There’s no mistaking these two for Bo and Woody — yet. But it’s not for a lack of trying, at least not on Jim Harbaugh’s side of the equation. Days ahead of his coaching debut in the century-plus Michigan-Ohio State rivalry and his first head-to-head matchup with Urban Meyer, the Wolverines’ new boss upped the emotional ante by making a surprise night-time visit to the grave of his mentor. With his father and 15-year-old daughter in tow, Harbaugh showed up unannounced for what has become a campus tradition in Ann Arbor, Mich., the week before the Ohio State game: a cemetery walk to honor several of the school’s football legends. After saying a few words to a gathering of 200 or so — “I draw daily inspiration from coach Schembechler, like so many that knew him,” Harbaugh said — he proceeded to smash a buckeye nut with a maize-colored hammer in front of Bo Schembechler’s grave. So those fears about Saturday’s game being short on sizzle? Forget ’em. Sure, Ohio State’s loss to Michigan State last week — the Buckeyes’ first this season — pushed any national title game implications into the background. And no matter who wins, both the eighth-ranked Buckeyes and the No. 12 Wolverines need a Michigan State loss at Penn State to claim the East Division spot in the Big Ten championship game. But just like the “Ten-Year War” waged between Schembechler and Woody Hayes, his just-as-crusty Ohio State counterpart, there’s plenty at stake each time these two meet. And just like those two legends, these two appear to be natural-born rivals; in fact, Harbaugh and Meyer were birthed at the same Toledo hospital just six months apart. …
Continue Reading: Jim Litke: Ohio State-Michigan coaching battle could be historic
