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Former wide receiver Anthony Gon-
zalez said Tressel “changed the tone” of
“The Game” because he “understood the
importance of the rivalry.”
“He had us focused on it year-round,
and then certainly the week of, real-
ly made sure that it was a special week
for us, so we always came in prepared,”
Gonzalez said. “He was such an amazing
leader not just that week, but across the
board. And, you know, one of the things
I’m most grateful for in my life is that I
got to play four years with coach Tressel,
and so he’s just such a special man.”
Tressel dominated Michigan, winning
eight of 10 against the Wolverines as the
2010 victory was vacated due to NCAA
violations.
Of those wins, a 2006 42-39 triumph
at Ohio Stadium in what was later called
“The Game of the Century” to send the
Buckeyes to the national championship
against Florida, was arguably the most
memorable.
“At the moment that game is played, it’s
the biggest thing going on in the world,”
Tressel said. “Regardless if it was send-
ing us to the national championship or
maybe just getting our program turned
around in ’01, so it’s hard to pick one of
those wins over the other.”
Luke Fickell (2011), record against
Michigan: 0-1
After Tressel’s resignation in May 2011,
Luke Fickell assumed head coaching du-
ties for the upcoming football season.
The program was in a turnover peri-
od and struggled mightily, carrying a 6-5
record into the Michigan game — their
worst record heading into rivalry week
since 1999.
But that didn’t matter to Fickell.
“I remember, you know, there were
people coming in just before meetings,
or maybe a little late to meetings, I mean,
him going off like, ‘What is this? This is
Michigan week. Show respect for the ri-
valry,’” former Ohio State punter Ben Bu-
chanan said.
Four of the Buckeyes’ five Big Ten
losses entering the Michigan game were
by one score, and Ohio State didn’t have
much to lose as it was bowl eligible, but
nowhere near a New Year’s six berth.
Buchanan said he appreciated how
Fickell held himself as well as the players
equally accountable.
He said Fickell “coached hard, tooth
and nail until the very end,” centering
the Buckeyes with a message to the team
the week of “The Game.”
“I just remember him saying, ‘Cer-
tainly we play for Columbus, we play
for Buckeye nation,’ but he’s like, ‘Right
now, you can feel a lot of the noise out-
side of these walls,’” Buchanan said. “He’s
like, ‘We need to play for the men inside
this room, you know, inside the Woody
Hayes. Play for your brother. Play for one
another.’”
Buchanan said he believed Fickell, be-
ing a Columbus native, influenced how
much he cared about the rivalry because
“it just hits that much closer to home.”
In Fickell’s lone try at the Wolverines,
the Buckeyes’ one-point halftime lead
was erased in the second half as they were
outscored 17-10. Former quarterback
Braxton Miller’s potential game-winning
drive was stymied with an interception
on fourth and 6, snapping Ohio State’s
then-six-game winning streak.
Urban Meyer (2012-18), record against
Michigan: 7-0
Following Fickell’s one-and-done sea-
son, Ohio State turned to Urban Meyer,
who won two national championships
with the Florida Gators, to right the ship.
Buchanan said Meyer stepped in, did
not care about the previous success at
Ohio State and “laid the hammer down”
on the Buckeyes.
“We had to earn the right to get dressed
in the locker room. Like, ‘Hey, who are
you? I don’t know you. I need to get to
know you,’ — even though we might have
been top 10 in the country in punting in
2011,” Buchanan said. “‘Well, I don’t know
you, so do these bear crawls, do this.’ You
know, you got to prove yourself before
you can even get into the locker room to
be called a Buckeye.”
Meyer’s “prove-it-to-me” attitude car-
ried on the foundation Tressel had laid
in prioritizing a Michigan game victory,
and Meyer dominated the Wolverines,
scoring a perfect seven wins in seven
tries.
Perhaps Meyer’s intensity during the
Michigan week was part of the reason
why.
Buchanan said the Woody Hayes Ath-
letic Center would undergo a makeover
the week leading up to “The Game” and
play one song: LL Cool J’s “It’s Time for
War.”
