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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two years ago, in Ohio Stadium, Michigan was the best team.
With 11 players to take in the NFL draft in 2017, including five defensemen in the first three rounds, the Wolverines jumped on the early Buckeyes, leading 17-7 in the middle of the third quarter and well dominated by the distance in the fourth trimester.
But Ohio State won.
It was the young and resilient Buckeyes who took part in this year's college football playoffs with the youngest US team and the best secondary that you'll be able to see in Columbus, with three half-corners and one player from first choice for safety. It was J. T. Barrett, Jim Harbaugh criticized the officials and Urban Meyer praised this rivalry. Curtis Samuel was unleashed when the Ohio State needed it the most.
The Wolverines then lost 30-27 in double overtime. They lost 31-20 last season after leading 14-0 early.
Now Michigan has the best team in the game. Two years ago, wolverines were better for most of Saturday. This year they are better for the whole installation. And it's a new world for Ohio State vs. Michigan.
Ohio State has won 13 of the last 14 games. Michigan, a 4-point favorite, should win the win.
Meyer, at 6-0, has the best record in the history of rivalry. If Harbaugh drops to 0-4, he will be tied for the worst.
"I still see pressure as a vital energy," Harbaugh told reporters at his press conference in Ann Arbor on Monday. "I'm excited about it. I can not wait for our guys to face each other. "
Michigan competed under Harbaugh, and sometimes under Brady Hoke previously. The problem for wolverines is that they did not win.
But now, as No. 4 of the nation, they should do it. Ohio State, in 10th position and as the dominant force in this game for a decade and a half, is seen as a team on the ropes, having been ranked 137-134 in the last four weeks while he lost to Purdue and played against Nebraska, Michigan State and Maryland who were in doubt in the fourth quarter.
"It's our seventh," said Meyer, recounting his rivalry experience. "This has never been, in my opinion, the talent gap. It has always been extremely tight. "
For Ohio State, this is usually not the case every week. About 90% of the time, Buckeyes have a habit of putting emphasis on talents. This causes them to play in a certain way, and opponents to play in another way, with little to lose. This year's Buckeyes have been fooled by the Purdue and Maryland counterfeit teams. In 2016, the Buckeyes tried a wrong road in their own failed territory.
This kind of thinking should be in place for the Buckeyes again Saturday. Thought of the oppressed.
"We have to do what we have to do at the time to win the game. And does that imply perhaps more risk, more of this, more of? I think that's probably the case, "Meyer said. "You're probably a bit more conservative when it's a team that's better than that. But we are going to have stuff available. It's just how it goes during the match. "
The Buckeyes should expect him to be tight. The Wolverines should expect that to be their case.
The Michigan players have created a revenge circuit for this season, eliminating to date Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin, three of the teams that beat the Wolverines in the 2017 regular season. Only Ohio State remains.
"The players are doing things to motivate themselves," said Harbaugh. "Anger has proven to be a powerful motivator."
Meyer, who has found new ways to motivate his teams over the years, could try to capture his anger over the fact that the Buckeyes are the underdogs of the game.
"It is not who is favored and who is not," said Meyer about this oppressed status. "I did not know. And I can not imagine our team really doing it, I suppose. If they are aware, they are looking at the wrong equipment. They should work on how to win an individual fight against a good team. "
You may not be able to believe Meyer on this point. You do what you need to do to win this one.
For Michigan, this includes revenge, not just for last season, but for 13 of the last 14. For Ohio State, this includes doubts about what is still a 10-1 team, just like Michigan.
The Wolverines 2016 were experienced and talented, especially in defense. But this Michigan team, with a more versatile and capable quarterback at Shea Patterson, an improved line of attack and the country's best defense, is Wolverines' best-placed unit to face the Buckeyes since No. 1 match against No. 2 of 2006.
"I expect our team to be very motivated," Harbaugh said. "I know I am."
Michigan was motivated before. He just did not win.
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