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Mitch Albom: Michigan football upsets No. 2 Ohio State and it’s OK to look

Published

1 day ago

December 1, 2024

Mitch Albom: Michigan football upsets No. 2 Ohio State and it’s OK to look

It was a game that changes nothing, yet changes everything. A statistical dud, yet an emotional supernova. A forgettable performance, but an unforgettable afternoon, one that catapulted a first-year Michigan coach named Sherrone Moore into the company of another first-year Michigan coach named Bo Schembechler, who, 55 years ago, was told by everyone there was no way on God’s green earth his Wolverines could beat the top-ranked Buckeyes.

Wrong then. Wrong now.

Michigan 13, Ohio State 10.

Rub your eyes. We’ll wait.

“You talk about a gritty performance by a bunch of guys! I love these dudes!” Moore gushed to a Fox reporter after the biggest upset in decades of this storied rivalry. “This is why you come to Michigan!”

Well, maybe not to see 62 yards of total passing, or two red-zone interceptions, or an offensive game plan that often looked like it was drawn with a ruler. But to beat Ohio State when nobody says you can? Absolutely, that’s why you come to Michigan.

And that’s exactly what happened Saturday. On a bracing cold afternoon when Ohio State, at 10-1 and ranked No. 2 in the nation, and Michigan, at 6-5 and ranked somewhere between “Why” and “Bother?”, the Wolverines marched into Columbus like the fiercest theater critic at the biggest box-office play.

Simply. Not. Impressed.

The Wolverines shut down an Ohio State offense that had been averaging five touchdowns a game, holding them to 10 points. Time after time, Ryan Day’s team tried to run into the mouth of the Michigan defense, and time after time, the Wolverines spit them back, squashing a top-flight rushing attack to just 77 yards and demoralizing it with every forced punt.

The only lead OSU had was 3-0 in the first quarter. Once Michigan turned a terrific interception by Aamir Hall into a short-field touchdown drive with 12:37 left in the half, it never trailed again.

Never trailed again? THIS Michigan team? Against THIS Ohio State team?

That’s about what they’re saying in Columbus right now.

Maybe with a few more $%#@# expletives.

Rub your eyes.

Bad place to celebrate

This most unlikely victory was stained by a melee in its immediate aftermath, when the victorious Michigan players carried a U-M flag to the middle of the field and planted it in the turf. Angry OSU players charged in force, leading to numerous wrestling, hitting and tackling moments that were ugly and unnecessary and unworthy of a rivalry that has stood the test of time.

At one point, Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer appeared to rip the U-M flag off its pole and throw it to the ground.

A terrible coda to an amazing afternoon.

“For such a great game, you hate to see stuff like that after the game,” Kalel Mullings told FOX Sports. “It’s bad for the sport, bad for college football. But at the end of the day, some people, they gotta learn how to lose, man. You can’t be fighting and stuff just cause you lost the game.

“We had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting and now people want to talk and fight. That’s wrong, it’s just bad for the game, classless in my opinion. People gotta be better.”

True, but that includes the Michigan players, who could have run into the locker room and celebrated with each other, rather than attempt a flag planting that was destined for trouble.

A shame. Because the Wolverines should have been waving their victory and Mullings should have been talking about his performance. He carried the ball 32 times for 116 yards, which is not what anyone would call a great average, but everyone should call gutsy.

Time after time, he plowed into the OSU defense, chewing up time on the clock, getting Michigan close enough to kick two Dominic Zvada field goals, one 54 yards and the clincher, from 21 yards out, with less than a minute to play.

Those field goals, along with two missed ones by the Ohio State kicker Jaden Fielding, were the difference on the scoreboard.

But not the difference in the game.

Michigan’s mind game

No, the difference in this game was belief. Michigan had every reason to think it couldn’t stack up against its archrival this year. Its old coach, Jim Harbaugh, was gone. So were his coordinators. The quarterback position was a carousel of problems. Its best offensive player, Colston Loveland, was out with an injury. Its best defensive player, Will Johnson, was injured as well. It had lost five of 11 games already this year

Meanwhile, the Buckeyes had been keying for this moment for 364 days, seething and seeing red after three straight rivalry losses to the Wolverines. The game was in Columbus. The fan base was fired up. Michigan, a 19.5-point underdog, couldn’t point to a single thing on paper that gave it a real edge.

