Me? No. I am just the messenger. I posed the hypothetical fairly, and even included the Rose Bowl in order to sweeten the deal for the Big Ten Championship. No takers. They all picked the Michigan win.
I mean, what good is a Title over the rest of the Big Ten, if you don't even get bragging rights in the most important game?
I get it, but see this:
Imagine 20 years from now and Michigan has been relegated to Illinois status as a football program. E.g., their best season in 20 years was 7-5, and they made bowl games only 3 years out of 20. Does The Game retain much significance at that point? Imagine the series is 1-19 over that time period.
I was musing about the UGA-Tech "rivalry" which was a thing down here for many decades, but simply isn't any more, to me anyway. It doesn't compare to The Game of course as it's far more local and has little national significance over the past 20+ years. I personally would drop them from the schedule if I had a choice.
and this:
If FSU went on a run and it was a 4th straight loss or 5th straight, then I would flip-flop for sure.
@Cincydawg and
@OrangeAfroMan pretty much laid out where I am.
Losing to Michigan REALLY sucks and this:
As someone that lives closer to that state up north than most other Buckeyes, I have to say that loosing to that team means a year of listening to them brag about beating the Bucks. That is intolerable. They never brag about tOSU NOT winning the B!G Title game.
One of the reasons it sucks is that a lot of us have to interact with Michigan fans on a frequent basis. This is obviously worse for someone in Toledo or elsewhere near the Michigan border as I assume
@NorthernOhioBuckeye is.
That said, to me, losing to Michigan in 2000 sucked a LOT worse than losing to them in 2011 simply because the Buckeyes won six (seven if you count the vacated one) straight prior to the 2011 loss. A Michigan fan can brag but a tOSU fan can answer with something like:
- "A broken clock is right twice a day." or
- "Yeah, you got your once-a-decade win last year, whatever."
- etc.
The winner's bragging rights are a lot stronger if they have multiple consecutive wins like tOSU now or Michigan after winning their third straight in 1997.
So that is where I am. If Michigan had won last year this would be a close call for me. If they had won the last 2+ I would be on your side completely. They haven't. The Buckeyes have eight straight against the Wolverines and 14 of 15 (15 of 16 if you count the vacated win). That dropping to 14 of 16 or 15 of 17 simply isn't as big of a deal to me as it would be to lose 2+ straight.
Another way to look at it:
In modern times, the worst ten-year run against Michigan for our Buckeyes was John Cooper's first ten years (1988-1997). At that point the Buckeyes were:
- .150, 1-8-1 over the past 10 years (1988-1997)
- .360, 8-15-2 over the past 25 years (1973-1997)
- .470, 22-25-3 over the past 50 years (1948-1997)
Those same figures for Michigan currently:
- .111, 1-8 over the last 10 years (2011-2020 - no game in 2020)
- .261, 6-17 over the last 25 years (1996-2020 - no game in 2020, vacated tOSU win in 2010)
- .438, 20-26-1 over the last 50 years (1971-2020 - no game in 2020, vacated tOSU win in 2010)
So, compared to the depths of the Cooper era, Michigan is now:
- 1/2 game worse over the last 10 years
- 2 games worse over the last 25 years
- 1.5 games worse over the last 50 years
Also, it is not going to get any better for them anytime soon because:
- Their one win in the last 10 years was 10 years ago, in 2011. Thus, the best they could do for 2012-2021 is 1-8.
- Two of their six wins in the last 25 years were 25 and 24 years ago in 1996 and 1997. Thus, the best they could do for 1997-2021 and 1998-2022 is 6-17.
- One of their twenty wins in the last 50 years was 50 years ago in 1971. Thus, the best they could do for 1972-2021 is 20-26-1.
I see those 10-25-50 year windows as akin to "living memories". If we assume that people can remember back to when they were between 5-10 years old then:
- The 10 year comparison is roughly what a current HS or College student can remember.
- The 25 year comparison is roughly what a current 30-35 year old can remember.
- The 50 year comparison is roughly what a current 55-60 year old can remember.
There simply are not a lot of living fans who can remember back much further than that. Also, the 50 year comparison starts in 1971 and Ohio State had a very good record against the Wolverines in the 50's and 60's:
- Ohio State's lead since 1971 is six games (26-20-2 since 1971).
- Going back further, tOSU's lead does not drop below six and consistently climbs until maxing out at 13 games since both 1954 and 1952:
- Ohio State's lead since 1954 is 13 games (38-25-2 since 1954)
- Ohio State's lead since 1952 is 13 games (39-26-2 since 1952).
1952 was almost 70 years ago and Ohio State's lead doesn't shrink below six until you go back to 1938, more than 80 years ago. My point is that there are no living fans in whose living memory Michigan is anything better than slightly behind tOSU and one game wouldn't change that at all.
