Michigan beats Ohio State, stops eight-game losing streak

Jim Harbaugh and Michigan have finally gotten the monkey their back, beating Ohio State in a game that wasn’t really all that close. The final score was 42-27, but OSU got whipped up front all day long, unable to stop the Michigan rushing attack by yielding 297 yards rushing and six touchdowns.

Perhaps even more surprising was Ohio State’s inability to make any halftime adjustments. In fact, the Buckeyes absorbed an early blow when Michigan went right down the field on the first drive to score a touchdown. OSU settled in, took a 10-7 lead, and went into halftime down just 14-13 with the knowledge that it would receive the ball in the second half.

But it wasn’t meant to be. The Buckeyes committed far too many turnovers to kill drives, but more than anything, couldn’t provide any kind of resistance against the rush, even after scoring to cut the lead to eight with just over four minutes to go. The Wolverines promptly went right down the field and put the game away.

For Jim Harbaugh, it’s his first win over Ohio State in six tries, and it ends a losing streak of eight games for Michigan. With the win, the Wolverines earn a shared Big Ten East division title with the Buckeyes, but get the head-to-head tiebreaker and will go to Indianapolis to face either Wisconsin or Iowa.

OSU will likely still head to a New Year’s Six game, and will still have a Big Ten East title to brag about but make no mistake, this will be a bitter pill to swallow.

Rivalry on now.