But the game is not played on paper. It’s not really played on grass, either. It’s played on gray matter, the kind between your ears. If you believe in yourself and you’ve done it before, the combination can lift you physically to unimaginable heights.

Likewise, if fear gets the best of you, even usual excellence can wither. For much of the game, Ohio State seemed to be playing it safe — if not scared. The Buckeyes kept running into the teeth of the Michigan line, the defense’s strongest element. They seemed timid to open the passing game outside, on the edges, where they should have had a big advantage,

Their own mistakes didn’t help their confidence. Quarterback Will Howard threw a bad interception early in the game from his own 4-yard line that led to a Michigan touchdown. He threw another pick in the third quarter when the Buckeyes were deep in Michigan territory.

That likely played in his head on the Buckeyes’ final drive with just 45 seconds remaining and no timeouts, trailing by 3.

Here is where the wheels came off the bus. Instead of a sharp, calm, quick-hitting passing attack to march downfield and try a tying field goal, Howard and Ohio State were chased, harassed, threw three incompletions and gained 1 measly yard on four plays.

They turned the ball over on downs.

One yard? Ohio State?

Rub your eyes.

Moore’s shining moment

How great is this for Moore, who has battled doubters much of the year? Never mind that he lost an army of top players to the NFL draft, lost a host more to injuries and inherited a quarterback room left shamefully bare by Harbaugh, who had his eye on other horizons.

Most U-M fans had resigned themselves to a 6-6 finish this year, a minor bowl game and the annoying sight of Ryan Day celebrating a return to OSU dominance.

Instead, Moore provided the sharpest exclamation point since Schembechler’s crew upset the Buckeyes, 24-12, in 1969, when Ohio State was No. 1 and had won 22 straight.

But that game was in Ann Arbor. To do this in Columbus puts Moore in a special category. And likely makes his winter and spring a whole lot happier for the man.

The same cannot be said for Day, who was already being roasted on social media minutes after the game, with Buckeye fans calling for his dismissal. Day himself has basically said he lives and dies with this rivalry, and four straight years of losing it will not sit well anywhere in Ohio.

But that’s why they play the games. Who would have thought this one would have featured two bad interceptions by both teams, two missed field goals, a 77-yard, six-plus minute drive that came up empty, and a final four downs by OSU that gained a single yard?

And yet. It did.

Rub your eyes. This is everything that is great about college football — and it had nothing to do with which team spent more NIL money (take a guess!).

In the end, the game is still about heart, and while the Wolverines are not going to be champions of anything this year, they played with the heart of a champion Saturday. And made a memory for the ages.

Contact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at MitchAlbom.com. Follow him @mitchalbom.

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MEN’S SWIM: Bulldogs break six team records, place fourth at Ohio State

Published

5 hours ago

December 2, 2024

Press Room

MEN’S SWIM: Bulldogs break six team records, place fourth at Ohio State

Yale Athletics

The men’s swimming and diving team (2–0, 2–0 Ivy) came in fourth at the Ohio State Invitational last weekend, finishing with a grand total of 1292.5 points and breaking six Yale records.

The Ohio State Invitational took place from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23, and the Buckeyes welcomed the Elis and eight other teams to compete: Cincinnati, Indiana, Louisville, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Penn State, Rutgers and the UCLA women’s team.

The Bulldogs can use their successes in Columbus as momentum for the remainder of the season.

“Ohio was a great opportunity to see where we are as individuals, what we need to improve to help the team as much as possible in the second half of the season,” Konstantinos Zachariadis ’27 wrote to the News.

Day One: Thursday, Nov. 21

The highlight of the opening day was Jake Wang ’28, who broke a team record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:45.34.

Alexander Hazlett ’26 came in 19th, followed by Charlie Egeland ’27 at 1:47.05 and 1:47.69, respectively.

Noah Millard ’26 excelled in the 500-yard freestyle, placing first and clocking in at 4:11.29. Arshak Hambardzumyan ’28 finished 13th in 4:19.77.

