What is the true meaning of Ohio State vs. Michigan?
On Nov. 25, 1950, the answer meant Fred and Janet Andrews did not hesitate to drive 80 miles through horrendous conditions for four hours to get to Ohio Stadium to watch what 75 years later is known as the "Snow Bowl."
Michigan and Ohio State played through the "Great Appalachian Storm of 1950" that day. The teams combined for 45 punts in a half-foot of snow and 30 mph winds. The Wolverines mustered 27 yards of total offense. Michigan won 9-3 as a result of a block punt. Fred and Janet Andrews were among the 50,503 in attendance; a figure that grows with each passing year.
"They were one of the five million people that were there that day," their son Bill told AllSportsPeople.
MORE: Setting the table for Rivalry Weekend
Bill Andrews played kicker at Ohio State from 1979-82 and was an assistant coach under Earle Bruce from 1983-85 – a period that followed The Ten Year War between Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler. Back then, it was the Hatfields and McCoys in helmets.
What about now? Last year, 12.3 million people watched The Game. In 2023, the event had 19.1 million viewers. It's still college football's best rivalry, spectacle and trial all rolled into one four-hour window on Fox.
On Saturday, No. 1 Ohio State (10-1) will take on No. 18 Michigan (9-2) at Michigan Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:14 p.m. ET. Snow is in the forecast. That hallowed history will never change – even if the nature of The Game has undeniable alterations in the 18-team Big Ten and 12-team College Football Playoff era.
New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon – whose latest book "The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is out now – wrote multiple books on the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. He is one of the traditionalists adjusting to the new meaning of The Game.
"Ohio State has had such a good season following the national title season, that they could lose by 20 or 30 and it barely matters," Bacon said. "They're definitely in the playoffs, they might not even play in the first round. That's all it means — they might have to play one more game than they might otherwise. Even if emotionally the stakes are the same, pragmatically they aren't. They just aren't."
Last year was proof times have changed. Five-loss Michigan upset No. 2 Ohio State 13-10 on Nov. 30, 2024 – the Buckeyes' second loss in the regular season. Then, Ohio State burned through the first 12-team College Football Playoff for a national title.
"Hats off to Ohio State," Bacon said. "They were definitely the best team last year. They proved it, but in no previous world could you lose this game and call your season a success. That might have been the first time in Michigan-Ohio State history that was the case."
Times have changed, indeed.
MORE: Picks against the spread for Week 14's Top 25 games
Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Should Ryan Day be on hot seat if Ohio State loses to Michigan?
Ohio State coach Ryan Day is on that stand this year. On Tuesday, he took the podium at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center amid pressure heading into Saturday's matchup. To what degree is wildly subjective in Central Ohio.
Day is 1-4 against Michigan, including that unfathomable 13-10 loss last season. The Buckeyes were three-TD favorites. An ugly brawl broke out at midfield when Michigan players tried to plant a flag at midfield at Ohio Stadium for the second time in three years, and cops deployed pepper spray to break it up. Day was asked how that influences this year's preparation.
"What's happened in the past doesn't matter," Day said. "It doesn't. You can learn from that. Let's just have a great Tuesday and prepare the best we can to go win this game on Saturday. That's where the focus has to be and we can't let anything else distract us."
Day clearly learned from last year's loss. Ohio State won the first 12-team College Football Playoff with an impressive four-game revenge tour. The Buckeyes are on a 15-game winning streak, allow 7.6 points per game and have two Heisman Trophy candidates in quarterback Julian Sayin and receiver Jeremiah Smith on offense.
MORE: Breaking down the Heisman Trophy race
Day is 81-10 – an.890 winning percentage. Notre Dame legend Knute Rocke has the all-time lead among coaches with at least 10 years of experience at.881. This is where the argument begins. Does that 1-4 record against the Wolverines weigh more than the 80-6 record against everybody else? That depends on who you ask.
