Five things to know about The Team Up North

The best week of the season is officially here.

The No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0, 8-0) head to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines (9-2, 7-1) and try to break the four-game losing streak the Buckeyes enter “The Game” with.

Here are five things to know about The Team Up North.

The Wolverines are always elite at running the football, and they are great at it again this season. Even though starter Justice Haynes is out for the season, redshirt freshman Jordan Marshall has stepped up in a big way, running for 871 yards on 143 carries and 10 touchdowns in Haynes’ absence.

Marshall did not play against Maryland, but could have played if needed, and is expected to play against Ohio State.

As a group, Michigan has run for 2,458 yards on 440 carries with 32 touchdowns.

Not only does Michigan start a true freshman at quarterback in Bryce Underwood, but its starting running back and top rusher Jordan Marshall is a redshirt freshman and top wide receiver Andrew Marsh is a true freshman.

Eeven though they are young, they are incredibly talented and can make plays. They are also prone to the freshman mistake, and the Buckeyes defense has to force them to do that.

The big story last season was Ohio State’s insistence on running the ball against a team that excelled at stopping the run, and they are very good at it again this year.

The Wolverines come into this game as the second best rushing defense in the conference, giving up only 81.7 points per game. Ohio State is the best rushing defense in the conference, only allowing 80 yards per game. With Haynes out, the Wolverines will turn to Marshall, an Ohio native, to carry the backfield.

The Wolverines leading tackler and captain on defense Ernest Hausmann did not travel with the team last week to Maryland, and it remains a question as to why. There was no indication of an injury, and the pregame broadcast said that disciplinary reasons were not the reason that he was not there.

Earlier in the week, he posted on X about a podcast he was starting, but on Saturday night he posted that he didn’t leave the team.

After the game, Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore said “Yeah, they’re just working through some things, so not long-term things. We’ll see as we go through the week.”

When the Buckeyes travel to Ann Arbor this weekend, they will be playing in the third largest stadium in the world. According to the Athletic, Michigan Stadium’s capacity is 107,601, only beaten by Narendra Modi Stadium in India (132,000) and Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in North Korea (114,000) as the two largest.

Beaver Stadium (106,572) and Ohio Stadium (102,780) are fourth and fifth.