When the Ohio State Buckeyes play a team from Michigan, the game tends to get more attention than usual.

When Western Michigan meets Ohio State in Columbus on Sept. 7, the two will go head-to-head for their stretches of non-conference games. While the Buckeyes will face another Mid-American Conference team in Akron in Week 1, the Broncos will have an unfortunate start against back-to-back Big Ten teams in Wisconsin and Ohio State.

Here’s what the BuckeyesNow staff thinks about the Week 2 matchup:

Matt Galatzan, Managing Editor

Another easy test for the Buckeyes from the MAC here. This will give the offense another tune-up opportunity and allow the defense to get honed in. The Buckeyes get another blowout win.

Ohio State 48
Western Michigan 6

Gaurav Law, Staff Writer

Western Michigan simply won’t be able to hang with the Buckeyes. They will likely get worked by Wisconsin and figure out what needs to change before they play in the third-largest stadium in the country. Chances are they will be too beat up from Big Ten football after week 1 and won’t perform well on either side of the ball in Week 2.

Ohio State hasn’t lost to a non-Power 5 team since 1990. That’s not going to change in the first three weeks of the 2024 season.

Ohio State 59
Western Michigan 17

Caleb Spinner, Staff Writer

Ohio State has probably never had a better chance to post 120 points or more over two games than they do this season. Pummeling Akron to start the year will give the Buckeyes some momentum going into their bout with Western Michigan (not that they need it).

The Broncos are going to be beyond outmatched across the board. I hope however much money they got to play the Buckeyes in Columbus was worth it, because this won’t be pretty.

Ohio State 63
Western Michigan 6

Picture this scenario. You’re sitting inside Michigan Stadium watching the Wolverines take on USC three months from now. It’s a late third-quarter media timeout and you’ve just pulled out your phone to check some out-of-town scores.

Just then, the familiar boom of the PA announcer’s voice comes over the loudspeaker to make a special announcement, and a green “S” pops up on the big screen. You find out that Slippery Rock has just defeated Shippensburg by a final score of 34-21. The crowd erupts as if it’s just watched Donovan Edwards take off for a 50-yard touchdown.

The camera then shows the one random guy in the stands wearing a “Slippery Rock” t-shirt, and the questions start flowing through your head. Why does that score matter? What’s Slippery Rock? How was someone wearing a green t-shirt even allowed in the stadium?

If you’ve been to the Big House before, this probably isn’t an unfamiliar scene. The out-of-town scores run on the scoreboard, but there’s always a special time in the game to announce the Slippery Rock score. Even if you are aware that you’ll see the Slippery Rock score at some point during a U-M game, you might not know the reason why.

First, for some background, Slippery Rock is a town in western Pennsylvania between Pittsburgh and Erie. It’s home to about 3,500 people and Slippery Rock University, a Division II school with about 9,000 students. Its football team, the Lions, went 12-2 in 2023, with its lone losses coming against Kutztown in the PSAC Championship and Division II playoffs.

Believe it or not, the tradition of Slippery Rock’s scores being announced at Michigan football games goes far back. It initially began back in 1959, when Michigan’s PA announcer at the time, Steve Filipiak, went rogue to insert Slippery Rock into his normal list of out-of-town scores to be announced during the game.

However, it wasn’t just some random score that was thrown into the mix, as Filipiak intentionally made a big deal out of it. He would usually save “The Rock” for last and proclaim it as the moment in the game fans had “all been waiting for” before announcing the score.

Soon enough, Michigan’s fans began to anticipate the announcement of the Slippery Rock score during games, and it’s been a Big House staple ever since. Interestingly enough, this wasn’t the introduction of Slippery Rock to the big stage of college football.

The Lions first became known on a national level back in 1936 when the AP Poll was released for the first time. While we’re all familiar with the voting process that’s used today, there was a great debate about how to determine team rankings at the time.