"Is there pressure on Ryan Day?" Bacon asks rhetorically. "Absolutely, which speaks to how great this rivalry is. In no other rivalry I don't think — maybe Alabama-Auburn — could you say there is pressure on the coach to win the rivalry game after winning a national title. That's praise for the rivalry, in my opinion."
Bacon said he knows Michigan fans who brought Ohio State national title coffee mugs last season just to have the score of The Game on it – "with the 'M' X'd out, of course.” He sees online polls asking whether Buckeyes fans would prefer to beat Michigan or win a national title this year.
Losing to Michigan is still a big deal, but last year proved it was not a deal-breaker. Ohio State coach John Cooper – who went 2-10-1 against the Wolverines and had potential national championship seasons ruined in 1995, 1996 and 1997 – did not have the benefit of that during a torturous period in Columbus. Cooper had a 109-33-3 record against everybody else.
Andrews remembers the scene at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta in the aftermath of the Buckeyes' 34-23 victory against No. 7 Notre Dame in the CFP championship game on Jan. 20, 2025. Andrews was near the field for the trophy ceremony celebrating the program's third national championship this century.
"There was a guy behind me right in the middle of the whole trophy ceremony, and he goes, 'You still need to beat Michigan next year or you need to be fired!'" Andrews said. "The guy is an Ohio State fan. You just won a national championship and you're talking about Michigan? What? The game has been over for 10 minutes."
Yet that moment changed the math on The Game. It is now possible to lose to your most-hated rival and still win a national championship. Day's seat would have been much hotter if it were still the BCS or four-team College Football Playoff era. Yes, there will always be a "Beat Michigan!" Cross-section of fans where the result of that game is the only thing that matters. It remains the foundation of Ohio State's identity, which Day confirmed Tuesday when addressing how his players approach The Game.
"They know how important this is," Day said. "They know that this is our No. 1 goal every year to win this game."
It's still that way at Michigan, too.
Michigan-Ohio State intensity remains higher than ever
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore recalled walking out for pre-game warmups at Ohio State. Linebacker Jaishawn Barham – a Maryland transfer – had been in The Shoe before – just not for The Game. Barham looked at Moore and said, "Oh, this is different."
"And Jaishawn doesn't say much," Moore told reporters during his press conference Tuesday.
"It's just an aura about it that you can't describe until you get on the field," Moore said. "It's awesome to be part of. It's great to be a part of. It's the best rivalry in sports, in my opinion."
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry re-ignited from a dormant state in 2015. Jim Harbaugh's arrival ushered in a sequel to The Ten Year War with Urban Meyer; one the Buckeyes maintained the upper hand in through the COVID-impacted 2020 season in which the teams didn't play.
MORE: CFP forecast | Bowl projections
Everything since has been next level. The Wolverines and Buckeyes have won the last two national championships. Three of the last four meetings have been top-five matchups, and Michigan is trying to extend its winning streak to five games for the first time since a six-game streak from 1922-27.
The Connor Stalions in-person scouting led to one of the hottest matchups in rivalry history at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 25, 2023. No. 3 Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State 30-24, then followed up with the upset last season. The Wolverines are double-digit underdogs again, and there are Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff implications.
Ohio State can end Michigan's playoff hopes – but the Wolverines still need help if they win to get into the CFP. The Buckeyes will make the CFP either way. Does that change the equation on the field?
"I don't think anything changes the intensity," Moore said. "This is as intense a rivalry as you'll see in sports. I don't think the outcome, regardless win or lose, it's not going to change it. It's a new game every year."
MORE: Why the CFP needs to expand to 16 teams
Day and Moore spent 30-plus minutes in those press conferences answering questions without referring to the rival school by name. Yet they did use the players' names in earnest – which might be a side effect of the portal era. Switching sides is not as taboo as it used to be, and making the College Football Playoff has become the focus of the season.
