Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com. Letters are lightly edited for clarity.

On Ohio State football

To the editor: It’s always great to watch the Buckeyes in the Horseshoe. Been doing it since the late 1950s, but (Saturday) seemed different. Granted, it was extremely hot in the sun, but the length of the game was disconcerting. It took at least an hour for the first quarter to end.

I’m a longtime Archie Griffin fan, having watched him many times excel in the Horseshoe and enjoyed his being honored for all he has and continues to accomplish for Buckeye nation, but the other timeouts interrupted the football experience.

I worry, as baseball has had to change and shorten its game, that college football could be facing the same challenge. Our grandkids were excited to see their first Buckeye game, but it was a long day at times for them. Not to take away from those deserving recognition, but most of us are there to watch and support Buckeye football action.

Than Johnson, Urbana

To Than: I’ve found mismatches seem too long and great games seem too short. Also, the day goes a lot quicker at home when you can change channels to another game during those long timeouts.

To Brian: I wonder if Appalachian State or Ohio State have ever pursued a game with the other, which would still be a curious pairing even though it’s been a while. Surely schools such as next week’s opponent, Marshall, like Memphis, Tulane, Colorado State or Temple could be found that would come to Ohio Stadium without expecting a return game and would be better matchups than what we’ve been seeing. 

Dennis Singleton, Dayton 

To Dennis: If that happened, Appalachian State would have no bigger fan base than the one in Ann Arbor that day.

To the editor: We only read when one of the football Buckeyes gets arrested by the police. Then we scream, cry and carry on about those faithless heathens. Well, many Buckeyes are true believers despite the violent nature of football. Witness Master Teague, Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, J.T. Tuimoloau bringing 10,000 Bibles to distribute and sharing their faith on the OSU campus. While I don’t share their religious beliefs, I think these players are people we can believe in and can be called campus heroes.

Michael Oser, Columbus

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Denzel Burke, a first-team All-Big Ten performer with an interception and nine pass breakups in 2023, was ejected for targeting after a hit he delivered to Broncos running back Jaden Nixon.

Ohio State CB Denzel Burke is disqualified after he’s called for targeting here.

Jermaine Mathews Jr. is coming in for Burke. pic.twitter.com/fHE5yiM3Ra

— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) September 8, 2024

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Burke will be out for the remainder of the contest but will not have to serve a first-half suspension against Marshall, Ohio State’s next opponent, since he was ejected in the first half of Saturday’s game against Western Michigan.

Burke started his season hot with a fantastic interception against Akron, but he gets a slight detour in trying to prove he’s the nation’s best with a Week 2 ejection.

Jermaine Mathews Jr., who had 13 tackles, three pass breakups and a pick-six as a freshman in 2023, replaced Burke in the Buckeyes’ defensive lineup.

Can college football rivalries motivate Michigan voters to oppose a GOP ticket that includes Ohio State fan JD Vance? Democrats continue to test the theory — this time with a plane flying a banner highlighting Vance’s loyalty to his alma mater above the Big House on Saturday.

The Democratic National Committee flew a plane to take its anti-Vance message to the skies over the Michigan Stadium for four hours during fans’ tailgate before the 12 p.m. kickoff at the U-M game against Texas. In addition to noting Vance’s support for Ohio State, the banner in a few words tries to attach Vance to Project 2025, the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation’s playbook for the next Republican presidential administration.

“Like the Wolverines putting an end to Ohio State’s season three years in a row, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will put an end to Donald Trump and JD Vance’s election season when they beat them in November,” said Democratic National Committee Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman in a statement. “The words ‘Go Blue’ have never meant more than they do right now.”

Ever since Trump named the Republican U.S. senator from Ohio as his running mate, Democrats have seized seemingly every opportunity they can to remind voters in the battleground state that Vance roots for Ohio State on game day.

It’s a political liability Vance himself joked about during his speech accepting his party’s vice presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention. When the GOP delegation broke out in “O-H-I-O” chants, Vance joined the chorus before trying to quiet down Ohio fans. “You guys, we’ve got to chill with the Ohio love. We’ve got to win Michigan, too, here,” Vance said.

Democrats’ attacks against the GOP ticket have also focused on Project 2025 and its proposals to overhaul the federal government — including a plan to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and weaken civil service job protections — and restrict abortion access. The authors of the playbook include some individuals who previously served in Trump’s administration and Vance has previously championed the work of the Heritage Foundation.

“The only truth here is that Senator Vance is an Ohio State fan. Kamala would say ‘Go Green’ in East Lansing and then ‘Go Blue’ in Ann Arbor because her pollsters told her to,” Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCivita said in a statement Saturday. “While Michigan may not like OSU, they respect Vance and it’s why the Trump-Vance ticket will win the ultimate trophy on November 5.”

Michigan 2024 Election: 3 reasons Kamala Harris came to Detroit for Labor Day campaign stop

The Trump campaign has repeatedly tried to distance itself from the Project 2025 proposals. During a rally in Grand Rapids in July, Trump told his supporters he didn’t know what Project 2025 is but criticized it anyway, calling some of its ideas “seriously extreme.” A CBS News review published late last month found at least 270 of the more than 700 proposals outlined in Project 2025 overlap with Trump’s previous policies and campaign platform.

In 2016, Trump won Michigan by a 10,704-vote or 0.3 percentage point margin — the slimmest of any state — delivering Michigan for a GOP presidential candidate for the first time since 1988. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump by over 154,000 votes or 2.78 percentage points in Michigan.

The Cook Political Report — the preeminent election rating organization — deems the presidential race in Michigan a toss-up with either party having a good chance of winning.

Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

Contact Liam Rappleye: LRappleye@freepress.com

Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.