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This is the 'adversity' that Ohio State faced

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•about 12 hours•

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Mason Graham Kalel Mullings
Michigan Wolverines football DT Mason Graham and RB Kalel Mullings walking into Ohio Stadium before another rivalry win. (Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Ohio State beat Notre Dame, 34-23, to cap off the 2024 college football season. The Buckeyes made history by becoming the first national champion in the CFP era to finish with two losses.

One of those setbacks, of course, was to Michigan — the 2023 national champion that has owned the rivalry this decade, winning the last four games. The Wolverines came to Columbus Nov. 30 as 19.5-point underdogs, and despite the fact that 365 days had gone by since the last Michigan win over the Buckeyes, it was no guarantee head coach Ryan Day (1-4 against U-M) was going to get it done.

Michigan 13, Ohio State 10.

In fact, it’s become more probable than not that when Day and the Buckeyes line up against winged-helmet-wearing Michigan that the Wolverines will come out on top, no matter how long the odds are.

Michigan hadn’t won in Columbus since 2000 before breaking through with a 45-23 triumph in 2022, then did it again as even bigger underdogs in 2024.

Many Ohio State players came back to Columbus in 2024 to, first and foremost, beat Michigan — but they failed miserably again.

“We know what’s at stake when we play those guys,” Ohio State defensive end Jack Sawyer, who’s 0-4 against Michigan and out of eligibility, said at Big Ten Media Days. “All of our goals and aspirations for the season ride on that one game in November.”

But on Nov. 30 at the Horseshoe, Sawyer — who will never own any gold pants unless he purchases some from a former Buckeye looking to pawn them off — was seen crying about Michigan celebrating with a block ‘M’ flag on the field as opposed to celebrating himself.

Michigan 13, Ohio State 10.

Ohio State finished with two regular-season losses for the first time since 2011, when then-interim head coach Luke Fickell was in charge of the program for a year. The Buckeyes finished fourth in the Big Ten, left out of the conference title game for the fourth-straight season.

The Buckeyes went on an epic run through the 12-team College Football Playoff, beating Tennessee, Oregon (who they had lost to earlier in the season), Texas and Notre Dame. Afterward, much of the conversation from players, coaches and media members surrounded the “adversity” they had faced.

What was the adversity, exactly? Well, that would be big, bad, Michigan — a thorn in Ohio State’s side for a while now. Even in Michigan’s worst full-length season in a decade, Ohio State couldn’t win the rivalry game.

The adversity was the Michigan defense, led by defensive tackle Mason Graham, shutting down the high-octane Buckeye attack. Ohio State scored 10 points — the fewest it’s put up in a regular-season game since a 24-6 loss to Miami Sept. 17, 2011.

The adversity was Michigan running back Kalel Mullings, who played through two significant injuries in bulldozing the Buckeyes’ elite defense, controlling the ball late in the game. The Wolverines had possession of the football for over 13 minutes in the fourth quarter, sucking the air out of the stadium, which was filled with vitriol toward its own team by the end of the afternoon.

That’s what Sherrone Moore, Mason Graham, Kalel Mullings, Wink Martindale and their friends can do to people. If anyone knows, it’s Ohio State, too, which has a roster full of players who’ve never beaten Michigan as Buckeyes.

“For what they faced at the end of that Michigan game,” ESPN analyst and former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit said Monday of why he’s happy for the Buckeyes. “And I talked to these guys behind the scenes, and knew what they were going through and how hurt they were, and for them to endure that, overcome that, man, what an example for sports, what an example for all of us in our walk in life, to go through adversity and learn that.”

There’s nothing wrong with being proud of responding from adversity. Michigan is a great program that’s collected 12 national championships and is the winningest team of all time. The Wolverines own Ohio State at the moment. There’s nothing easy about having to play the Maize and Blue at the end of every regular season.

Winning the national championship is nothing to scoff at, but Ohio State fans have admitted it’s not as glorious without a win over Michigan. There’s one main goal in the state of Ohio, and that’s to beat Michigan. It eats every Ohio State coach, player and fan alive that the Wolverines have been so successful in the rivalry. It wouldn’t be the same if the roles were reversed, showing just how “different” Ohio State and its fan base are.

“You can’t claim a national championship without winning ‘The Game,’” late former Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes said. “The only meaningful statistic is the number of times you beat Michigan.”

So, congratulations to Ohio State for making history: The Buckeyes are the first Michigan/OSU national champion to not win ‘The Game.’

SeasonNational ChampionRivalry Result
2024Ohio StateU-M 13, OSU 10
2023MichiganU-M 30, OSU 24
2014Ohio StateOSU 42, U-M 28
2002Ohio StateOSU 14, U-M 9
1997MichiganU-M 20, OSU 14
1970Ohio StateOSU 20, U-M 9
1968Ohio StateOSU 50, U-M 14
1961Ohio StateOSU 50, U-M 20
1957Ohio StateOSU 31, U-M 14
1954Ohio StateOSU 21, U-M 7
1948MichiganU-M 13, OSU 3
1947MichiganU-M 21, OSU 0
1942Ohio StateOSU 21, U-M 7
1933MichiganU-M 13, OSU 0
1932MichiganU-M 14, OSU 0
1923MichiganU-M 23, OSU 0
1918MichiganU-M 14, OSU 0
1904MichiganU-M 31, OSU 6
1903MichiganU-M 36, OSU 0
1902MichiganU-M 86, OSU 0
1901MichiganU-M 21, OSU 0

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