Ohio State is embracing The Game; Michigan seems scared by it
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I have been an adult for over 27 years now, but it wasn’t until this past March that I really started to understand and appreciate something that seems almost fundamental to life. To truly accomplish the things that you want to in life, you have to be very specific in naming them. Some people call that manifesting, or “putting it out into the universe,” or “Secreting,” but for me, it’s just about being honest enough with yourself to identify the things that are important for you; otherwise, how can you possibly prioritize them enough to achieve them?
I stumbled across these things that far smarter people have understood for centuries as I was trying to get my diet and exercise back on track before my birthday in June, but it seems to me that some yellow and blue-wearing folks in an unnamed mitten-shaped state up north have yet to get the memo.
When it comes to the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry, there is one fairly compelling data point that has remained remarkably consistent, especially during the 21st Century. Ever since Jim Tressel arrived in Columbus in 2001 and made beating Michigan a foundational element of the program, the Buckeyes have — for the most part — beaten Michigan.
Since Tressel took over in 2001, Ohio State is 18-6 against Michigan; that is a fairly overwhelming stretch in a rivalry that Michigan still leads 62-52-6 all-time. Of course, no one took The Game more seriously than Woody Hayes, who was 16–11–1 against That Team Up North, and since his legendary tenure in Columbus began, the Buckeyes are 41-31-2 against their rivals.
Now, does Ohio State’s obsession with Michigan cause the Buckeyes to win? I don’t know, and I don’t think anyone really does. Urban Meyer took the rivalry just as seriously as Tressel and went 7-0. Ryan Day has emphasized it constantly and experienced both sides of the emotional spectrum, losing four straight before finally breaking through with a 27-9 win in Ann Arbor last November. John Cooper never really seemed to put oversized emphasis on it and went 2-10-1 in The Game.
But what I find fascinating entering the 2026 season is that Ohio State and Michigan seem to be taking two almost diametrically opposed psychological approaches to The Game, and while there are an untold number of factors that play into determining a winner in any college football game, we might actually get to see which approach works best this coming November.
Michigan is trying to take some of the emotion out of The Game
New Michigan coach Kyle Whittingham is obviously not dismissing the rivalry. As the head coach of Utah for more than 20 years, he knows something about rivalries, owning an 11-6 record in The Holy War against BYU. However, at Big Ten Media Days, he made it clear that while he understands what he walked into in Ann Arbor, he might not yet fully appreciate the enormity of the rivalry.
“I’ve learned how intense that rivalry is, how important the game is,” Whittingham said. “Hate’s a strong word, but I want to win that game as badly as anybody in Ann Arbor.”
Honestly, that is an entirely reasonable thing for a normal, well-adjusted human being to say. Unfortunately for Whittingham, Ohio State-Michigan is not a rivalry historically populated by normal, well-adjusted human beings.
This is a rivalry in which Hayes allegedly pushed his car across the state line rather than buy gas in Michigan. This is a rivalry in which anyone visiting the Woody Hayes Athletic Center is banned from wearing blue and clocks count down to kickoff 365 days a year. Reason left the discussion of The Game well over half a century ago.
Whittingham’s approach seems to be that Michigan can understand The Game’s significance without allowing it to become emotionally consuming. And quarterback Bryce Underwood has taken that philosophy about as far as humanly possible.
When NBC Sports’ John Fanta asked him how different the Ohio State game is from any other game, Underwood said, “It’s just another game. Just, we’re guys in a different color. That’s how I see it.”
He was similarly matter-of-fact when asked about last year’s 27-9 loss.
“A loss,” he said. “That’s all it is.”
I understand the thinking; don’t build one opponent up into some mythological monster. Don’t allow 365 days of anticipation to create an emotional burden that makes you tight when the game finally arrives. Prepare for Ohio State the same way you prepare for Oregon, USC, Michigan State, or anybody else.
There is a certain logic to that, especially in modern college football. There is also, if we are being a little less charitable, a very convenient built-in defense mechanism.
If Ohio State is “just another game,” then losing to Ohio State can theoretically become just another loss. If beating the Buckeyes is not elevated into a defining goal, then you never have to publicly explain why you failed to achieve your self-determined goal. There is a certain emotional efficiency in lowering the temperature before you ever walk into the fire.
And, given where the two programs currently sit, maybe that is not entirely accidental.
Ohio State enters nearly every season expected to compete for a national championship. Michigan certainly has championship aspirations of its own, but the Buckeyes have more blue-chip talent, more NFL-caliber depth, and, generally speaking, the higher national ceiling. If you are Whittingham taking over a program in desperate need of a mental and moral overhaul, perhaps announcing that your new regime will be judged first and foremost by whether it beats Ohio State is not the safest possible bit of goal-setting.
Calling it “just another game” certainly gives everybody a little more room to maneuver if the other team turns out to be better.
Ohio State still believes The Game is different
The Buckeyes, however, appear to be going in almost exactly the opposite direction. Early in his tenure, especially after Jim Harbaugh canceled the 2020 game due to “COVID,” Day seemed almost consumed by the chatter surrounding how his team looked against TTUN. So, going too far into the rivalry mentality isn’t always healthy either. However, that doesn’t seem to have stopped this year’s Buckeyes.
