What they’re saying after Michigan’s win over Ohio State
The Michigan Wolverines took down the Ohio State Buckeyes for the third season in a row, grabbing a 30-24 win in Ann Arbor on Saturday. An emotional day ended with U-M booking its third-straight trip to Indianapolis to play for a Big Ten title.
The performance drew plenty of reaction from local and national voices. Here is a sampling of what prominent outlets were saying after Michigan’s signature victory over the Buckeyes.
Ryan Van Bergen, TheWolverine.com Podcast
Wolverine TV podcast: Reacting to another victory over Ohio State
“I mean, it’s incredible. It really is. It’s too hard to try to put into words how difficult it must have been for this team to overcome some of the things that they’ve had to deal with this season. And you might think, ‘Oh, don’t paint yourselves as a victim,’ but to have guys from the NCAA, to have guys from the Big Ten in your football facility, the week of the Penn State game and pulling guys out for interviews and interrupting your practice regimen for stuff that again has very little evidence that has been hard proof brought to substantiated evidence.
“They’re dealing with that. They’re dealing with coaches that have been terminated. They’re having a lot of what they’ve put all their hard work into diminished by some of the negative things that have been being said out there and these guys have worked their asses off. To be in a position at this end of the season, at the end of the season to win a Big Ten championship, beat Ohio State, go back to Indianapolis and make another appearance in the college football playoff, I feel like movies aren’t written to this level.
“I’m so happy for these guys to be able to have this experience, and who knows what’s coming next, but this experience and be able to finish the way that they did [was incredible].”
Chris Balas, The Wolverine
Michigan 30, OSU 24: Notes, quotes, and observations – no more tears
Before Ohio State’s game with Penn State earlier this year, coaches Ryan Day and James Franklin met at midfield with one of the biggest bro hugs you’ll ever see. We don’t know for sure, but we’d guess that Jim Harbaugh’s name came up as they engaged in giddy chat like a couple of pre-teen girls at a slumber party.
Both coaches were afforded great opportunities when the Big Ten suspended the Michigan head coach for their games in unprecedented fashion. With that, though, came something they probably didn’t think much about at the time — the added pressure of having to beat one of the nation’s most battle-tested teams without him.
For the second time in three weeks, the Wolverines overcame all the noise, the B.S. media narrative from the talking heads about sign stealing, etc., and beat a top 10 team. This one — a 30-24 win over Day’s Buckeyes — was especially sweet given many believe OSU was behind the private investigator(s) hired to try to take down the program for “illegal on-site scouting.”
Like Franklin, Day didn’t have quite the same pep during his postgame walk through the tunnel.
Michigan vanquished his Buckeyes for the third straight season. And while this one was actually relatively close (unlike the others), it was no less sweet. It was one of the biggest, in fact, in that it should — should — put to rest the narrative that Michigan needed anyone’s signs or any other advantage than each other to win.
Andy Staples, On3.com
Ryan Day, Jim Harbaugh and an Ohio State-Michigan reversal of fortune
Day is 0-3 against Michigan since that first win. A reign of dominance over the Wolverines launched by Jim Tressel and elevated by Urban Meyer has been fumbled away. Saturday, Day didn’t even lose to Harbaugh. Day’s nemesis missed the game serving the third of a three-game suspension handed down by the Big Ten as a result of an investigation into allegations of in-person scouting and signal stealing in violation of NCAA rules. Michigan people think Day or someone else at Ohio State dropped the dime on the scouting network allegedly run by former Michigan analyst Connor Stalions. The Wolverines believe the accusations were a way to take Harbaugh off the board.
Those accusations might ultimately do just that depending on how the NCAA investigation — which could last a long time — finishes, but on Saturday that just meant that Day couldn’t even beat interim coach Sherrone Moore.
Moore, Michigan’s offensive coordinator, promised his players Friday that he’d be the most aggressive playcaller they’d ever seen come Saturday, and he kept that promise. Three times in the first half of Saturday’s 30-24 Michigan win, Moore went for it on fourth and short. The first, on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, resulted in a Blake Corum touchdown to cash in on a Will Johnson interception of Kyle McCord. The second and third came on a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter. “When you have confidence in them, it’s just like first down,” Moore said of the fourth-down plays.