The Bulldogs also placed well in the relay race. Wang, Nick Finch ’28, Nareg Minassian ’26 and Deniel Nankov ’27 finished fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:17.55. The team of Mak Nurkic Kacapor ’27, Lucius Brown ’26, Alex Deng ’25 and Hazlett came in eighth, clocking in at 1:19.12. In the 400-yard medley relay, the squad of Millard, Egeland, Finch and Nankov finished in 3:07.53, putting them in fifth place.

In the 50-yard freestyle, Finch placed tenth in 19.82, Nenkov came in 15th with a time of 19.68 and Minassian finished 18th in 19.87.

On the diving side, Brady Stanton ’28 led the Bulldogs, placing 15th in the 1-meter board competition with his score of 275.3. Fellow first year Jackson Lipscomb ’28 scored 266.6 points, which put him in 18th place. Nicholas Chau ’26 followed closely, finishing two places behind, with a score of 258.6, and Ray Wipfli ’25 came in 28th with 197 points.

Ending the day with a team total of 377.50 points, the Bulldogs were in fourth, with Penn State, Cincinnati, Northwestern and Notre Dame trailing behind.

Day Two: Friday, Nov. 22

The highlights of the second day of competition included three broken team records. Egeland, Brown, Nankov and Finch broke the record in the men’s 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:24.98, putting them sixth overall. With a time of 45.50, Finch broke the record in the 100-yard butterfly. In the 200-yard freestyle, Millard’s time of 1:32.42 broke his own record and secured him third.

Considering his own and the team’s record breaking achievements, Millard was proud of the team’s performance in Columbus.

“The OSU meet was a great way for everyone on the team to give themselves a benchmark at the halfway point of the season, seeing the successes from their training thus far. It’s also a great opportunity to be compared against other high quality competitors and then to see how we can fine tune our skills in the next 12 weeks before Ivy Champs,” Millard wrote to the News.

In addition to Millard’s record-breaking finish in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:32.85, Jose Cano ’26 came in 18th in 1:38.38, Nankov in 20th in 1:39.30 and Finn Henry ’26 came in 23rd in the C final. The Bulldogs performed well in the 400-yard individual medley. Jed Jones ’25 came in 16th in 3:50.93, Elliot Lee ’28 in 24th with 3:53.71 and Zachariadis in 30th in 4:02.07.

Other impressive scores came from Egeland’s ninth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke in 52.54, Wang in 11th with a score of 52.75 and Deng at his heels in 52.97, followed by Hazlett in 15th in 53.24, Minassian in 18th in 54.02 and Alex Brehm ’25 in 29th with a time of 54.82. In the 100-yard backstroke, first-year Manoli Mountantonakis ’28 came in 25th, touching the wall in 48.17; Kacapor’s time of 48.48 placed him 29th. The team of Millard, Jones, Wang and Egeland finished sixth in the 800-yard freestyle relay in 6:26.71.

The Elis ended a long and successful day of swimming, maintaining their fourth-place spot.

Day Three: Saturday, Nov. 23

The Bulldogs broke two more records on the final day of competition: Egeland in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:54.82 and Millard in the 1650-yard freestyle in 14:33.47.

Millard’s record-breaking time and a first-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle was an NCAA “A” cut mark. Hambardzumyan placed seventh in 15:08.36, Cano in 18th in 15:30.26, Zachariadis in 22nd in 15:35.52 and Henry in 24th in 15:48.62.

Many Elis posted impressive times in the 200-yard backstroke. Mountantonakis finished 14th in 1:44.56, Lee in 17th with a score of 1:45.93, Kacapor in twenty-fourth in 1:47.24, Jones in 26th in 1:48.40 and Lee rounding out the team in 29th in 1:50.97.

In the 100-yard freestyle, Nankov’s time of 43.29 put him in eighth. Finch’s time of 43.33, only 0.04 seconds behind Nankov, helped him claim ninth, followed by Minassian in 15th with his time of 43.50, Brown in 25th in 44.44 and Kacapor in 29th, clocking in at 44.84.

