President Donald Trump refers to Michigan as 'that team up north' during Ohio State White House visit

President Donald Trump knew what to say to get a laugh out of Ohio State fans during the Buckeyes’ visit to the White House on Monday. All he had to do was make a reference to the school’s most hated rival, Michigan.

Ohio State made the trip to DC to be honored after claiming the national championship this past season with a 34-23 victory against Notre Dame. But before that, the Buckeyes lost to the Wolverines in the final game of the regular season.

Trump noted that loss when describing the “adversity” that Ohio State faced on its road to the title. He called Michigan “that team up north,” which is a common way for Buckeyes fans to refer to the Wolverines.

“This team showed the world that the road to greatness is paved by hard work, sweat and often a great deal of adversity,” the president said. “They had a lot of adversity. I shouldn’t say this, I actually said, ‘Should I leave this line out?’ They said, ‘Sir, they wanna hear the whole thing. The bad and the good.’ But many people counted you out after the losses against Oregon, which is a great team, and that team up north. We won’t talk about it.

“But you refused to let the Buckeye Nation down. You got better and better and tougher and tougher as the season went along. And after a very strong regular season with adversity, you held a closed door players only meeting. This extraordinary group rallied together for a single glorious vision to win four straight playoff games against the finest teams in college football and you were able to do it.”

Ohio State began its road to the championship with a win against Tennessee in the first round to set up a matchup against top-seeded Oregon. As Trump alluded to, that was the only other team that the Buckeyes lost to in the regular season, falling in a 32-31 nailbiter.

They would not make the same mistake twice, however, as Ohio State dominated the Ducks from the start to take a 34-8 lead into halftime. They coasted the remainder of the second half in an eventual 41-21 win.

Ohio State then went on to defeat Texas in the semifinals, setting up a matchup with Notre Dame. The rest, of course, is now history as they claimed their ninth national title in program history.

So that’s what led to the moment Monday where coach Ryan Day and his players stood with Trump at the podium. The president also made an appearance during the game between the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish at halftime.