Meanwhile, Day faced fourth-and-2 from the Michigan 34-yard line trailing 14-10 with 40 seconds remaining. The Buckeyes had crossed into Michigan territory on yet another superhuman Marvin Harrison Jr. catch. In a series that’s all about players, Ohio State still had the best one on the field. But after a Cade Stover catch short of the stick, Day decided not to try to get any closer. Instead of having faith in his offense as Moore had thrice over, Day let the clock run. Then he called timeout and sent out Jayden Fielding for a 52-yard field goal attempt that Fielding missed as the half expired.
Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti taking Harbaugh off the field made Day look even worse as Day got out-maneuvered by a guy in his fourth game as an acting head coach. The comparisons to John Cooper — an otherwise excellent Ohio State coach who went 2-10-1 against Michigan and lost his job because of it — continue to dominate any discussion of Day’s tenure. He’s 56-7 in five seasons at the helm of Ohio State. He’s 39-3 in Big Ten play. He’s 1-3 against Michigan, and that’s what matters most.
ESPN.com staff picks the College Football Playoff
Andrea Adelson: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Blake Baumgartner: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Bill Connelly: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Heather Dinich: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Oregon
David Hale: 1. Michigan 2. Georgia 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Chris Low: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Harry Lyles Jr.: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Ryan McGee: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Oregon
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Alex Scarborough: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Mark Schlabach: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Oregon 4. Texas
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Oregon
Tom VanHaaren: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Dave Wilson: 1. Georgia 2. Michigan 3. Washington 4. Florida State
Heather Dinich, ESPN.com
Dinich names Michigan No. 2 team in playoff projection
Why they could be ranked here: Michigan now has two (potentially) top-10 wins — Ohio State and Penn State — and has won two of its past three games on the road. The Wolverines played another complete game on Saturday, beating their rivals with smart playcalling from acting head coach Sherrone Moore, and an aggressive defense. The selection committee will consider that the Wolverines were able to win without coach Jim Harbaugh, who was suspended for his third straight game, and they overcame injuries to key players, including veteran offensive lineman Zak Zinter and cornerback Will Johnson. Michigan could certainly make a case as the nation’s No. 1 team, but Georgia’s résumé is still stronger.
Nicole Auerbach, The Athletic
Auerbach’s Top 10: Can Michigan’s big win put the Wolverines on top?
Every Wolverines win had been scrutinized over the past few weeks, as Michigan’s two-plus seasons of success became wrapped up in an NCAA investigation into alleged advance scouting rules violations. But no one can question whether or not Michigan earned its 30-24 win against Ohio State or its place atop the Big Ten. The Wolverines fought hard for every yard and point in their third consecutive win over their hated rival, which for the second year in a row was a matchup of unbeaten title contenders.
Acting head coach Sherrone Moore dazzled in the biggest game of his coaching career, stepping in to replace the suspended Jim Harbaugh for the fourth time this season on Saturday. He went for it on fourth-and-short three times in the first half, plugged in sparsely used backup quarterback Alex Orji to kickstart the quarterback run game in the second half and called a halfback pass for Donovan Edwards. Each aggressive move was rewarded, and each choice stood in stark contrast to the decisions of a surprisingly conservative Ryan Day on the opposite sideline. Then, with the game on the line, Michigan pieced together a seven-minute, 13-play drive to bleed clock and set up a field goal that extended the Wolverines’ lead to six, forcing Ohio State to try to cover 81 yards in 60 seconds for a touchdown to win it. Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord threw his second costly interception, and the game was over.
I’m not sure Michigan’s offense is explosive enough to win a game or two in the College Football Playoff, but this team is certainly good enough to earn a berth and try. It is not just physical at the line of scrimmage. Its toughness showed up in the way it responded when the Buckeyes threw punches and when the players had to pull themselves together after Zak Zinter’s serious leg injury in the third quarter. Blake Corum ran for a long touchdown
