Well, Buckeye Nation, how do you feel right now?

Speaking for myself – I’ll take another Guinness, please!

Where’s Northwestern we all seem to be chanting ….

But, please – it’s been a season of ups and downs – just allow the season to complete itself before the insane “smack” spits forth.

In a season barren of upsets, The Game delivered, as it does more often than most realize, or recall with the Buckeyes winning a complete shocker (welcomed indeed) to a TTUN team that, really, was beaten worse than the score indicates.  Ohio State 62, Michigan 39.

The Buckeyes will face Northwestern next Saturday now because of this wondrous surprise in the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis.

The Buckeyes throttled the Wolverines with 567 yards – and that, for your information, was against the nation’s No. 1 overall defense.  It was an annihilation, plain and simple, call a duck a duck, or injured wolverine pride – injured wolverine pride.  College Football I hope took note.

The Buckeyes entered this game 10-1 with some “not so pretty” wins which included last week’s OT win over Maryland 52-51.  There was also the Nebraska one back on the 3rd of November with the Buckeyes barely winning 36-31.  And, Lord, can any of us forget the Boilermaker-spanking in West Lafayette on October 20th?  Michigan on the other hand only lost to Notre Dame, the nationally third ranked team back on opening day, September 1st, 24-17.  They’d own Nebraska, 56-10, Maryland, 42-21, and Penn State 42-7.  Nice resume indeed.

Then they met a well-oiled plan from the Buckeyes, and Mr. Dwayne Haskins.

Hello TTUN …

Haskins was extraordinary, completing 19 of 30 passes for 318 yards. He passed for five touchdowns, giving him 40 on the season, breaking Drew Brees’ single-season Big Ten record. And Haskins broke Curtis Painter’s record for most passing yards in a season which was 3,985.

Who would have seen this coming?

Urban Meyer never loses as an underdog at Ohio State. Literally. He is now 7-0 – not just covering the spread, but utter victories.

And Jim Harbaugh seems to be missing that ‘beat Ohio State’ gene … as a coach anyway!  He did as a player. But he is now the only coach in Michigan history to start 0-4 against The Ohio State University.

Harbaugh, if you noticed, wasn’t crying about the officiating, as he did the last time he brought a one-loss team into the Shoe and left with his khakis hiked up in his tush.  TTUN benefited from several 50-50 (at best) calls, including an apparition-type pass interference during a second-half touchdown drive. The officials flagged the Buckeyes 12 times for 150 yards.

It all fits – in the stands were two noticeable signs from the loyalists of Buckeye Nation:  one said:  COACH HARBAUGH FOREVER! The other read:  WELCOME HOME COACH HARBAUGH.

Will Harbaugh ever live down the fact that his team allowed the most points in the 115-year series?

TTUN’s highly-praised defense disintegrated Saturday. It was a muddled chaos with substitution errors, blown coverage’s via the secondary and angry players hollering at one another.

The long list of Buckeyes, in this game, who could be mentioned as a superb contribution, includes a little-known freshman receiver named Chris Olave, who scored two touchdowns and blocked a punt. Fellow receiver Parris Campbell caught four passes for 98 yards and flew down the sideline on a 78-yard score.

The Buckeyes’ defense dominated TTUN’s offensive line, sacking Shea Patterson three times. The Buckeyes finally knocked him out of the game in the fourth quarter.  His lack luster play was seemingly a reincarnation of his days past (Ole Miss).

“We play down or up to our competition, and we played above and beyond today,” said Buckeyes defensive end Dre’Mont Jones.

“We had a chip on our shoulder, and we wanted to show who we really are,” said Ohio State linebacker Malik Harrison.

Coach Meyer ordered an overhaul of the team’s defense and running game during a bye week at the end of October and what happened on the field Saturday was a result of the changes made. While the Buckeyes gave up plenty of points, they made several big defensive plays throughout the contest.