Julian Sayin isn’t exactly someone I would describe as demonstrative. But even Ohio State’s remarkably even-keeled quarterback talks about Michigan as something fundamentally different.
“You learn very quickly when you get here,” Sayin said at training camp last week. “You learn the history of that game. You learn how important it is to this state and to this fan base. And it becomes your livelihood.”
He then laid out Ohio State’s annual goals in the order Buckeye fans have heard for decades.
“We definitely have goals,” Sayin said. “We want to beat the team up north. We want to win the Big Ten championship. We want to win the national championship.”
Then there is Jeremiah Smith, who has decidedly less interest in Whittingham’s attempt to remove hatred from the equation.
“Hate ’em,” Smith has said on numerous occasions. “With everything in me, I hate ’em.”
Smith has also explained that the indoctrination began almost immediately after he arrived at Ohio State. During recruiting, he showed up wearing dark blue and was quickly informed by former OSU wide receiver coach Brian Hartline and current co-offensive coordinator Keenan Bailey that those colors were unacceptable.
“From that day forward, I was like, ‘Okay, it’s real,‘” Smith said.
Day has shown no indication that Ohio State is going to de-emphasize the rivalry simply because the 12-team College Football Playoff has changed the consequences of losing the regular-season finale. The Buckeye head coach continues to talk about beating Michigan as one of the central standards by which Ohio State measures itself, even now that the sport has created more ways to survive a loss in late November.
That is noteworthy because the practical importance of The Game has unquestionably changed.
Ohio State lost to Michigan in 2024 and won the national championship anyway. In the 12-team playoff era, a loss on Thanksgiving weekend no longer necessarily destroys your season. Depending on the Big Ten standings, it might not even prevent you from playing for a conference title.
Yet Ohio State continues to treat beating Michigan as a goal unto itself. There is a certain arrogance in that, I suppose, but I mean that in the most complimentary possible way.
Ohio State is not hiding from the standard. The Buckeyes are not saying, “Well, maybe this doesn’t matter quite as much anymore.” They are publicly stating exactly what they intend to do, knowing full well that if they don’t do it, nobody in Columbus is going to politely forget about it.
That can create enormous pressure, as we saw during the four-game losing streak. But it can also be a sign of institutional confidence. Ohio State believes it should beat Michigan, so it is comfortable saying so. Michigan’s current approach feels, at least a little bit, like the inverse of that.
Which approach is right?
As a lifelong Buckeye fan and OSU grad, you can probably guess which philosophy feels more appropriate to me.
I grew up in the Cooper era and was a student when Tressel took over and righted the rivalry ship. I watched Meyer practically turn Michigan preparation into a religious observance, and I have covered the team since 2016, which includes all of Day’s reign in Columbus. So there is something almost sacrilegious about hearing Michigan’s starting quarterback describe The Game as 22 guys wearing different-colored shirts. I honestly feel a little bad for him.
After all, history gives the Buckeyes’ approach a compelling argument. Since Tressel reset Ohio State’s relationship with the rivalry 25 years ago, the Buckeyes have dominated the series. But I also don’t think Michigan’s approach is inherently ridiculous.
One of the most obvious dangers of Ohio State’s obsession became painfully clear during the four-game losing streak. The rivalry became so heavy that Day sometimes seemed to be coaching against the demons in his head as much as against the team on the opposite sideline. There is a difference between understanding the importance of a game and allowing it to suffocate you.
Perhaps Whittingham is trying to find that balance from the opposite direction. Make Michigan emotionally steady. Make Ohio State one important piece of a much larger championship puzzle. Don’t allow decades of history to play the game before the players do.
Maybe it works. Maybe Michigan goes into Ohio Stadium on Nov. 28, loose, unburdened, and emotionally detached while Ohio State carries 364 days’ worth of expectations onto the field. Maybe treating The Game like “just another game” is exactly what allows Michigan to play its best football.
Or maybe this is just what you say when you know the other program is more talented, more established, better coached, and more likely to win, and you’d prefer not to spend four months handing your own fan base quotes it can throw back in your face afterward.
That possibility shouldn’t be completely ignored either. But I know which side I prefer.
College football is rapidly becoming more professionalized, more nationalized, and more homogeneous. The playoff is bigger, conferences barely make geographic sense anymore, traditional rivalries have disappeared or lost much of their stakes.
Ohio State has decided that none of that has diminished the importance of beating Michigan to the program. If anything, as everything else changes, beating That Team Up North remains one of the few things that can stay exactly as important as it has always been for the Buckeyes.
Whittingham and Underwood seem intent on making The Game little more than just another game. Perhaps that is smart psychology; perhaps it is strategic self-preservation; perhaps it is both.
Day, Sayin, and Smith are making it very clear that Ohio State has absolutely no interest in giving itself that kind of out. And as someone who was raised on this rivalry, there is no doubt of which approach I will always want my team to take.
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