Ten years ago this fall, 11-0 Ohio State and 11-0 Michigan met in Columbus as the nation’s No. 1 and 2 teams in one of the sport’s biggest regular-season games of the past two decades. The Buckeyes won 42-39, from which point the programs went in two very different directions. Ohio State played in the next two national championship games and, after a brief tattoo-driven detour, went on to win the first College Football Playoff. Michigan endured one of the worst stretches in program history, caught a brief respite with a 2011 Sugar Bowl berth, then plunged back into mediocrity. Finally, a decade later, both programs are on solid ground. Ohio State has gone 50-4 in four seasons under Urban Meyer. Michigan improved from 5-7 to 10-3 in Jim Harbaugh’s first season, and should be improved even more in Year 2. But as has been the case for 11 of the past 12 seasons, the Buckeyes remain ahead. Despite losing a staggering 16 starters — 12 of them taken in the first four rounds of the NFL Draft — I’m picking Ohio State to edge Michigan for the Big Ten East and go on to beat Iowa for the conference…
Continue Reading: Why Ohio State will beat Michigan and win the Big Ten title in 2016
