2B - November 28, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com SPrbn yeodgooTG Urban Meyer would be goodfor The Game 11 season, Ohio State foot- ball coach Luke Fickell wore that same look on his face - eyes wide and glazed. You couldn't tell if he was about to cry or had already started. Fickell looked that way when he wassthrust into the spot- light in Chica- TIM go at Big Ten Media Days ROHAN in August, when he said he didn't know he was going to have to answer questions. He was a deer caught in the headlights of Ohio State's drama. On Saturday, his voice was strong but the expression on his face gave himself away. After his team slipped up too manytimes and lost to Michigan, 40-34, it was clear Fickell wasn't long for the Ohio State job. "LikeI said, it's about the Ohio State-Michigan (game)," said Fickell, wearing his signature look. "It's been about that since Sunday," he added, pounding the table in frustration. It's a rivalry that prompts table pounding. Fickell didn't know if he'd be coaching his players in a bowl game. "Whether that's the situation, those things will be determined by people beyond me, probably," Fickell said. Reportedly, those people have already determined that former Florida coach Urban Meyer will become Brady Hoke's next nem- esis in 7 Meyer, State-D Columb follow, lead an importa Then band w be tood Braxtor spread( hire. You I reactio: "It ( The Game. By Tuesday, Always waiting at the end of should be at the Ohio the season, Ohio State serves as uke basketball game in Michigan's measuringstick. If bus, where he'll probably the Buckeyes are down, what Jim Tressel's and Hoke's height would the Wolverines d declare: That is the most shoot for? ant game on theschedule. Now, Brady Hoke will define Meyer will smile, the himself by how he competes ill play and everyone will against Urban Meyer. In recruit- Irunk on the thought of ing. In The Game. In everything. n Miller running Meyer's During the "10-year war" from offense to question the 1969 to 1978, when Bo Schem- bechler did battle with his former know what Brady Hoke's coach Woody Hayes, the two of n should be? Bring it on. them hated each other on the field and were friends off it. "Your whole life is based around one game," said Michigan "s about the historian John U. Bacon in a HBO documentary on The Game. )hio State- "Your whole life is devoted to one purpose and that's to beat the M ichigan othersguy. Who else in the world could understand you?" (gane)." Schembechler held a 5-4-1 advantage during the "War," but the competitiveness of Bo and Woody's teams are what cata- tichigan to reach new pulted the rivalry. , it needs a strong and While writing the Schem- 'rivalry with Ohio State. bechler's autobiography, Bacon don't want the Buckeyes to asked Bo 14 months before he vith sanctions. You don't died, if he had one more week at see them suffer as much the height of his powers as Michi- igan has the past three gan's coach, what would he wish . You want Michigan's for? Without hesitation, Bo said ted rival to be larger than he'd want just one more week to Michigan is larger than prepare to play Woody Hayes's o The Game regains its Buckeyes in The Game. The second coming of the Game is more than just 1O-year war could start Monday, ate dominating Michigan, when Meyer is expected to be st memory portrays. It's announced as the next Buckeye wo schools that have been coach. Fickell will be a blip on the each other for nearly 110 radar.f nd how they will forever We're moving out of the to one another. Forever, decade-long "Tressel era," where ll define one another. the man with wire-rimmed 1 cARLOS OSORIO/AP Ohio State coach Luke Fickell may have lost his one and only chance to lead Ohio State during The Game. For A heights healthy Youc be hit w want to as Mich seasons most ha life, sot life - s lore. The Ohio St as recer about t playing years ar be tied: they wi glasses, clean gray haircut and signature vest was unbeatable. Lloyd Carr's seat got hotter with each loss in The Game, and a third-straight embarrassing loss appeared tobe the final straw in Rich Rodriguez's termination. In the