Former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel waves to the fans during a game against Michigan Nov. 24, 2012, at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won 26-21. Credit: Lantern File Photo
Rivalry games are circled on the calendars of college football programs every year.
For Ohio State-Michigan, — which multiple former Buckeyes coaches and players called the greatest rivalry in sports — is circled, highlighted, written in bright shiny marker and given all the attention year-round.
Different coaches have taken different approaches to “The Game,” but no matter the strategy, victory was always on the minds when playing the Wolverines.
Here’s how each of the past seven Ohio State coaches felt and approached coaching for the Michigan game.
Woody Hayes (1951-78), record against Michigan: 16-11-1
Before Woody Hayes arrived at Ohio State in 1951, the Buckeyes totaled just 12 wins against Michigan in 47 tries. After Hayes’ departure in 1978, the program had more than doubled its win total against the Wolverines.
Former linebacker Arnie Jones said a reporter asked Hayes at Ohio State’s weekly media availability what he was going to do to energize the players for the Buckeyes’ matchup against Michigan.
“Woody turns around, looks at him and goes, ‘Son, if you have to fire anybody up for the Michigan game, they shouldn’t be playing,’” Jones said.
Former quarterback Burdette Schneider said Hayes treated “The Game” like it “was any other week.” He said he didn’t have animosity towards the Wolverines, but “knuckled down” for the rivalry matchup at the end of the year.
Jones, a team captain in 1974, said Hayes always told the team he didn’t want “Wednesday All-Americans” — a player who didn’t play as well on Saturday as he did in the last tough practice of the week on Wednesday.
Jones remembers rivalry week practices under Hayes being not as physically intense compared to other weeks but more mentally demanding.
“If we’re playing Northwestern — I think our average score against them the three years I played was 60-0 — but we could have tough practices that week because it was just basically so obvious that we were going to win,” Jones said. “Michigan was kind of the other way around. You want to save as much physical energy as possible, but go over the stuff mentally, so that you are as sharp as possible.”
Hayes was one of the pioneers in focusing on Michigan year-round, but Jones said it came with the offensive schemes of the time. He said most teams ran “I-formation, I-right, I-left with a slot back,” so despite the opponent that week, it was like the Buckeyes were preparing for Michigan.
The Buckeyes’ coach of 28 seasons had a stretch in which the rivalry was arguably at its best: “The Ten Year War.”
Hayes and former Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler, who Jones said were like “father and son,” squared off in a string of games from 1969-78 in which all but one game had both teams ranked in the AP Top 25 and some sort of championship or postseason implications.
Hayes went 4-5-1 in “The Ten Year War” with the 10-10 tie going to a committee vote that sent Ohio State to the Rose Bowl over Michigan.
Earle Bruce (1979-87), record against Michigan: 5-4
Earle Bruce was tabbed as Hayes’ successor in 1979, but took a similar approach to “The Game” as his predecessor.
Bruce worked under Hayes from 1966-71 as an offensive line coach, then later a defensive backs coach.
Former Buckeyes offensive lineman Jim Lachey said Bruce had “a lot of the Woody stuff” in his approach to the rivalry.
“There’s always a lot of pressure that game, but I think it all came from Woody,” Lachey, who color commentates Ohio State football games on 97.1 The Fan, said. “Just the way he kind of had that tradition, the way him and Bo went and fought during the ’70s.”
When Lachey arrived to the program in 1981, he said the importance of the rivalry was emphasized “on Day 1.”
He said Bruce would have each game written on the calendar with a “capital letter for the first one,” but Michigan was written in “all bold letters.”
The Cumberland, Maryland, native knew the importance of the rivalry and made it a point of focus throughout the year, Lachey said.
“There probably wasn’t a day gone by that we didn’t talk about that rivalry, and what we had to do and how we had to be ready to win that,” Lachey said.
Lachey said Bruce knew that “if coaches lost three in a row to Michigan, you’re getting fired,” and in his tenure he never did.
In 1979, Bruce stepped in and in his debut against Michigan, led the Buckeyes into Ann Arbor and emerged victorious, 18-15.
After a fast 3-1 start against Michigan, Bruce lost three of the next four games before a best-of-nine finale in his Ohio State coaching career.
Bruce led the Buckeyes to a 23-20 victory at Michigan Stadium, following in Hayes’ footsteps and ending his career against the Wolverines above .500.
The Buckeyes coach had a proposition for his players every year.
“He always talked about, ‘Hey, you can lose some games, but if you beat Michigan, you can walk down High Street when the game is over,’” Lachey said. “‘If you lose, you got to go down Pearl Alley.’”
John Cooper (1988-2000), record against Michigan: 2-10-1
The John Cooper era against Michigan was one most Buckeye fans would like to forget, as the Powell, Tennessee, native landed just two wins in 13 tries — but only three losses by more than 10 points.
ABC and ESPN analyst and former Ohio State quarterback Kirk Herbstreit said Cooper and his staff tried different tactics in their approach to Michigan week.
