‘The Game’ delivered, and ended in a dramatic touchdown in second overtime by Curtis Samuel, giving Ohio State a 30-27 win over Michigan, leaving them in the running for the Big Ten championship game, hoping that Michigan State upsets Penn State.
But until that game is over, the Buckeyes can celebrate their fifth win against the Wolverines since Urban Meyer took over, going 5-0 in his tenure in Columbus, something no other Ohio State head coach has done. The Buckeyes finish the regular season 11-1 and even if they don’t play for the conference championship, they might end up making the college football playoff, which wouldn’t be undeserved.
Michigan lost this game with two interceptions by Wilton Speight, one returned for a touchdown and the other setting up an easy one for the Buckeyes. They led for most of this game and held Ohio State to less than 100 yards in the first half. They couldn’t take advantage of two huge field goal misses by Tyler Durbin, who stepped up in the end and hit the one that sent the game into overtime.
In overtime, the Buckeyes stuck first when J.T. Barrett (125 rushing yards, 1 TD) ran for a touchdown, but Michigan replied with a big play on 4th and goal from the five, when Speight connected with Amarah Darboh for the touchdown. Michigan took the 27-24 lead after a Kenny Allen field goal, but the Michigan defense that was so good early in the game failed to get the stop it needed, first unable to slow down Barrett as he went through the downs, and then Samuel in the biggest touchdown run of his college career.
An incredible season (10-2) ends for Michigan with two losses in the final three weeks, which leaves Jim Harbaugh without a win against Ohio State, and still a little work to do before he turns the Wolverines into a true contender, despite their dominance in Big Ten play this season. Ohio State might have been the younger team, but they have the better playmaker on offense, and are now in the hands of a bad Michigan State team, facing the Nittany Lions, the only team to beat Ohio State this season.
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