Michigan vs. Ohio State took the first real step toward becoming “The Game” in college football in 1969, when first-year coach Bo Schembechler and the Wolverines stunned mentor Woody Hayes and the No. 1 Buckeyes 24-12 at Michigan Stadium.

Huge personalities on both sidelines. Personal history between them. Bordering states. Tradition-rich programs. All these elements were in place to elevate the rivalry in the 1970s and make it what it remains to this day. But don’t forget another critical element: national stakes. Michigan robbing Ohio State — a team Hayes said many times was his best — of a national championship is more impactful than anything else about this irresistible drama’s pilot episode.

Two programs that had met only once before with both ranked in the top five did so five times in the 1970s. Both were usually in the thick of the race to finish ranked No. 1; one of them always was. In nearly 60 years of football since Nov. 22, 1969, the cost of losing “The Game” has been steep for at least one of the two combatants. This is central to the rivalry’s greatness.

And now the guy who runs the Big Ten wants to take that away.

NCAA Tournament expansionist/TV executive/Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti, who is navigating this era of college athletics like Joseph Hazelwood on the Exxon Valdez, is on a full PR blitz this week selling a 24-team College Football Playoff. It’s his baby, it’s got serious momentum, and the Big Ten is making sure to fill the air with endorsements — what a pleasure to find out Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck is in favor of mediocre football receiving unjust rewards.

This is a bad idea on many fronts and would be an unconscionable move in 2027, just three years after the four-team Playoff tripled to 12. The financial uncertainties alone should give pause. That’s why NCAA Tournament expansionist/bad idea guy/SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is balking.

But even if the inventory is ultimately valued and bid on as hoped, Michigan-Ohio State alone tells us staying at 12 long-term is the best path. With some hope that 16 might still be OK? And persistent concerns about what 24 would do to the sport.

Everyone should acknowledge there are things we don’t and can’t know right now. Same as with the NCAA Tournament going from 68 to 76. I’m worried about what the added opening-round games and unwieldy bracket will mean to the casual fan. I don’t know that it will be damaging. Nor do you, misguided expansionist, know it will be embraced.

But I’m pretty sure this comment from Ohio State coach Ryan Day to The Athletic’s Scott Dochterman on the rivalry in a 24-team world will age poorly, if it’s given the opportunity to age: “I think it could even be more important. You’re playing for either a chance to get into the Playoff or a chance to get seeded high to get a first-round bye. Or, if you are already maybe predicted to be one of the top eight schools, then you’re fighting for a high seed. So, all those are critically important to your success in the Playoff.

“I think with the elimination of the (Big Ten) championship game, it keeps that rivalry as fierce as it’s ever been, the stakes just as high.”

The only thing that makes sense here is that Day was just talking to talk, to support his game show producer — er, league commissioner — with a united front. What does he care? Ohio State’s good, whether it’s four, 12 or 24.

If Day thought more about it, he’d consider the distinct possibility of a Michigan-Ohio State game with zero stakes. With zero tangible downside for the loser of the game. An unprecedented stinker of an outcome.

He’s right that one or both of the teams could have a bye on the line. If either is playing with a spot in the field on the line, it’s a problem. Remember last year’s mediocre Michigan team? It had a faint hope to make the 12-team field and would have been a lock for the 24. Yes, yuck.

That speaks to all the middling, “also receiving votes” sorts of teams that would have a chance in November in the 24 world, which proponents are mistaking as adding meaning to the regular season. But let’s not even get into that. Let’s also not get into the likelihood that most coaches in the 24 world would be weak in their nonleague scheduling practice so they can safely absorb three conference losses. Let’s keep it to peak Michigan-Ohio State.

If these programs are what they should be moving forward, they’ll have more meetings as they did in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Both teams were ranked in the top five entering those games. No. 5 Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 3 Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State, in order. Ohio State dropped to No. 7, No. 5 and No. 6 in the ensuing rankings, respectively.

In the 24 world, conference championship games are gone, and those rankings dictate the College Football Playoff seedings. So both teams enter “The Game” with first-round byes and home games for the second round — the top eight rest while the bottom 16 play in the first weekend — and both teams exit “The Game” with first-round byes and home games for the second round.