So, Malik – we have always known who you GUYS are – and it’s never too late to show us what we knew …. But thank-you for the added gift of showing us against the ‘Road-kill’ of the world!

After this tremendous victory there, undoubtedly, is the re-surfaced conversation of the Buckeyes into the CFP’s …. I’d love to partake in that conversation, but I won’t.  There’s still Northwestern …DO NOT underestimate them.  DO NOT repeat that tragic Boilermaker mistake.  Then, of course, some help from other teams will be needed.  So, let’s have this discussion next week.  Until then, Please – another Guinness!    

 PASSING

Michigan Comp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Sack YdsL QBRat
2 Shea Patterson
 20 34 58.8 187 5.5 3 1 3 16 128.3
3 Joe Milton
 2 3 66.7 45 15.0 0 1 0 0 126.0
18 Brandon Peters
 1 1 100.0 8 8.0 0 0 0 0 167.2
Ohio St. Comp Att Pct Yds Y/A TD Int Sack YdsL QBRat
7 Dwayne Haskins
 19 30 63.3 318 10.6 5 0 0 0 207.4

Rushing

Michigan Rush Yds Avg Long TD
22 Karan Higdon
 15 72 4.8 24 0
12 Chris Evans
 8 33 4.1 11 0
13 Tru Wilson
 7 32 4.6 12 0
2 Shea Patterson
 6 13 2.2 15 0
42 Ben Mason
 3 7 2.3 3 1
3 Joe Milton
 1 4 4.0 4 1
Ohio St. Rush Yds Avg Long TD
25 Mike Weber
 13 96 7.4 29 1
21 Parris Campbell
 1 78 78.0 78 1
2 J.K. Dobbins
 12 46 3.8 9 0
7 Dwayne Haskins
 7 34 4.9 11 0
18 Tate Martell
 2 1 0.5 1 0

Receiving

Michigan Rec Yds Avg Long TD
4 Nico Collins
 4 91 22.8 43 2
9 Donovan Peoples-Jones
 7 64 9.1 20 0
12 Chris Evans
 3 25 8.3 9 1
8 Ronnie Bell
 2 19 9.5 11 0
7 Tarik Black
 1 15 15.0 15 0
84 Sean McKeon
 2 13 6.5 11 0
82 Nick Eubanks
 2 8 4.0 7 0
80 Oliver Martin
 1 4 4.0 4 0
22 Karan Higdon
 1 1 1.0 1 0
Ohio St. Rec Yds Avg Long TD
21 Parris Campbell
 5 114 22.8 33 1
14 K.J. Hill
 4 51 12.8 27 1
17 Chris Olave
 2 48 24.0 24 2
30 Demario McCall
 2 44 22.0 33 0
1 Johnnie Dixon
 1 31 31.0 31 1
89 Luke Farrell
 2 16 8.0 10 0
83 Terry McLaurin
 1 12 12.0 12 0
25 Mike Weber
 1 1 1.0 1 0
2 J.K. Dobbins
 1 1 1.0 1 0

Kicking

Michigan FGM FGA Pct Long XPM XPA
2 Jake Moody
 2 2 100.0 39 3 3
Ohio St. FGM FGA Pct Long XPM XPA
95 Blake Haubeil
 2 2 100.0 19 8 8

Returns

Michigan KR Yds Avg Long TD PR Yds Avg Long TD
8 Ronnie Bell
 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
1 Ambry Thomas
 6 87 14.5 31 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Ohio St. KR Yds Avg Long TD PR Yds Avg Long TD
14 K.J. Hill
 0 0 0.0 0 0 2 29 14.5 23 0
30 Kevin Dever
 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
12 Sevyn Banks
 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 33 33.0 33 0
30 Demario McCall
 2 22 11.0 14 0 0 0 0.0 0 0

Punting

Michigan Punt Avg Long
17 Will Hart
 4 44.8 55
Ohio St. Punt Avg Long
91 Drue Chrisman
 3 40.3 46