“It would have that on repeat over and
over, and have our plasma screens just
like games in which Michigan defeated
Ohio State or just showing some intensi-
ty in the rivalry,” Buchanan said. “It was
breakfast, lunch, dinner, you eat, sleep,
drink the rivalry for that week.”
Buchanan noted a more symbolic tra-
dition that Meyer instilled in 2012 upon
entering the Woody Hayes Athletic Cen-
ter, as well.
“Coming into the Woody, they would
put jerseys down on the ground, and we
had to walk on maize and blue jerseys,”
Buchanan said.
Buchanan said there was all a purpose
behind everything the Buckeyes did
leading up to “The Game.”
“It was just like, ingrained to you just
how big this is,” Buchanan said. “It defi-
nitely wasn’t one of those things like,
‘Hey, you know, let’s get out there. Let’s
give it our best stuff and let the chips fall
where they may.’ It was, ‘No, this is The
Game. You better win it or else,’ type of
a thing.”
Meyer coached in some classic Ohio
State-Michigan games as well.
In 2013, former offensive lineman Mar-
cus Hall was ejected for participating in a
fight and flipped off the Michigan crowd.
Then, in the game itself, former safety
Tyvis Powell intercepted Michigan quar-
terback Devin Gardner’s pass on a two-
point conversion attempt, as the Buck-
eyes won 42-41 — a game which Meyer
said postgame was “an instant classic.”
Then three years later at the ‘Shoe, the
infamous “J.T. was short” game — a top-
five matchup with College Football Play-
off implications — took place.
In overtime, former quarterback J.T.
Barrett carried a fourth and 1 to the left
side of the line and was granted debat-
able first down yardage, but the call stood
after review. On the next play, Curtis
Samuel took a 15-yard carry to the house
and Ohio State claimed a 30-27 victory.
Finally in 2018, Michigan was in the
driver’s seat to win the Big Ten East.
However, the Buckeyes played spoiler
behind Dwayne Haskins’ six touchdown
passes and Chris Olave’s coming out
party, in which the then-freshman wide
receiver had two touchdown receptions
and a blocked punt, as Ohio State won
62-39.
Ryan Day (2019-present), record
against Michigan: 1-1
Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day has
had one of the more rollercoaster starts
against Michigan in recent Ohio State
head coaching history.
Day went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in
2019, and behind eight touchdowns —
four through the air by Justin Fields and
four on the ground from J.K. Dobbins —
throttled the Wolverines 56-27.
In 2020, “The Game” was canceled due
to COVID-19 issues within the Wolver-
ines’ program — the first time since 1917
that Ohio State and Michigan didn’t play
each other in a season.
Then last season, the Buckeyes went
back up to The Big House where former
Michigan running back Hassan Haskins
ran for five touchdowns in its 42-27 win
Nov. 27, 2021.
The loss snapped Ohio State’s then-
eight-game win streak and marked the
first time since Cooper’s tenure that a
Buckeyes skipper hadn’t won his first two
renditions of “The Game.”
Day said his adrenaline was “going
now” on the Tuesday before last year’s
Michigan game.
Third-year
offensive
tackle
Paris
Johnson Jr. said he noticed Day had an
increased intensity, not just during the
week leading up, but any time the Wol-
verines were the topic of discussion.
“I feel like that’s just how you have to
be during that week. I mean it’s kind of
like that year-round, it’s more than just
that week,” Johnson said. “You know,
whenever we talk about that team, that
program, it’s a different type of demean-
or.”
Day said Nov. 8 the Buckeyes are
“working on that game every day of the
year.”
Johnson said Ohio State has “team
up north” periods during practice that’s
geared towards getting the right mental-
ity for the game.
“Just practicing for the style of defense,
and then what we’re doing is just about
the violence of the drill,” Johnson said.
“Then, just that coming off and just at
the line of scrimmage, I feel like that’s
what it’s about.”
Day will get his shot to avenge last
year’s loss Nov. 26 when the Buckeyes
host the Wolverines at Ohio Stadium for
the first time in four years.
Day said Thursday on 97.1 The Fan the
“No. 1 goal is to beat them.”