ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It never gets old. It never gets too repetitive.
Ohio State extended its winning streak over archrival Michigan to eight years in a row and 15 wins in the last 16 seasons with its 56-27 win against the Wolverines on Saturday.
Justin Fields threw for 302 yards and four touchdown passes, and J.K. Dobbins ran for 211 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead No. 1 OSU (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) over No. 13 Michigan (9-3, 6-3 Big Ten).
Ohio State rolled up 577 yards total offense on its way to the win. The last two seasons, the Buckeyes have scored 62 and 56 points against Michigan defenses that were nationally ranked. The Buckeyes head to the Big Ten championship game next week.
Michigan took a 6-0 lead early, but Ohio State answered with a touchdown of its own and was never behind again.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day got a victory over the Buckeyes’ biggest rival in his first season as OSU’s head coach, as his team finished the regular season undefeated.
“In games like this, it comes down to players, and our big-time players played well,” Day said.
“This is all a blur right now. To say there is no stress coming into a game like this would be a lie. There is so much riding on a game like this. It hasn’t sunk in yet. Maybe later today or tomorrow I’ll have a better feel for it,” he said.
While the dream continued for Ohio State, the nightmare deepened for Michigan and its coach, Jim Harbaugh.
One of the main reasons Harbaugh was hired at Michigan was to bring its program up to the level of Ohio State. Saturday’s loss dropped Harbaugh’s record against Ohio State to 0-5. No other coach from Michigan or Ohio State has ever started his career 0-5 against the biggest rival.
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