SportsMonday Column: The state of the rivalry

Years have now passed since Lloyd Carr and Jim Tressel led the Michigan and Ohio State football teams, respectively. One fall Saturday during those days, I asked my dad a question: “Dad, when does Michigan play Ohio State?” “The last game of the season,” he said. “Always the last game of the season, because it’s for the Big Ten championship.” It has rarely been that way since 2007. Every single year during the “Ten Year War” from 1969 to 1978, Michigan and Ohio State played in the last game of the season for the Big Ten championship — meaning each could clinch at least a share of the title with a win. For 15 of Bo Schembechler’s 21 years leading the Wolverines — and six of Lloyd Carr’s 12 — the stakes were the same. That was the way they wanted it. “The only way to go in the (Big Ten) is to come down to Michigan-Ohio State,” Schembechler said after his team beat the Buckeyes to win the Big Ten in 1986. “Anytime you play this game, there are so many things hanging in the balance. I just hope it stays like that.” Eight years, five head coaches and one national championship (between both teams) after Carr left, it hasn’t happened again. This weekend, Michigan and Ohio State fans anticipated a return to their old tradition: the annual, smashmouth, Bo-versus-Woody slugfest to decide the Big Ten championship, which they haven’t played for since 2007. Instead, there were a couple of wrinkles when the Wolverines and Buckeyes battled Saturday at Michigan Stadium. First, the game wasn’t much of a slugfest — Ohio State rolled, 42-13, in the most lopsided matchup not involving Rich Rodriguez since 1968. …

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