Michael CitroMon, December 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM UTC·6 min readOhio State made its biennial trip to Ann Arbor Saturday for the road portion of the greatest rivalry in sports, restoring the natural order of things with a 27-9 victory.
Despite Joel Klatt rambling all game long about the litany of things you “have to” do if you’re Michigan, and a far-too-coincidental-to-be-coincidence technical failure that affected only Ohio State’s communications equipment, the Buckeyes prevailed and will now meet the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Championship Game.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHere’s what caused me to have big palpitations when the Buckeyes visited the Big House.
An Inauspicious StartOhio State’s top-ranked defense got gashed for 36 rushing yards on the opening play. Jordan Marshall took the handoff, went left, and found a crease, quickly putting the Wolverines on Ohio State’s half of the field and within long field goal range.
It was a shock start, but the Buckeyes stiffened and forced a field goal. That 36-yard run allowed Michigan to reach 100 rushing yards in the first half, but Michigan finished with exactly 100 yards on the ground, which included Marshall’s run and a 22-yard carry by Bryson Kuzdzal.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat means the Buckeyes held Michigan to just 42 net rushing yards on all but those two attempts.
The other annoying thing on that drive was Ohio State having to burn an early timeout when the Buckeyes weren’t ready for the Wolverines to use tempo on a third down.
Ohio State’s Offense Started Slowly TooJulian Sayin had a fantastic game, but his first two throws did not instill confidence that it would play out that way. The freshman quarterback underthrew Carnell Tate on Ohio State’s first snap, allowing Zeke Berry to break it up.
The second throw was worse. Targeting Jeremiah Smith, Sayin made a bad read, and his throw was intercepted by Jyaire Hill, setting Michigan up at the OSU 39-yard line already up 3-0 after just two snaps by the Buckeye offense.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNo Ejection? For Headbutting an Official?I will never understand how Jaishawn Barham stayed in the game. Obviously agitated about something that happened on the play, Barham “showed” the referee, which included headbutting him.
Luckily for the official, Barham pulled up in time to make only light contact, but any kind of contact with an official is grounds for dismissal, let alone a headbutt. The pool reporter after the game stated the play is a judgment call, but even a slight difference in angle and that could have easily broken the referee’s nose.
Michigan was fortunate to get so much leniency.
More Goal-Line IssuesOhio State settled for a first-quarter field goal when it shouldn’t have had to.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementDespite the Buckeyes going “manball!” again and C.J. Donaldson not reading daylight correctly, he appeared to get in. Replays showed that based on where he was carrying the ball, it was logical that the ball broke the plane of the goal line, but the call of down short of the end zone stood.
The referees hilariously gave Sayin a touchdown on a sneak on the next play, even though at no point did he get across. That was overturned by replay. Ohio State then suffered a false start by Bennett Christian and had to settle for a field goal after having scored a touchdown that didn’t count and being awarded a touchdown that was overturned.
Uncatchable Ball = No DPIJermaine Mathews Jr. was flagged for pass interference on a pass that Bryce Underwood threw nearly 10 yards out of bounds on third-and-4 from the Michigan 22-yard line in the second quarter.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen you see a pass that Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith combined couldn’t catch, it seems to me it’s an uncatchable ball. Nevertheless, the gift of a free first down helped get a stalled Michigan drive going, and the Wolverines cut Ohio State’s lead to 10-9 with another field goal with just over five minutes to play in the first half, when the Buckeyes should have had the ball with decent field position.
It was one of two annoying pass interference calls on Ohio State, with Davison Igbinosun also getting flagged later in the game while trying to disengage from a receiver who had a firm, two-handed grip on his jersey and shoulder pads.
“Gamesmanship”Sure, let’s call it that. Aside from Ohio State’s in-helmet communications mysteriously not working, Michigan seemed hellbent to do everything it could in Saturday’s game to force a retaliation or a reaction from Ohio State that would lead to cheap penalty yardage.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFor the most part, Ohio State abstained from stooping to that level. There were still too many unsportsmanlike conduct penalties as a result of those kinds of things and too many responses to Michigan’s chirping. For much of the game, Ohio State players should simply have pointed up at the scoreboard and walked away.
Tempers always flare in rivalry games, but when Michigan uses that as a strategy to even the playing field, it’s annoying when it works.
Sophomore cornerback Miles Lockhart was flagged for it on the kickoff after the Wolverines cut the lead to 10-9, forcing the Buckeyes to start at their own 13 instead of the 25-yard line. Had Sayin and Bo Jackson not carved through the Wolverines on the ensuing drive, that could have been a tide-turning penalty.
There were also offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the last play of the first half and early in the third quarter. Igbinosun at least earned his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after his late interception put a bow on the game, and in that situation, even I can’t get mad about it.
Those are the anger-inducing things for me from The Game. What bugged you?
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementObviously, there were so many things that went right on Saturday.
Sayin responded from his early interception by carving up Michigan’s secondary despite the weather not being best suited for the passing game. Smith and Tate made big plays in their return from injury, and even if they weren’t 100% and Ohio State played seemingly every tight end in the nation, they did enough to show the difference makers that they are.
The defense gave Michigan nothing aside from two big runs, with the second requiring an uncalled hold on Caden Curry to open things up. Underwood had his worst game as a college quarterback so far, and Ryan Day even got to show the Wolverines how tough his team is by grinding out a 12-minute, game-sealing scoring drive that featured almost no passes.
It was a good day to end a streak that was largely built on stealing signals and Ohio State’s own coaching stubbornness.
Next up, the Buckeyes have a much bigger challenge, as Indiana practically stays home for the meeting of No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday.
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