“It became like a helmet game for us even when we had a better team,” Herbstreit said. “Sometimes we tried to really make it a special week and make it its own season, and that didn’t work. Other times they would downplay it like, ‘Oh, it’s just another game.’”
Herbstreit said Cooper even tried to take a philosophical approach.
“He read a Francis Schmidt, ‘They put their pants on just like us,’ about the gold pants,” Herbstreit said.
Despite Cooper’s struggles against the Wolverines, he understood the importance and history of the rivalry, as well as the implications on postseason play.
“If you coach at Ohio State, it’s got to be the biggest rivalry in sports. There’s no question about it from our standpoint,” Cooper said. “Now, most other people around the country, there’s a lot of big rivalries. USC-UCLA’s a big rivalry — those teams are 15 miles apart — Arizona-Arizona State’s a big rivalry, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State’s a big rivalry, Auburn-Alabama’s a big rivalry. There’s a lot of big rivalries, but none bigger than Ohio State-Michigan.”
Cooper said Michigan was a weekly focus, but he didn’t want to “overlook an opponent just because you’re playing Michigan at the end of the year.”
“We put a lot of emphasis on the Michigan game. A lot of people didn’t believe we did,” Cooper said. “Now we didn’t have a clock saying how many hours it’s going to be before you play, because the next game you’re playing is the most important game.”
The 13-year head coach said there was never a bad Michigan team he lost to, and in order to defeat the Wolverines, “You got to play your butt off and don’t beat yourself.”
After every game — win or lose — Cooper said he would invite the assistant coaches and their wives over to his house that night to bask in the victory or rehash why the Buckeyes came up short.
Cooper recalled the night following his first victory over the Wolverines in 1994.
“We celebrated. Let’s put it that way, we celebrated,” Cooper said with a slight chuckle.
Jim Tressel (2001-10), record against Michigan: 8-1
Following Cooper’s tenure of struggles against Michigan, Ohio State turned to Jim Tressel who, at the time, had just completed a 15-season tenure at Youngstown State.
The Mentor, Ohio, native’s first speech came Jan. 18, 2001, at St. John Arena, and he wanted to make a statement.
Tressel gave a speech assuring Buckeye Nation they would be “proud of our young people” in “310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on the football field.”
“I grew up in Ohio, so I know the importance of that game, and I wanted to make sure that everyone around here knew that I knew the importance of that game and that we were going to do well,” Tressel said. “And we did.”
Prior to the 2001 matchup, Ohio State was on a two-game losing streak to Michigan and had lost five of the last six to the Wolverines. But Tressel led the Buckeyes to Michigan Stadium and delivered on his promise, scoring a 26-20 victory — a win that would flip the script on the state of the rivalry.
Former wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez said Tressel “changed the tone” of “The Game” because he “understood the importance of the rivalry.”
“He had us focused on it year-round, and then certainly the week of, really made sure that it was a special week for us, so we always came in prepared,” Gonzalez said. “He was such an amazing leader not just that week, but across the board. And, you know, one of the things I’m most grateful for in my life is that I got to play four years with coach Tressel, and so he’s just such a special man.”
Tressel dominated Michigan, winning eight of 10 against the Wolverines as the 2010 victory was vacated due to NCAA violations.
Of those wins, a 2006 42-39 triumph at Ohio Stadium in what was later called “The Game of the Century” to send the Buckeyes to the national championship against Florida, was arguably the most memorable.
“At the moment that game is played, it’s the biggest thing going on in the world,” Tressel said. “Regardless if it was sending us to the national championship or maybe just getting our program turned around in ’01, so it’s hard to pick one of those wins over the other.”
Luke Fickell (2011), record against Michigan: 0-1
After Tressel’s resignation in May 2011, Luke Fickell assumed head coaching duties for the upcoming football season.
The program was in a turnover period and struggled mightily, carrying a 6-5 record into the Michigan game — their worst record heading into rivalry week since 1999.
But that didn’t matter to Fickell.
“I remember, you know, there were people coming in just before meetings, or maybe a little late to meetings, I mean, him going off like, ‘What is this? This is Michigan week. Show respect for the rivalry,’” former Ohio State punter Ben Buchanan said.
Four of the Buckeyes’ five Big Ten losses entering the Michigan game were by one score, and Ohio State didn’t have much to lose as it was bowl eligible, but nowhere near a New Year’s six berth.
Buchanan said he appreciated how Fickell held himself as well as the players equally accountable.
He said Fickell “coached hard, tooth and nail until the very end,” centering the Buckeyes with a message to the team the week of “The Game.”
“I just remember him saying, ‘Certainly we play for Columbus, we play for Buckeye nation,’ but he’s like, ‘Right now, you can feel a lot of the noise outside of these walls,’” Buchanan said. “He’s like, ‘We need to play for the men inside this room, you know, inside the Woody Hayes. Play for your brother. Play for one another.’”
Buchanan said he believed Fickell, being a Columbus native, influenced how much he cared about the rivalry because “it just hits that much closer to home.”
