C
OLUMBUS — It feels like a
lifetime ago.
Last year when the Michigan
football team finally broke its decade-
long curse against Ohio State, when the
Wolverines stormed the snowy streets of
Ann Arbor and when Michigan coach Jim
Harbaugh deemed it just a “beginning.”
It was the Wolverines’ biggest win
of the millennium. And on Saturday in
Columbus, Michigan did it again.
Whenever they needed to, the third-
ranked Wolverines (12-0 overall, 9-0
Big Ten) delivered blow after blow to
Ohio State (11-1, 8-1), as they defeated the
second-ranked Buckeyes, 45-23.
“It feels great to sing ‘The Victors’ in
Columbus,” Harbaugh said Saturday.
“Our team really earned it in every way.”
The Game this year was different from
the last, and that was obvious from the
start. Ohio State’s offense took the field
first and immediately got to work. A 12
play, 81-yard drive capped off by receiver
Emeka Egbuka’s touchdown sent the
Horseshoe into a frenzy.
Not even five minutes into the game,
Michigan was already in an unfamiliar
situation: For the first time all season,
the Wolverines didn’t score first. The
discomfort was obvious.
Sophomore quarterback J.J. McCarthy
was erratic. He dipped out of the pocket
before he needed to, he was missing
throws — nothing was working.
“In the first half, I was a little amped
up because I’ve been waiting to play this
game so long,” McCarthy said. “But once
the nerves kind of calmed down and
everything settled, I knew it was over
from there.”
It took a while to get to where
McCarthy knew the outcome — his team,
at times, looked like they were just trying
to survive the first half. The Buckeyes
smelled blood, and they were trying to
run away from Michigan. Everyone in
the packed Horseshoe could sense that
Ohio State was thoroughly outplaying
the Wolverines in the first quarter, and
yet, there was an uneasiness settling in.
Michigan was just hanging around.
After giving up the opening drive
touchdown, the Wolverines’ defense
regrouped — only allowing three points
on the next three possessions.
“We felt like any kind of stop was
going to be like gold,” Harbaugh said.
Without junior running back Blake
Corum able to play through injury,
Michigan’s offense didn’t look like its
normal self. But somehow that was
alright.
In a wild, back-and-forth second
quarter, McCarthy found senior wide
receiver Cornelius Johnson for long
touchdowns on two consecutive plays.
The Game was turned on its head.
Ohio State had its chance to bury
Michigan, but it couldn’t, and the
Wolverines made the Buckeyes pay for it.
After converting a fourth and one on
its own side of the field, Michigan drove
down the field and McCarthy found
freshman tight end, Colston Loveland,
for a 45-yard touchdown. After the
Wolverines’ first drive of the second
half, the Horseshoe fell silent.
“After that touchdown coming out of
the half, we were able to do everything
we wanted at that point,” McCarthy said.
Michigan never looked back.
Two drives later, the Wolverines
finally found their running game. Their
offense slowly leeched the life out of
Ohio State’s once ravenous crowd on a
nearly
eight-minute-long
touchdown
drive. When McCarthy ran in a three-
yard touchdown on third and goal,
extending Michigan’s lead to 11 right as
the fourth quarter started, the anxiety
that hung over the Horseshoe was as
nauseating as it was palpable.
“We looked at their sideline and they
were over there hanging their heads,”
senior defensive back Mike Sainristil
said. “We knew… they’re vulnerable right
now.”
That was a mindset shared by every
Wolverine.
“You can feel when their will breaks,”
graduate linebacker Michael Barrett
said. “… You can feel it when it goes out
of them.”
That’s when the avalanche came.
With only a one-score lead the
Wolverines were faced with their biggest
offensive possession of the season. On
their first play, sophomore running back
Donovan Edwards found daylight and
burst through to the right for a 75-yard
touchdown.
In one final attempt at victory, Ohio
State drove down the field only for a
desperate flick from quarterback C.J.
Stroud to fall into the hands of graduate
edge rusher Taylor Upshaw. To add
insult to injury, Edwards subsequently
broke an 85-yard touchdown run and
hordes of scarlet and gray headed for the
exits.
After the clock hit zero, and a
familiar feeling of jubilation swept over
Michigan, Sainristil hoisted a massive
maize and blue Michigan flag. He ran
around the field in celebration until
finally planting it in the block ‘O’ at
midfield; an exclamation point on the
Wolverines’ emphatic victory.
Last season, Michigan finally broke
through against the Buckeyes, showing
that it’s no longer just the second-best
team in the Big Ten, sentenced to an
eternity of living in its rival’s shadow.
But this year; this year was different.
In the first undefeated clash of arch-
rivals since 2006, the Wolverines came
out on top. Not only is it Michigan’s
first win in Columbus since 2000, its
first back-to-back victories against the
Buckeyes and its first 12-0 record since
1997 — it showed that there’s a new team
on the top of the Big Ten.
And that team is Michigan — the
champions of the east.
SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan defeats Ohio State for second year in a row
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, November 30, 2022
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
michigandaily.com
AGAIN
On Saturday in
Columbus, Michigan
did it again.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 100
©2022 The Michigan Daily
NEWS............................ 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S TAT E M E N T . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
MIC ............................10
O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 2
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 5
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