The 200-yard breaststroke put many Elis on the scoreboard. Egeland finished eighth in 1:55.09, Deng in 15th with a time of 1:57.36, Wang in 22nd in 1:57.74 and Brehm in 23rd in 1:59.04. In the 200-yard butterfly, Lee placed 17th in 1:48.40 and Hazlett in 21st in 1:46.66. Millard, Finch, Minassian and Nankov’s time of 2.51.65 in the 400-yard freestyle relay earned them fifth place.

With a final team score of 1292.5, the Bulldogs ended the Invitational in fourth place.

Reflecting on the team’s wins over the three days, Zachariadis was proud of the team’s performance and looks forward to keeping up the momentum throughout the season.

“This team can achieve great things and it is a pleasure to be part of it! There were some great swims and we are all excited for what is next!” Zachariadis wrote to the News.

Millard echoed Zachariadis’ sentiment, expressing that he, too, anticipates the team’s upcoming meets as they continue to build on past successes.

“I’m super motivated after seeing how the team raced,” Millard wrote to the News. “We have a lot of exciting things developing and I can’t wait to see what will happen come our championship meet.”

The Elis will host Southern Connecticut on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and Thursday, Dec. 5, at Payne Whitney Gymnasium’s Kiphuth Exhibition Pool and head to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the U.S. Open from Wednesday, Dec. 4, through Saturday, Dec. 7.

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Ohio State, Miami, Clemson plummet in Top 25

Published

16 hours ago

December 1, 2024

Press Room

Ohio State, Miami, Clemson plummet in Top 25

Ohio State, Miami and Clemson plunged in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll Sunday following their losses during a wild weekend, while eight of the top 10 teams moved up one spot behind No. 1 Oregon.

The Ducks held the top spot for the seventh straight week.

The shake-up creates two top-five matchups in conference championship games coming up on Saturday — a day before the College Football Playoff bracket is announced. Oregon, the nation’s only unbeaten team, will face No. 3 Penn State in the Big Ten game in Indianapolis. No. 2 Texas will play No. 5 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference game in Atlanta, a rematch of their top-five meeting in October won by the Bulldogs.

Associated Press Top 25

First-place votes in parentheses

Team	Rec.
1. Oregon (62)	12-0
2. Texas	11-1
3. Penn State	11-1
4. Notre Dame	11-1
5. Georgia	10-2
6. Tennessee	10-2
7. Ohio State	10-2
8. SMU	11-1
9. Indiana	11-1
10. Boise State	11-1
11. Alabama	9-3
12. Arizona State	10-2
13. South Carolina	9-3
14. Miami	10-2
15. Ole Miss	9-3
16. Iowa State	10-2
17. BYU	10-2
18. Clemson	9-3
19. UNLV	10-2
20. Colorado	9-3
21. Illinois	9-3
22. Missouri	9-3
23. Syracuse	9-3
24. Army	10-1
25. Memphis	10-2

No. 4 Notre Dame, 11-1 and winner of 10 straight games, won’t play again until the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State, which lost for the fourth straight time to Michigan and was knocked out of the Big Ten title game, dropped five spots to No. 7, behind Tennessee.

SMU is No. 8 and followed by Indiana and Boise State. The Broncos are in the top 10 for the first time since 2011 and are the highest-ranked Group of 5 team, two spots ahead of No. 12 Arizona State, the highest-ranked Big 12 team.

If the Broncos win the Mountain West title and are one of the four highest-ranked conference champions in the final CFP rankings, they would receive a bye to the quarterfinals.

Miami’s loss at Syracuse cost the Hurricanes a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game — and possibly the CFP — dropping them six spots to No. 14. Clemson, which plays SMU in the ACC game, lost at South Carolina and fell six places to No. 18.

South Carolina has won six straight — four against ranked opponents — and earned a three-rung promotion to No. 13. Ole Miss remained No. 15 and was followed by Iowa State and BYU.

POLL POINTS

Ohio State’s 13-10 loss to Michigan marked the fifth time this season a top-five team lost to an unranked opponent, the most since it happened five times in 2017.

Miami’s 42-38 loss to Syracuse was the 12th by a top-10 team against an unranked opponent, the most since there were 12 such losses in 2021.

