A fun wrinkle to rivalry week – looking better than noted basketball school Michigan on the hardwood, too.
Ohio State wins it, 79-76, thanks to this 3-pointer from Meechie Johnson Jr. pic.twitter.com/n0Pymmxjq1
— Eleven Warriors (@11W) November 23, 2021
Meanwhile, Michigan's lost two of three including an 18-point beatdown and a home loss to the very team Ohio State just beat.
May they lose every game in every sport. Thank you.
Word of the Day: Loathe.
“ALL GOOD.” I was decidedly unenthused on Saturday afternoon when I saw Denzel Burke sauntering to the sideline with his arm dangling like a floppy wet noodle.
But two days later, the news is good.
Denzel Burke tells me his shoulder is all good and hes excited to play in his first Michigan game on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/3plItaz99v
— Dan Hope (@Dan_Hope) November 22, 2021
He returned to the game the next series, so he clearly could have played through whatever pain he was in. However, I'd prefer him to be totally free of pain and thus able to inflict the maximum amount of pain on others.
“BEAT OHIO” DRILL. I don't have to tell y'all that Ohio State lives and breathes this rivalry for 365 days a year.
The Buckeyes have the best kind of neurotic obsession with winning this game, and Michigan hasn't come anywhere close to matching the intensity (or talent level, but that's a different conversation entirely.)
But for the first time in a long time, it seems like they're trying.
Michigan Football (10-1) wanted to add more juice to one of its most physical drills in practice. Just like a movie title or band name can make or break the product, head coach Jim Harbaugh felt a 9-on-7 drill needed a distinct title.
“Years prior, we’d call it a 9-on-7, which is what the drill is, but this year, we changed it to the ‘Beat Ohio’ drill,” offensive lineman Trevor Keegan said back in September. “Now we’re blasting music, smelling salts, everything. It’s a pretty physical period. We love it!”
...
“That drill, the Beat Ohio Drill, we approach it the same every week, every day. It’s to go get it as if we’re playing Ohio State in that 9-on-7 drill. It means everything to us, we got the music going, we got the energy going,” Ross said. “It’s exciting, we do it every single week. This game’s been a game we’ve circled on our calendar all year — from when the season ended last year, going into preparation, going into winter workouts, going into spring ball, going into the season.”
Attention has been on Ohio State (10-1) all off-season, and all season long. Ross said “the time is here, the time is now”, and now it’s time to see if this drill pays dividends on Saturday when they actually face off against the Buckeyes.
“It kinda came along with the whole tradition of, ‘What are you doing to beat Ohio State every day?’, lineman Andrew Stueber said earlier this season. “Kinda taking that rivalry into focus every day is a big focus for us.”
As much as I'd like to roll my eyes at the thought that simply renaming and adding smelling salts to a drill is going to close the chasm between these two programs, I honestly can't hate.
For years I listened to Michigan players and coaches talk like this was just another game while the better and more talented team to the south plotted their next murder for 365 days a year. It's refreshing for them to at least pretend to care these days.
To be clear, I don't think it's going to impact the end result even a little bit, but at least it makes things a little more fun!
“WE SAW THE SCORE.” The Wolverines have only lost one game this season, but that loss was against a team Ohio State just downright dismembered on national television by a score of 56-7.
Michigan couldn't help but take notice.
The Buckeyes managed 49 first-half points with over 400 yards passing this past Saturday. Certainly, that will pique the interest of any defensive player, especially when you know that you have that same offense to contend with the following week. Still, Hutchinson feels like that won’t be a similar situation come Saturday when Ohio State comes to Ann Arbor.
“Yeah, a couple guys were talking about it in the locker room. Obviously you want to ignore it, but it’s kinda staring at you right in the face,” Hutchinson told Jon Jansen on the ‘Inside Michigan Football’ radio show. “We were talking about it, we saw the score. But we know we’re at The Big House, this is a game of matchups, this is a game of execution. The better team is gonna come out on top.”
I love that he pretends that the jingling keys at the notoriously docile Big House are going to be a difference-maker, like Ohio State didn't rail his team by more than four touchdowns in that same stadium the last time they played.
"The better team's going to come out on top."
I agree! I just don't really think you have to think all that hard to figure out which team that is.
ELI RICKS, COME ON DOWN! I've lost count of the number of times former five-star Buckeye cornerback target Elias Ricks has been rumored to be transferring to Ohio State.
But I'm always down for at least once more!
Former five-star CB Elias Ricks is entering his name in the transfer portal, a source tells Rivals
— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) November 22, 2021
The freshman All American was injured and sidelined for the season in October. He accounted for 11 tackles, 2 PBU and an INT@RivalsPortal @adamgorney
This would be extremely cool and good, especially if Sevyn Banks and Cameron Brown both leave after this season, but I'm gonna go ahead and refrain from getting my hopes up. I've seen this movie way too many times to not believe he's going to end up at Alabama.
SONG OF THE DAY. "'Till I Collapse" by Eminem.
NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A banking app has been suddenly closing accounts, sometimes not returning customers’ money... She died from a snakebite but the real killer was her husband... In defense of leftovers... A mysterious gingerbread monolith appears in San Francisco... Motorists leave with wads of cash as an armored vehicle explodes on the highway...
