College football matchups don't get much bigger than "The Game." And the stakes are as high as ever going into this year's installment of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry.
The No. 3 Wolverines host the No. 2 Buckeyes at noon ET Saturday. And there are plenty of implications on the line. Both teams enter the game at 11-0 and the winner will secure a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game against Iowa, continue to control their College Football Playoff destiny, and — of course — hold the series bragging rights for the next year. So no pressure.
"Despite that noise, our locker room's in one piece," Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said on Monday before borrowing a line from Ted Lasso. "And like Ted, for me, a locker room is a lot like my mom's bathing suits. I like to see them in one piece.
"We've got that, and it's amazing."
Harbaugh will not coach against the Buckeyes, as his suspension from a sign-stealing investigation keeps him away from the field. Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore will continue to fill in against Ryan Day and the Buckeyes. The game will air on Fox from the "Big House."
Here's a look at a few standout stats from the series ahead of kickoff.
Rare Undefeated OSU-Michigan Matchup
These two schools have met only four times since 1970 with both teams undefeated and untied, per Ohio State. And this is the second consecutive year such an instance has occurred.
Michigan won last year, while Ohio State won in 2006 (the 11-0 Buckeyes beat the 11-0 Wolverines 42-39) and 1970 (an 8-0 OSU team outlasted a 9-0 UM squad 20-9). The two schools tied when they met as undefeated teams in 1973.
"When you're a little kid, you dream of moments like this," Ohio State quarterback Kyle McCord said this week. "Two undefeated teams and the biggest rivalry in sports, you can't draw it up any better than that. But I think at the same time, it's all about the preparation during the week. It's all about putting the work in and giving yourself an opportunity to go out and succeed."
This is also the 13th meeting between the two programs with both teams ranked in the Associated Press (AP) top five—the most such meetings for any rivalry. Ohio State is 7-4-1 in those matchups. There have been 26 all-time meetings between the schools when both Michigan and Ohio State were ranked inside the AP top 10. The Buckeyes hold a 12-11-2 edge there, though the Wolverines have won nine of the last 13 in those games.
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Wolverines Hold All-Time Edge in 'The Game'
The first OSU-Michigan football game dates all the way back to 1897, when the Wolverines won the inaugural matchup. Michigan holds a 60-51-6 edge on the series leaderboard going into Saturday's game. Ohio State is 16-5, not including one vacated win, against Michigan since 2000. But the Wolverines have controlled the series of late. Michigan has won two in a row after losing the previous eight meetings.
The "team up north," as the Buckeyes would call them, won 42-27 in 2021 to snap their losing streak in the series and followed up with a 45-23 win in 2022.
Ohio State's History in Ann Arbor
Michigan has compiled a 32-24-4 record against Ohio State in Ann Arbor, including a 24-22-3 mark in games played at Michigan Stadium. The Buckeyes will take the field in front of over 100,000 fans on Saturday as three-point underdogs, per Caesars Sportsbook.
"You have to play with emotion," Day said of the matchup this week. "You can't let emotion play with you. I think that's important, you have to have your emotions in check, which isn't easy in a game like this. Because we all know the magnitude of it all."
Uncommon Knowledge
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