In Fickell’s lone try at the Wolverines, the Buckeyes’ one-point halftime lead was erased in the second half as they were outscored 17-10. Former quarterback Braxton Miller’s potential game-winning drive was stymied with an interception on fourth and 6, snapping Ohio State’s then-six-game winning streak.
Urban Meyer (2012-18), record against Michigan: 7-0
Following Fickell’s one-and-done season, Ohio State turned to Urban Meyer, who won two national championships with the Florida Gators, to right the ship.
Buchanan said Meyer stepped in, did not care about the previous success at Ohio State and “laid the hammer down” on the Buckeyes.
“We had to earn the right to get dressed in the locker room. Like, ‘Hey, who are you? I don’t know you. I need to get to know you,’ — even though we might have been top 10 in the country in punting in 2011,” Buchanan said. “‘Well, I don’t know you, so do these bear crawls, do this.’ You know, you got to prove yourself before you can even get into the locker room to be called a Buckeye.”
Meyer’s “prove-it-to-me” attitude carried on the foundation Tressel had laid in prioritizing a Michigan game victory, and Meyer dominated the Wolverines, scoring a perfect seven wins in seven tries.
Perhaps Meyer’s intensity during the Michigan week was part of the reason why.
Buchanan said the Woody Hayes Athletic Center would undergo a makeover the week leading up to “The Game” and play one song: LL Cool J’s “It’s Time for War.”
“It would have that on repeat over and over, and have our plasma screens just like games in which Michigan defeated Ohio State or just showing some intensity in the rivalry,” Buchanan said. “It was breakfast, lunch, dinner, you eat, sleep, drink the rivalry for that week.”
Buchanan noted a more symbolic tradition that Meyer instilled in 2012 upon entering the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, as well.
“Coming into the Woody, they would put jerseys down on the ground, and we had to walk on maize and blue jerseys,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan said there was all a purpose behind everything the Buckeyes did leading up to “The Game.”
“It was just like, ingrained to you just how big this is,” Buchanan said. “It definitely wasn’t one of those things like, ‘Hey, you know, let’s get out there. Let’s give it our best stuff and let the chips fall where they may.’ It was, ‘No, this is The Game. You better win it or else,’ type of a thing.”
Meyer coached in some classic Ohio State-Michigan games as well.
In 2013, former offensive lineman Marcus Hall was ejected for participating in a fight and flipped off the Michigan crowd. Then, in the game itself, former safety Tyvis Powell intercepted Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner’s pass on a two-point conversion attempt, as the Buckeyes won 42-41 — a game which Meyer said postgame was “an instant classic.”
Then three years later at the ‘Shoe, the infamous “J.T. was short” game — a top-five matchup with College Football Playoff implications — took place.
In overtime, former quarterback J.T. Barrett carried a fourth and 1 to the left side of the line and was granted debatable first down yardage, but the call stood after review. On the next play, Curtis Samuel took a 15-yard carry to the house and Ohio State claimed a 30-27 victory.
Finally in 2018, Michigan was in the driver’s seat to win the Big Ten East. However, the Buckeyes played spoiler behind Dwayne Haskins’ six touchdown passes and Chris Olave’s coming out party, in which the then-freshman wide receiver had two touchdown receptions and a blocked punt, as Ohio State won 62-39.
Ryan Day (2019-present), record against Michigan: 1-1
Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day has had one of the more rollercoaster starts against Michigan in recent Ohio State head coaching history.
Day went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2019, and behind eight touchdowns — four through the air by Justin Fields and four on the ground from J.K. Dobbins — throttled the Wolverines 56-27.
In 2020, “The Game” was canceled due to COVID-19 issues within the Wolverines’ program — the first time since 1917 that Ohio State and Michigan didn’t play each other in a season.
Then last season, the Buckeyes went back up to The Big House where former Michigan running back Hassan Haskins ran for five touchdowns in its 42-27 win Nov. 27, 2021.
The loss snapped Ohio State’s then-eight-game win streak and marked the first time since Cooper’s tenure that a Buckeyes skipper hadn’t won his first two renditions of “The Game.”
Day said his adrenaline was “going now” on the Tuesday before last year’s Michigan game.
Third-year offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. said he noticed Day had an increased intensity, not just during the week leading up, but any time the Wolverines were the topic of discussion.
“I feel like that’s just how you have to be during that week. I mean it’s kind of like that year-round, it’s more than just that week,” Johnson said. “You know, whenever we talk about that team, that program, it’s a different type of demeanor.”
Day said Nov. 8 the Buckeyes are “working on that game every day of the year.”
Johnson said Ohio State has “team up north” periods during practice that is geared toward getting the right mentality for the game.
“Just practicing for the style of defense, and then what we’re doing is just about the violence of the drill,” Johnson said. “Then, just that coming off and just at the line of scrimmage, I feel like that’s what it’s about.”
Day will get his shot to avenge last year’s loss Nov. 26 when the Buckeyes host the Wolverines at Ohio Stadium for the first time in four years.
Day said Thursday on 97.1 The Fan the “No. 1 goal is to beat them.”
