The night before The Game, Jim Harbaugh told Sherrone Moore he loved him. "Do you, be you," he told Michigan's acting head coach. Moore told Harbaugh the same thing in response: "I love him and we got his back."
"We’ll do anything for him. The players will run through a wall for him, so will the coaches," said Moore. "So we were just prepared to go win this game for him."
The plan was to attack the Buckeyes from the jump. Moore told the offense he would call the most aggressive game of his life. It wasn't something that came together in the hours, days or even weeks leading up to The Game. No, this was months in the making, dating back to Michigan's second straight win over Ohio State in 2022.
After Ohio State's eighth straight win over Michigan in 2019, quarterback Justin Fields said the Buckeyes "take it more serious than they do. .. I think it just means more at Ohio State. That's the bigger reason we have more success than they do." The Buckeyes haven't won The Game since. Michigan has doubled down in its efforts to beat Ohio State, and made it three in a row Saturday for the first time since its national championship season in 1997.
"This game is something we prepare for 365," said Moore. "It’s not a one-week affair. It’s not something that we just draw up that week. It’s something that’s planned out very strategically. That’s really all I have to say."
It didn't matter that Harbaugh wasn't on the sidelines, serving the last game of his three-game suspension for Michigan's sign-stealing scandal of which the head coach wasn't aware. Nor did it matter that Ohio State, per usual, had more glittery five-star talent, including the best wide receiver in the nation in Marvin Harrison Jr. Michigan had the recipe and necessary ingredients to overcome it. It won with toughness in the trenches and speed ... in space, a perfect blend of will and skill. It also went three-for-three on fourth down, on drives that led to 10 points. Ryan Day and Ohio State never attempted a fourth down.
"I’d be doing them a disservice if I tried being conservative when they’re running 150’s in the summer, blood, sweat and tears, working their tails off," said Moore. "They put the trust in me as the play-caller on offense to be aggressive in these games. That’s what they want, so that’s what we gave them."
Powered by Corum and its stout offensive line, Michigan finished with 156 rushing yards to Ohio State's 107. It marked the 22nd straight time that the winner on the ground was the winner of The Game. Michigan's defense came up with two takeaways, Ohio State's none. Day blasted the Wolverines in his first year as Buckeyes head coach, a 56-27 drubbing at the Big House, then threatened to "hang 100" on them the next year. Michigan was spared that season by a Covid-cancellation, and hasn't lost The Game since. His teams stomped, Day has been stifled.
"We’re all disappointed," said Day. "We know what this game means to so many people, so to come up short is certainly crushing. Not only because you invest your whole year in it and we know at Ohio State what it means, but there’s a locker room in there that’s devastated. It wasn’t a lack of effort. But again, we didn’t win the rushing yards and we didn’t win the turnover battle, so you’re not going to win the game."
Four years ago, Ohio State had won 15 of its past 16 against Michigan. Asked where his program goes from here to get back on top, Day said, "It's hard to start thinking about all that. Just trying to process the game right now." It's no longer enough for Ohio State to simply out-recruit Michigan. Its last four recruiting classes have all ranked in the top five in the nation, per 247 Sports. Only two of Michigan's have ranked in the top 10. The Buckeyes have landed 13 five-stars to the Wolverines' two over this span, and keep losing to them on the field. Harbaugh has his program humming.
Michigan's past two wins over Ohio State quieted the other side. This one allows the Wolverines to pound their chest. Quarterback J.J. McCarthy, one of the recruits who brought Harbaugh back from the brink, and by extension one of the most important players in program history, said after Michigan beat the Buckeyes again that the Wolverines "didn't think we proved any of those guys wrong or that was our intention."
"We proved ourselves right," McCarthy said. "We know who we are as a team."
Three years in a row, Day has led the No. 2-ranked team in the country into The Game. And once again, it will be Harbaugh leading Michigan to Indy and to the College Football Playoff, point-after-touchdown (Iowa) pending. After Michigan flipped the script in 2021, Harbaugh made his famous "third base" comment about Day. Michigan's latest win drives his point home. As the gap grows between Day and Urban Meyer, who said after the game that his old program needs to re-prioritize the offensive line, Ohio State has lost touch with its edge.
"For the players, extremely excited to win the game," said Moore. "But they expected to win."
Michigan's only retort in this rivalry used to require looking back. These days, the Wolverines keep looking ahead. History never matters in the moment, the main thing being the main thing. It's all about now and what's next, "and they want to go down there to Indy and win," said Moore. "And we're not satisfied with just winning that."
"We have bigger goals, we have everything out there that we’ve worked for, and we’ll continue to pursue that," he said. "These guys have earned the opportunity to go to those places and go win."
Harbaugh will be back next week, like he and this program never left.