While Minnesota was ranked as the No. 1 team in the first poll, an argument was made for Slippery Rock to claim the top spot thanks to the transitive property. A news article argued Slippery Rock was better than Minnesota because:

Slippery Rock beat Westminster, which beat West Virginia Wesleyan, which beat Duquesne, which beat Pitt, which beat Notre Dame, which beat Northwestern, which beat Minnesota.

The article was read and reprinted around the country due to the craziness of the idea and the obsession with the concept that a place called “Slippery Rock” could even exist. This fascination is still widespread today, as the scores of Slippery Rock games are announced at big schools like Texas and North Carolina as well.

These schools might claim Slippery Rock as their own in a way, but there’s still a special connection with Michigan. The Lions have come to play at the Big House three times. The first of these instances was in 1979, when Slippery Rock was invited to play at Michigan Stadium while the Wolverines were on the road.

The Lions also made an appearance at the Big House in 1981 and once again in 2014. Unfortunately, though, Slippery Rock has lost all three times at Michigan Stadium.

While it might seem like a bizarre tradition for a random Division II school to get a shoutout at every Michigan home game, it’s something that always brings a cheer and helps energize the sleepiest of crowds. It’s a quirky and interesting piece of Michigan’s storied history that all fans should be aware of.

So the next time you’re at a Michigan game and you’re friend asks you where Slippery Rock is or why its score elicited a cheer, you’ll be able to tell them the story of Michigan’s adopted ally and its place in college football lore.

ROCHESTER – Eric Lilleboe of Okemos kept the lead through the final three rounds and won the Hall Financial Michigan Open Championship Thursday at Oakland University Golf & Learning Center.

It was the second time the 36-year-old PGA Tour Americas player won the coveted 107-year-old state title. He also won in 2019 and will have his name inscribed on the James D. Standish Trophy for the second time.

He did it by shooting a closing 1-over 72 in wind-whipped conditions on the Katke-Cousins course and finished with a 6-under 278 total, four shots clear of the field to earn the $15,000 first-place check.

“It’s very nice,” he said of winning for the second time and taking the winners’ walk up the final hole with a significant lead. “That course was a bear today, really firm greens, really tough to play in the wind, and I was very happy obviously to be where I was.”

Tyler Copp of Ann Arbor, a PGA Tour Americas player who led after the first round, made birdie on the par 5 18th hole to end up in second place alone. He shot 73 for 2-under 282. He earned $10,000.

Six golfers tied at 1-under 283.

Jeff Cuzzort, the golf services manager at Grosse Ile Golf & Country Club and the 2015 Michigan Open champion, jumped up several spots with a 4-under 68, the low-round of the day, to finish at 283.

The others included two-time Michigan Open champion Jake Kneen, a graduate assistant coach at Oakland University who shot 74 to close, new professional Nick Krueger of Spring Lake, who shot 74, new professional and former Oakland University golfer Colin Sikkenga of Kalamazoo, who shot 70, Zach Robbins, a mini-tour professional from Grand Rapids, who shot 74, and the low amateur for the championship, Joe Montpas of Flushing, who shot 71.

Lilleboe’s lead was trimmed to two strokes a few times during the final round, but even after he made a double-bogey to start the back nine, he still managed to have a three-shot lead as the others chasing him had issues with the whipping winds and fast greens, too.

“After making the double-bogey, I just told myself to keep going because I figured that hole was playing over-par for the day into the wind,” he said. “I was looking (at the leaderboard) more today because you just don’t know if someone’s playing well and is maybe 5-under or something. So yes, I was looking, and I saw a lot of bogeys being made. So, I was hanging on and trying to hit good shots, get on the green in regulation and have putts at it.”

Lilleboe, who heads for British Columbia and the North America part of the PGA Tour Americas, said it means a lot for him going forward with his 12-year professional touring career.

“It also means a lot to me to win my state Open,” he said. “I think just about every golf pro in the state feels that way.”

He said the first-place money will be especially helpful.

“We really have to stretch our dollar out there and we spend a lot, you know, spend a lot to make a little,” he said. “This is a big check for me.”

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