OSU-Michigan will always be a big game

COLUMBUS — Does the Ohio State-Michigan game still live up to its reputation? Or has it become just another game?

Woody and Bo are gone. Michigan isn’t very good and Ohio State has already clinched a trip to the Rose Bowl.

OSU has dominated Michigan since Jim Tressel became the Buckeyes’ coach, beating its biggest rival five times in a row and seven times in the last eight years.

But it will never be just another game to many people.

No matter what the records and recent results are, they say, everything you’ve heard about how great the Ohio State-Michigan game is remains true.

The 106th football game between the two schools kicks off at noon today in Michigan Stadium.

Who knows? Maybe it will add another chapter to the legends around The Game, like the Snow Bowl, Woody Hayes going for two in 1968, and Desmond Howard’s Heisman Trophy pose.

Ohio State radio analyst Jim Lachey, who played 11 years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Washington Redskins, says an Ohio State-Michigan game ranks with anything he’s ever experienced on a football field.

Given the chance for a do-over of any chapter in his football career, Lachey said, “It probably would be the chance to play an Ohio State-Michigan game again.”

“It was a great rivalry then and still is,” he said.

Former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce might pack more passion about the Ohio State-Michigan game into his body than any other human.

 “I love the Michigan game. It’s the greatest rivalry in college football,” Bruce said.

Denny Schwinnen, of Elida, an Ohio State season ticket holder since the 1970s, says Bruce has it exactly right.

“I agree with Earle that it’s bigger than the national championship.  I think Michigan is The Game.  It’s a big game no matter what Ohio State’s record is or what Michigan’s record is,” he said.

Some of the current Ohio State players were exposed to how important the rivalry is at a young age.

Offensive linemen Jim Cordle remembers how it was at his elementary school in Lancaster, around 30 miles south of Columbus.

“I went to St. Mary’s, a little Catholic school. We had to wear our uniforms but for the Ohio State-Michigan game we got to dress up in either Ohio State or Michigan clothes (on Friday),” he said.

“We got to cheer. If you were a Michigan fan, you got to cheer into the PA system. Or if you were an Ohio State fan, you got to cheer, then they would measure who had the loudest cheer.”

Three hours to the north, wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher experienced the same thing in elementary school. Growing up in Toledo, 50 miles south of Michigan Stadium, he was even closer to the rivalry.

“The majority of the city is pretty divided. You can find Michigan and Ohio State fans up there,” he said. “It makes it that much more interesting. In Toledo, the Ohio State-Michigan game is its own little holiday.”

A holiday that never gets old for Ohio State fans.