It’s been 10 years since South Carolina was ranked higher than in-state rival Clemson. In 2014, the Gamecocks were No. 13 following a 3-1 start and finished 7-6, and they were unranked in Steve Spurrier’s last full season as coach.

Notre Dame has its highest ranking since it was No. 4 on Dec. 22, 2020.

WHO’S IN; WHO’S OUT

No. 23 Syracuse enters the Top 25 for the first time since Oct. 30, 2022, after winning nine games for the first time since 2018 under first-year coach Fran Brown. The win over Miami was its first over a top-10 opponent since 2017.

No. 25 Memphis, which was last ranked in October 2020, knocked off Tulane as a double-digit road underdog and has 10 wins for the second consecutive year.

Tulane, which plays at No. 24 Army in the American Athletic Conference title game, went from No. 18 to falling out of the rankings.

Texas A&M, No. 20 last week, was bounced after losing at home to Texas and dropping its last three SEC games.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC: 7 (Nos. 2, 5, 6, 11, 13, 15, 22).

Big Ten: 5 (Nos. 1, 3, 7, 8, 21).

ACC: 4 (Nos. 8, 14, 18, 23).

Big 12: 4 (Nos. 12, 16, 17, 20).

AAC: 2 (Nos. 24, 25).

Mountain West: 2 (Nos. 10, 19).

Independent: 1 (No. 4).

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 3 Penn State in Indianapolis: For the Big Ten championship.

No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Georgia in Atlanta: For the Southeastern Conference championship.

No. 8 SMU vs. No. 18 Clemson in Charlotte, North Carolina: For the Atlantic Coast Conference championship.

No. 10 Boise State vs. No. 19 UNLV in Boise, Idaho: For the Mountain West championship.

No. 12 Arizona State vs. No. 16 Iowa State in Arlington, Texas: For the Big 12 championship.

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Ohio State police address officer pepper-spraying players in brawl following Michigan loss

Published

2 days ago

November 30, 2024

Press Room

Ohio State police address officer pepper-spraying players in brawl following Michigan loss

Ohio State University police said they are investigating officers who sprayed pepper spray at Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines players while trying to break up an on-field fight after Michigan’s 13-10 win over OSU.

In a statement posted on the social media platform X (previously called Twitter), Ohio State University police addressed the incident.

“Following the game, officers from multiple law enforcement agencies assisted in breaking up an on-field altercation. During the scuffle, multiple officers representing Ohio and Michigan deployed pepper spray. OSUPD is the lead agency for games & will continue to investigate,” the statement reads.

Ohio State did not disclose whether the officers who fired the pepper spray work for campus police or outside police agencies often hired to work as extra security during the events. It also did not disclose the officers’ identities.

In the moments after Michigan beat arch-rival Ohio State on Saturday at Ohio Stadium, Wolverines and Buckeyes players got into a skirmish near midfield after a group of Michigan players tried to plant a Michigan flag at midfield, The Dispatch previously reported.

From there, a physical altercation ensued between players of both teams. Videos that flooded social media showed several players throwing punches. After several minutes, the players were eventually separated.

Before the fight was broken up, Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer ripped the Michigan flag away from Wolverines players and threw it to the turf before walking away, The Dispatch reported earlier.

According to reporters on the field during the fight, police used pepper spray, which caused at least two Michigan players to go to the turf rubbing their faces.

What did Ryan Day say about Ohio State-Michigan brawl?

In his post-game comments, Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he didn’t know all the details about the fight.

“I don’t know all the details of it, but I know those guys were looking to put a flag on our field, and our guys weren’t going to let that happen,” he said. “I’ll find out exactly what happened, but it’s our field.”

But he did speak to players after the fight ended.

“I talked to the team after the game. Without knowing all the details, there’s some prideful guys on our team that aren’t just going to sit back and watch that happen,” he said.

Day did not have an update on the players who were peppered sprayed. The Dispatch captured an image of Buckeyes defensive tackle Hero Kanu receiving treatment for his eyes after the altercation.

“I don’t know if I know all that right now. It was a couple things kind of crazy that went on down there, but I think everybody’s OK,” he said.

Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork told reporters he needed more information about the incident.

mdevito@dispatch.com

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