Written by Phil Harrison at Bloguin
Ohio State. Michigan. You can’t think of one program without having visions of the other flash across your memory of tapestry. The Yankees are more of a cultural icon because of the Red Sox, Ali is a legend largely because of Frazier, and Duke and North Carolina have a mystique linked together with emotion and legend because they both exist in the same breath.
So it is with Ohio State and Michigan. This is one game that all college football fans tune into because of the history, lore and excitement it conjurs, and we are on the door-step of another edition of this national spectacle.
Here’s everything you need to know about The Game:
Setting the Table:
Since 1897, these two perennial powers have met 111 times with Big Ten and national title considerations often at stake. Known as The Game by many of the its followers, the annual clash is as much late fall in the Midwest as gray skies, falling temperatures, and the gluttonous consumption of turkey. It is the only current and annually occurring rivalry in which both teams are in the top five of the winningest major college football programs of all time.
This one’s not just your average, regional dust-up, but has national interest despite each team’s standing, and has garnered attention as not only the best rivalry in college football, but has been mentioned as the best rivalry in all of sports on numerous occasions.
The two have played consecutively every year with two periods of exception. The budgeoening rivals did not play for the two consecutive years after the first meeting (1898 and 1899), and the contest went on a hiatus again when Michigan left what was then the Western Conference from 1907 to 1917.
Ohio State joined the conference in 1912 and member teams were not permitted to play Michigan until it rejoined the newly named Big Ten in 1917. The two then resumed play in 1918 and have played every year since – without fail, and without pleasantries.
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