It means nothing. Nothing for the Playoff, at least. Congrats, Tony Petitti, you’ve found a way to make your most valuable piece of inventory as worthless as possible.

Tell me why, if you’re coaching one of these teams, if you know that even with a bye it’s going to require four Playoff victories to win a national championship, you are putting a key player at risk with so much as a tight hamstring. And don’t throw a Big Ten championship at me. Those are as quaint as pet rocks these days.

The rivalry itself? Yes, I’ll listen to that. And this is where “I don’t know” comes into play. Of course the passion will be there for whoever lines up in this game, but decision-makers have a lot to consider. I got in touch with former Ohio State coach John Cooper and threw this scenario at him.

“The only way I’m sitting a player is if the team doctor told me to, and I don’t care what the scenario is, you’re gonna give everything you’ve got to win this game,” Cooper said. “No question. You don’t want to lose that game under any circumstances. And your fans, goodness gracious. It’s almost like you live for that one game, you know?”

Yes. But Day lost it in an enormous upset in 2024. Then he took advantage of the first 12-team Playoff and had Ohio State fans, who were lining up to fire him, lining up for a national championship parade a few weeks later. It’s a different world.

And the 24 world doubles the difference. I reminded Cooper of these things. Even the teams with byes face four games to win it all. That’s a tidy 16, an NFL season, for the student-athletes in this era of “player safety.” There’s a good chance Michigan and Ohio State would meet again.

And unlike the NFL, where every seeding spot matters because it’s all home stadiums until the Super Bowl, there would be no Horseshoe or Big House advantage in such a rematch. Because apparently, we’re preserving the pet rocks known as bowl tie-ins for the quarterfinals and semifinals.

“You’re asking me questions about things I’ve never been through, obviously,” Cooper said.

Nobody knows for sure how they’d respond to such a situation. Though some probably have a better idea than others.

I got in touch with an agent who represents college football players and threw this scenario at him — you’ve got a prominent client in this rivalry, he’s banged up as most are by late November, he’s looking at a high draft slot and he’s trying to decide whether to risk himself for this game with so much of the season potentially still ahead.

The agent laughed. I can’t think of a better response to this entire discussion.

College football is about more than just who wins the national championship in a given season, and perhaps nothing underscores that more than the deep-seated rivalry and hatred between Ohio State and Michigan.

That is why the idea of the Buckeyes and Wolverines potentially resting their starters in their annual season-ending showdown if the College Football Playoff expands was met with derision from Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti and others.

“Do you think Ohio State-Michigan, either of those teams are gonna rest their starters? Come on,” Cignetti said, per Scott Dochterman of The Athletic.

Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel added, “I can’t envision a world where that would happen.”

Neither can anyone with an actual connection to the rivalry.

The winner of what is known as The Game gets yearlong bragging rights in the fiercest rivalry in the sport. It means as much, if not more, to some fans than winning the national title, and the legacy of coaches is often defined by whether they enjoy success in that game.

It is why there was genuine discussion about Ryan Day’s job status despite his overall success when Ohio State lost a fourth straight game in the rivalry in 2024 before he course corrected and led the Buckeyes to the CFP national title that season and a win over the Wolverines in 2025.

At the same time, Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel are consistently celebrated by Buckeyes fans for dominating Michigan for a combined two decades prior to Day’s arrival.

Yes, an expansion to a 24-team CFP field would likely diminish some of the results of the regular season with more teams clinching spots before the end of the regular season. But it also wouldn’t take away from the overall importance of the sport’s most notable rivalry games to fans who care so deeply.

After all, the intensity of the college basketball games between Duke and North Carolina is never dialed back even in seasons where both teams are locks to make the NCAA tournament.

For his part, Day expressed support for Big Ten commissioner Tony Pettiti’s desire to expand the CFP and suggested there will be more teams playing important games down the stretch even if traditional powerhouses like his Buckeyes could have clinched their spot.

“It’s clear that when you look at all 18 teams, that they’re going to feel like Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12, that they’re fighting for a chance to get this Playoff, and that engages their fanbase,” Day said. “It’s hard to walk out of that room and not support what Tony’s thoughts are on this.”

Whether expansion ultimately takes away from the regular season or adds to it, it won’t lead to Ohio State and Michigan overlooking the importance of The Game.

Even rival Big Ten coaches like Cignetti know that.