For 3,653 days — long, arduous,
hollow days — the Michigan
football program lived in the
shadows of its unremitting failures
against Ohio State.
There won’t be a 3,654th day. At
long last, that futile streak is over.
After eight consecutive bitter
losses
to
the
Buckeyes,
the
Wolverines emerged from The
Game victorious. No. 5 Michigan
(11-1 overall, 8-1 Big Ten) shocked
No. 2 Ohio State (10-2, 8-1), 42-27,
clinching the Big Ten East and
punching a ticket to next Saturday’s
Big Ten Championship Game.
“One of my favorite sayings of
all time is, ‘When there’s a will,
there’s a way,’ ” Michigan coach
Jim Harbaugh said after the game.
“And the will was very strong for
our team.”
As the fourth quarter wound
to a close, reality melded with
imagination. Senior running back
Hassan Haskins stood in the
endzone with outstretched arms,
celebrating a touchdown that
handed Michigan a 15-point lead
with 2:17 minutes to play. He blew
kisses to the crowd, beckoning the
raucous sea of maize pom poms
that serenaded him for an electric
five touchdown performance.
Pandemonium had officially set
in.
When the clock struck double-
zeroes, everyone seemed to forget
about the freezing cold and the
endless nightmares from previous
defeats. Droves of fans plunged
from the stands and spilled out
onto the turf, reveling in their
newfound glory.
Michigan, champions of the Big
Ten East.
“It was a surreal moment,” junior
quarterback Cade McNamara said.
“It’s something we’ve dreamed of.
Every 6 a.m. (practice), that feeling
is the reason why we do it.”
Saturday offered an opportunity
for the Wolverines to exorcise
past demons, escaping the recent
doldrums and persistent pain of
the rivalry. A win would vault them
into the Big Ten Championship
Game and buoy aspirations of
a berth in the College Football
Playoff, two hurdles that the
program had yet to clear as of the
morning, seven years into Jim
Harbaugh’s tenure.
But just as toppling the Buckeyes
began to feel sisyphean, the
Wolverines punched first — and
refused to relent.
“It was really like a war out
there,” senior defensive end Aidan
Hutchinson, who wreaked havoc
on Ohio State’s offense with three
sacks, said.
On
Michigan’s
opening
possession, sophomore receiver
A.J. Henning found the endzone
on a 14-yard touchdown run,
whipping Michigan Stadium into
an immediate frenzy.
In the second quarter, even
as Ohio State took a brief 10-7
lead, Michigan proved unfazed,
embodying its season-long serenity.
A 13-play, 82-yard touchdown drive
sent the Wolverines into halftime
clenching a 14-13 lead.
In
past
years,
Michigan
unraveled in similar moments,
particularly in The Game. On
Saturday, the team merely grew
stronger.
The second half started to a tee.
The Wolverines’ defense forced
a crisp three-and-out, and the
offense blazed down the field,
running the ball three times for a
total of 81 yards; Haskins capped
the drive with a touchdown.
They had kicked Ohio State back
onto its heels, and the Buckeyes
would never recover.
Michigan’s
offense,
having
re-discovered its rhythm, operated
with
machine-like
efficiency.
A 31-yard pass from freshman
quarterback J.J. McCarthy to
sophomore receiver Roman Wilson
set up a 34-yard flea-flicker from
McNamara to junior receiver Mike
Sainristil.
So hapless were the Buckeyes
that only a brief kerfuffle could
slow
down
the
Wolverines.
After
a
scrum
triggered
an
unsportsmanlike conduct on Ohio
State’s Cameron Brown, Michigan
found the endzone again. Haskins
bounced outside, scoring for the
third time on the day, staking the
Wolverines to a stunning 15-point
lead.
The result incited delirium and
momentarily broke the Michigan
Stadium scoreboard — an apt
microcosm for the shock of The
Game’s result.
Even as Ohio State scratched
and clawed its way to an early
fourth
quarter
touchdown,
Michigan responded with yet
another emphatic, methodic drive.
Haskins wiggled his way down the
field, ultimately plowing into the
endzone for his fourth touchdown.
In the game’s waning minutes,
when Stroud’s fourth-and-18 heave
fell shy of a first down, the reality
set in. Bleachers rattled. The
stadium shook. Hutchinson and
fifth-year safety Brad Hawkins
shed tears.
“We
have
(a
sign)
inside
Schembechler Hall, ‘What are you
doing today to beat Ohio State,’ ”
Hawkins said. “And today, we beat
them. It’s a blessing.”
A blessing, perhaps, but certainly
not a product of luck.
“Every workout, every practice,
every
game,
everything
that
we put into this season — that’s
something that we kept in the back
of our minds every single day that
we entered Schembechler Hall,”
McNamara said of Ohio State. “We
did enough to beat them today.”
After nine years of perpetual
suffering, Michigan had achieved
the unthinkable. It’s a game that no
one will soon forget.
“We’ve got a lot of hours left
today,”
Harbaugh
smirked,
allowing
himself
to
digest
the gravity of the moment. “…
Celebrating long into the night.”
14 — Graduation Edition 2023
Michigan shocks Ohio State, ends eight-game losing streak in The Game
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
JARED GREENSPAN
2022 Managing Sports Editor
The Official Merchandise Retailer of Michigan Athletics
The M Den on Campus
303 South State Street
Ann Arbor
The Victors Collection
by The M Den
307 South State Street
Ann Arbor
The M Den on
Main Street
Ann Arbor
The M Den
12 Oaks Mall
Novi
The M Den
in and around the
Stadium on game day
The M Den
in Crisler Center –
2 locations
The M Den
The Victors Collection by The M Den
Briarwood Mall
Ann Arbor
The M Den
The Victors Collection by The M Den
55 Columbia Street
Detroit
Your time on campus may be coming to an end, but you are forever a Wolverine!
Come celebrate this new chapter in your life at The M Den—we have everything
from caps and gowns, diploma frames, party supplies, Ann Arbor memorabilia and
more to make your moment special!
A portion of every purchase you make goes back to supporting the University of
Michigan’s athletic programs. Forever Go Blue!
Visit your local storefront or shop online anytime at MDen.com.
MI_Daily_AD_Grad_2022.indd 1
Michigan defeats Ohio State for
second year in a row, 45-23
SPENCER RAINES
Daily Sports Editor
COLUMBUS — 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.
ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
TESS CROWLEY/Daily