Game with his 166.
“Bo's one of the most talented running backs I've actually ever seen play at that age,” left guard Luke Montgomery said on Monday. “He's a very gifted athlete, and I don't think he knows that yet, what all he can do.”
Now, the all-purpose yardage record belongs to Ted Ginn Jr. He not only posted 87 receiving yards against Michigan in 2004, the second-most by an Ohio State freshman in The Game, but also collected 123 punt return yards. A majority of those came from one of the all-time great punt returns in Buckeye history, an 82-yard return for a touchdown that put OSU up 27-14 in the second half.
Freshmen receivers making key plays to ice wins in The Game was a staple of Ohio State’s most recent triumphs over Michigan before this season. In 2018, Olave delivered an incredible breakout performance. He caught two explosive touchdown passes that put the Buckeyes up 7-0 and 14-6, then had an iconic punt block in the second half that put OSU up 34-19 before it glided to a 62-39 win.
One year later, in the final Buckeye win before the team’s now-snapped four-game losing streak against the Wolverines started, Wilson set the record for receiving yards by an Ohio State freshman in The Game. He collected 118 of them and was on the other end of one of Justin Fields’ best Buckeye highlights. The quarterback returned from an in-game injury to throw a 30-yard dime of a touchdown pass on the run to Wilson.
Jackson continued biting off chunks of yardage long after his highlight-reel run. He forced five missed tackles against Michigan per PFF, tying his season-high and giving him 32 total for the year. He snapped off a 16-yard on Ohio State’s touchdown drive before halftime, but earlier that series, he showcased how far he’s come in pass protection. This clinical blitz pickup allowed Sayin to find tight end Will Kacmarek for a 25-yard gain.
Finally, on Ohio State’s bruising, crushing 20-play, nearly 12-minute drive that effectively salted its win away, Jackson carried the rock four times for 24 yards. He held a piece of a drive that, like his first-quarter run, will live on for decades in the collective conscience of Buckeye Nation.
“When we talk about what we're trying to get accomplished, I always say, ‘Yeah, this is all great, but how is it gonna look when it's snowing sideways the Saturday after Thanksgiving?’ And that's exactly what it looked like today, it was snowing sideways,” Day said of the drive. “That's the type of game you have to win. If we're playing this game in an indoor stadium somewhere? It's different. It's different. But that's what this game takes, and that's what we did. We won the line of scrimmage, and it was well done by the guys.”
Bigger goals are still ahead for Jackson and Ohio State. A Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis this weekend. The first repeat national championship in school history and potentially the first 16-0 season in college football history.
But legends never die, and he delivered a legendary performance as a freshman in The Game.
“It feels really good, but we’ve got to keep on building off of this going into Indy and going into the playoffs,” Jackson said.
