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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.”