dawn of a new era, Hoke is here to stay, having become the first coach since Fielding H. Yost to win 10 games in his first season as coach in 1901. Braxton Miller's here to stay, too. - The smooth-running, cool customer slashed Michigan's defense for 100 rushing yards. He came advertised as apoor man's Denard Robinson with aworse arm, yet the true freshman nearly made enough plays to knock off the favored Wolverines. Had he hit just one of the four deep passes he overthrew, Ohio State could've won the game. DeVier Posey running free with less than two minutes left should haunt Ohio State for a while. "He's got abrightfuture," Fickell said of Miller. "But what you can't teach is that passion and that desire to be a competitor. In games like this, you look at, 'Did he throw the ball well? Or did he do something else well?' Or do you just look at somebody and say they're a competitor?" Miller will be under the watch- ful eye of a man who made Tim Tebow look like more than just a running quarterback. Meyer's offensive scheme has worked wherever he's been, and you can picture the marquee now: The tough blue-collar defense of Brady Hoke's Michigan Wolverines ver- sus Urban Meyer's greatest-show- on-turf offense. Brady and Urban. Urban and Brady. Two Ohioans forever tied to The Game, just like Bo and Woody. Before he exits stage left, at least Fickell leaves us with this pearl of wisdom: "That's what sports are about, you get knocked down and you get back up." Before Woody, Ohio State was known as "the graveyard of coaches," for ushering out five dif- ferent head coaches in11 years. At 6-6, with sanctions looming, Ohio State is down again. Hoke should extenda helping hand - help Meyer stand and then put up his dukes. Because knocking down Ohio State when they're standing tall and proud - on top of the world - will go far in proving just how powerful Michigan really is. -Rohan can be reached at trohan@umich.edu or on Twitter @TimRohan 0 (Left) Redshirt freshman safety Josh Furman celebrates Michigan's 40-34 victory over Ohio State on Saturday. (Right) Senior defensive tackle Mike Martin meets a fellow Michigan student after the game had ended at Michigan Stadium. MICHIGAN From Page 1B scamper negated due to penalty, leading to the Michigan field goal and one final Ohio State chance. The Buckeyes almost capi- talized - Miller overthrew a deep pass to wide-open receiver DeVier Posey with less than a minute to go. The next play was Avery's interception. The play capped an uncon- ventiot Michig a dom mance defens "I it The first q nal performance for this ines an early lead. fan team, one defined by Early in the fourth quarter, inating offensive perfor- with Michigan up just six, the and a few opportunistic defense sacked Miller on a 3rd- ive plays. and-2 from the two yard-line, forcing a field goal. The Wolverines never relin- quished the lead after that, as f I CouldpUt Robinson drove Michigan 75 into words, yards for a touchdown while taking four minutes off the I would." clock. It doesn't matter how it's added up, it equals one thing, the thing Hoke has said since defense's safety in the he got here, the reason for his uarter gave the Wolver- countdown clocks. Michigan finally "beat Ohio." "It was a team win," Molk said. "It wasn't just an offensive victory, it was a team victory against Ohio State." Days since Michigan beat Ohio State: 0. Thornton Wilder andKenLudwig's adaptatlonof DON'T WANT TO FORGET THIS EDITION OF THE GAME? You don't have to. And you shouldn't - rushing the field doesn't happen too often. VISIT MICHIGAN DAILY.COM/ STORE TOBUY POSTERS OF THE DAILY'S SPECIAL FRONT PAGE AND SPORTSMON DAY COVER 4 By George Farquhar Directed by Priscilla Lindsay Department of Theatre & Drama December Bat 7:3 PM December 9 & 10 at 8 PM December11 at 2PM Power teeter Reserved seating $26 & $20 Students $10with ID tickets.music.umich.edu LeagueTicket Office 734-764-2538 LUniversi of Michiga S anool ofe SMusicTheatre & Dance MARIssA MccLAIN/Daily (Top) Redshirt sophomore running back Fitzgerald Toussaint and (bottom) junior quarterback Denard Robinson combined for 290 rushing yards. 4