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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Where was this the whole season?
The question will be asked beyond Saturday when an Ohio state, sometimes incoherent, sometimes in trouble, always hard to understand, has accomplished what has become a ritual in this region: beat Michigan.
Except this time in a crowded Ohio Stadium, it was not just a defeat. It was a humiliation for the opponent. It was also a rehabilitation for the No. 10 Buckeyes and their coach.
This is a statement that will be heard until Grapevine, Texas, in the meeting room of the University Football Playoff Selection Committee.
"Absolutely [a statement], "said OSU senior catcher Parris Campbell in his last game in Michigan," it's an immediate reaction for me. "
More on that in a moment. Victory 62-39 of the Ohio State Many of The Shoe's 106,000 people have wondered if the Wolverines, currently # 4, will be playing this season again.
Ohio State sent Michigan home with more doubts than answers, more questions than trust. The ranking in the top 4 of the CFP has disappeared. No more bragging associated with the country's first defense.
The cement continued to harden around the identities of the two coaches in this series.
Urban Meyer continues to own Michigan and the Big Ten. Jim Harbaugh still can not win the big – or at least the the biggest a.
Above all, it resembled the rejuvenation that has just beaten your greatest rival. Ohio State did not go through until he put the most points already on Michigan in regulation. The 62 points scored by OSU beat the 58 that Cornell attributed to UM … in 1891. It is also the highest number of points ever registered in a team led by Harbaugh who resumed his starting job at the University. from San Diego.
The staggering result was the seventh consecutive win in the series for Ohio State, a record for both sides since 1909, when Michigan had completed a nine-game series.
This raises the initial question: where did this version of the Buckeyes go all season?
"In Ohio State, you can almost lose every game, but you have to win this one," said Dixon. "I do not know how things went in the day, I do not know what kind of discussion took place, I just know that this week's guys played with a different token on their shoulders.
"I do not know if it was just Michigan, I think we still miss some things in the game. I think we're getting closer to it."
Just in time, it turns out.
The Buckeyes won the Big Ten East and will face Northwestern next Saturday to win a second consecutive Big Ten title.
Who would have thought that when Meyer started the season, he was suspended for three games after Zach Smith's unsightly situation? Who would have bet on the Buckeyes to rebound after a 29-point defeat at Purdue on October 20th?
If Meyer was trying to reduce the stress in his life, he would have thought that it would be at his best Saturday, from the point of view of health or football. Meyer, helpless a week ago, faced Maryland, gave way to the coach's genius who no longer has a nickname in college football, Nick Saban.
As for Harbaugh, the result raises different questions. He is now 2-7 in four years against Michigan State, Ohio State and Notre Dame. After losing to the Irish early in the season, Michigan won 10 in a row and climbed to the top four in the overall CFP standings.
It was arguably the biggest match of his college career. He has failed miserably.
"It means a lot to me because I've been sharing this for seven years and really longer than that," said Meyer. "The respect I have for this rivalry and the adversary [is obvious]. How do you show respect? You do not talk about it. You work so hard. We work this game 365 [days] one year."
Michigan will still have to wait 365 days to break the series. This means that when next year's knock on the Big House, Michigan will have spent more than 2,900 days without beating the Ohio State.
The Wolverines' defense, which allowed 123 passing yards, was reduced to 318 yards and five touchdowns by Dwayne Haskins. Defense No. 1, conceding only 19 touchdowns during the season, conceded eight on Saturday.
"I was licking my chops," Haskins said. "I see the highest [safety] covers and it is the dream of a quarterback ".
Campbell explained: "Whenever we see simple security systems, we automatically know that they play the man in all areas."
Campbell came out as every five year old should in this series. He led the way with five catches for 114 yards and one touchdown. Campbell added another score on a 78-yard throw.
First-year receiver Chris Olave played an evasive game for Ohio State. He captured the sixth and seventh assists of his career, both for touchdowns. Olave also blocked a pot. All this after playing exactly 49 offensive shots in the previous 11 games.
"A football team is a living thing," explained Meyer. She is always moving. It changes constantly. This guy is hurt. This guy is in a situation. This guy may not have all the skills. My job as a coach is to make sure they work hard at coaching. It was a game of chess all year, especially in defense. "
The Ohio State defense is in this position only because Maryland's QB Tyrrell Pigrome missed an open goal from Jeshaun Jones in a two-point conversion attempt to win the game in overtime last week. In that 52-51 win, the Buckeyes' defense surrendered 535 yards.
"We kind of always know that the team wants to play as well," Campbell said. "We want to play that together, we just could not snap things in. The emotions and passion that fueled this game, the preparation of this game. Obviously the timing was perfect."
Maybe all it takes for Ohio State is to see the corn and the blue.
In the future, what version of the state of Ohio are we supposed to believe? The defense that lost to Purdue by 29 and averaged 449 yards per game in the last month or the rejuvenated group that sent the Wolverines back to Ann Arbor, Michigan, wondered if the entire season had been a simulacrum?
After losing to Notre-Dame early in the season, the Wolverines have won 10 straight victories, honed the country's best defense and made the state of Ohio an outsider for the first time in 52 games.
For the moment, Big Ten hopes for eliminated series are compromised but not quite dead yet. In fact, CBS Sports petanque expert Jerry Palm shot Ohio State in fourth place in the pack – at least for the moment.
But after the 115th version of this game, the playoff position is no longer the title. In this tribulation season, Meyer was able to master another spanking TTUN (The Team Up North). For at least a week, his Buckeyes can dream of all possibilities.
"Today," said Olave, who tasted this potential after a Michigan for the first time, "it's amazing."
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