Day and Moore also were loose in their press conferences. Both coaches smiled and managed to laugh through a few questions. It was a different vibe than the Ten-Year War where Hayes and Schembechler would not speak to each other or the tight-lipped press-conference from Lloyd Carr, Jim Tressel, Harbaugh and Meyer in the last 25 years. Day even laughed when asked if there would be a special message or video during game preparation this week, "Yeah, I would say so."
"These guys are about as comfortable as a coach of these teams could be in this situation," Bacon said. "Keep in mind, also, that ain't going to last. If Sherrone Moore loses two in a row — this year and next year — then the heat starts growing. If Ryan Day loses this one then they perform poorly in the playoffs, then you start hearing that again."
MORE: Firing a coach midseason is not the solution programs think it is
How will Ohio State-Michigan rivalry change in 12-team CFP era?
How will time test The Game in the 12-team College Football Playoff? It's often compared to the Duke-North Carolina in basketball – and this college football setup will lend itself to making those two rivalries even more similar in the coming years, which might cause angst among the traditionalists.
Duke and North Carolina have combined for 11 national championships in men's basketball. In those 11 seasons, however, the national title winner swept the other school four times. The Blue Devils swept the Tar Heels in 2009-10 and 2014-15, and the Tar Heels swept the Blue Devils in 1981-81 and 2008-09.
Yet there was the 2016-17 season. North Carolina split the regular-season matchups with Duke and lost the ACC tournament championship game to the Blue Devils. Then, the Tar Heels won a national championship.
That is the adjustment Ohio State and Michigan fans are making now. At some point, the schools could play in a Big Ten championship game – there is one far-fetched scenario where it could happen this year – and a CFP game would be the equivalent of the Final Four matchup between Duke and North Carolina on April 2, 2022.
Bacon struggles with that. He remembers the stakes during The Ten Year War between Ohio State and Michigan. He points to a former Michigan quarterback Dennis Franklin to illustrate the point of what the game used to mean. Either the Wolverines or Buckeyes played in the Rose Bowl while Franklin was the starting quarterback from 1972-74.
"This guy had 30 wins, two losses and one tie and that man never saw a bowl game of any sort," Bacon said. "That truly — and I grew up with this — that was The Game, The Game, The Game, and there was no substitute. If you lose 12-10 or 14-11 or God help you, you tie 10-10, then your season is done."
Andrews recalled his first season at Ohio State in 1979 – which was Bruce's first year and in the middle of a three-game losing streak. "Back then, it seemed like an eternity. Three freaking years?"
Ohio State recruiting coordinator Bob McNea put up a banner that read, "How long will you continue to bow down to Michigan?" That players had to duck under to get to the practice field. The Buckeyes won 18-15. There are more than 75 years of stories like that passed down to either side that will be told before 12:14 p.m. On Saturday.
MORE: Predicting Lane Kiffin's future and how the SEC dominos will fall
Fred Andrews passed away in 2017. Janet Andrews, 97, will take in yet another chapter of The Game on Saturday. It will always mean something – and the coaches feel that leading up to the next chapter. Is it "fun" to coach in this new environment?
"Like I say, fun is kicking ass and that's what we want to do on Saturday. We're preparing to do that, and that's it," Day said.
Will the weather be a factor 75 years after the "Snow Bowl" and 50 years after the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald?
"Nov. 10 any year is the deadliest date on the Great Lakes," Bacon said. "This game always played in the Nov. 20s is very rarely snowy for some reason. I don't know if it's the gods or what. This game is almost never snowy. I can't explain. It's strange. It's also strange how often the sun comes out at some point during this day, even though it's not sunny at all at either place in November.”
Will the Buckeyes flex toward another national championship season? Or will Michigan pull yet another upset, one that will be compared to 1969 and 1995 – when Tshimanga Biakabutuka rushed for 313 yards in a 31-23 upset both sides still remember. Moore was asked what he expects of the fans that will make that drive Saturday because it still means something more.
"Be the loudest, most ravenous, craziest, energetic environment in Michigan Stadium — ever," Moore said. "That's what we want it to be."