After getting bullied in back to back years by Michigan, the Buckeyes wanted to prove they were tougher this season. More physical.
Did they?
"No," said Roman Wilson after Michigan made it three in a row with Saturday's 30-24 win at the Big House. "Definitely not."
Wilson can talk. He caught a 22-yard touchdown from J.J. McCarthy that gave Michigan a 14-3 lead in the first half. The Buckeyes would eventually tie the game in the third quarter, before Michigan rode Blake Corum and its rushing attack to victory.
Wilson said he told his fellow receivers this week that Ohio State's defense has "guys who want to put on the Lous V, the thousand-dollar outfit, you want to act hard."
"But when we’re out there, they’re not hard. I see the film, like, you’re not tough. And I don’t think I’m the toughest guy in the world, but I’m out there, I’m getting physical. I don’t think they wanted it like how I wanted it," Wilson said.
Wilson can talk for this reason, too: he's now 3-0 against Ohio State. His 11th touchdown of the season came on a perfect pass from McCarthy, who threaded it between two defenders. Wilson said it was "a play that coach drew up for me, and I know J.J.'s looking for me to get open."
"I know I gotta make a big play in a big game to go help this team win. You see the throw? Insane," he said.
Michigan's last two wins over Ohio State proved a lot of critics wrong, and quieted fans on the other side. McCarthy said this one was different.
"I didn’t think we proved any of those guys wrong or that was our intention. We proved ourselves right. We know who we are as a team. We know all the work that we put in and we just wanted to go out there and display it for the world to see, and obviously extremely happy with the way we did it," he said.