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There has been abundant discussion of THE GAME and the tOSU/M rivalry in my B1G-E Race thread.  I'd rather if that discussion took place here so as not to take over a thread that is supposed to be about this year's B1G-E race.  

Some of that discussion, along with Ohio State having a new coach got me thinking about inflection points in the history of the rivalry.  Looking back, we didn't see these for what they were.  At the time they just looked like blips but looking back they were major changes in the relative strength of the teams.  I'll go back through time from most recent to oldest.

November 24, 2001:  I went to the 2001 Game in Ann Arbor.  After Ohio State won the Michigan fans I met were all pretty gracious (with only a few drunken exceptions).  I think part of that was that they just didn't see that result for what it was.  At the time, to a Michigan fan, I'm sure it just looked like a blip.  Coming into that game Michigan had gone 12-3-1 over the previous 16 years.  Thus, even after the 2001 loss, Michigan was still 12-4-1 over the previous 17 years.  

I think that Michigan fans at the time were disappointed with the result, obviously.  It cost them a Rose Bowl but they had no way of knowing that it wasn't just one game.  Their team's domination of the rivalry was over.  

I'll put it another way.  If some all-powerful sports god had come up to me outside of Michigan Stadium right after the 2001 game and offered me a deal:  Ohio State would be guaranteed nine wins from 2001-2018 but not have a chance to win any more, I'd have probably taken the deal.  Conversely, if that same all-powerful sports god had approached a random reasonably well informed Michigan fan and offered them the inverse, 9 wins for Michigan from 2001-2018 he probably would have turned it down.  In retrospect I would have been stupid for taking the deal and the Michigan fan would have been stupid for turning it down but we didn't know that then.  The thing is that nobody knew on November 24, 2001 that Ohio State would wind up going 15-2 from 2001-2018.  

November 23, 1985:  When Michigan won the 1985 game it didn't feel like that big of a deal to fans of either side.  From Bo's arrival (1969) through the 1985 game the rivalry had been very equal.  The Buckeyes and Wolverines had each won eight games with one tie.  Nobody knew then that Michigan's win in 1985 would be the start of 16 years of Michigan dominance to the tune of 12-3-1 from 1985-2000.  

November 22, 1969:  Even relatively well-informed fans tend to forget how bad Michigan was prior to Bo's arrival.  For most of the 1950's and 1960's Michigan wasn't very good.  From 1951-1968 they only won one league title in 18 years.  Michigan was great right after WWII with a NC and four straight league titles from 1947-1950 and we all know about the TEN YEAR WAR in the 70's but in between they just weren't very good.  Over those 18 years while Michigan was winning just one league title the Buckeyes won five, the Illini, Badgers, Hawkeyes, and Spartans won three each, the Gophers and Boilermakers won two each and even the Hoosiers matched Michigan's one title.  

The 1969 loss obviously sucked for Ohio State.  In those days teams from our league only went to the RoseBowl and there was a "no repeat" rule so Ohio State couldn't go.  The Buckeyes had won the 1968 NC with a #1 vs #2 RoseBowl win over OJ Simpson and the Trojans then been ranked #1 all year in 1969.  The Michigan game was effectively a NC game for the Buckeyes so the loss REALLY stung.  That said, I'm sure it didn't feel like it had long-term implications at the time.  In the previous 15 years the Buckeyes had dominated the rivalry 11-4.  Nobody knew then that the 1969 loss would be the beginning of 16 years of relative parity.  

November 20, 1954:  Woody lost in his first two trips to Ann Arbor (1951 and 1953) and heading into the 1954 game the Wolverines had dominated the series for more than a decade.  The Wolverines had a commanding 7-1-1 record from 1945-1953 and an 11-3-2 lead over the 16 years from 1938-1953.  Nobody would have expected heading into the 1954 game that the Buckeyes would win 11 of the next 15 for a record of 11-4 from 1954-1968.  

November 24, 1945:  For the 17 years from 1928 through the end of WWII the Buckeyes held a slight lead over the Wolverines at 9-7-1.  Nobody would have guessed that Michigan's win in 1945 would be the first of four in a row with two more after a tie in 1949.  

October 20, 1928:  Prior to the 1928 game the Wolverines had flat out dominated the "rivalry".  In the very early days it wasn't much of a rivalry as the Wolverines were playing in the new Western Conference and playing high-end national games against the powers of the day while Ohio State was just trying to beat Wesleyan and Case to be the best team in Ohio.  Ohio State had only beaten the Wolverines three times (1919, 1920, 1921) and after that Michigan reasserted their dominance and reeled off six straight wins from 1922-1927.  Thus, heading into the 1928 game Michigan had an all-time record of 16-3-1 against the upstart Buckeyes.  Since then it is a very different story with the Buckeyes owning a 47-39-4 advantage dating back to the 1928 game.  On a more micro-level, in the 19 years starting with the 1928 game the teams were even at 9-9-1 from 1928-1946.  

This is well done. And indeed timely, not for guarantees but 2019 has interesting potential to fit the pattern and belong here. 

This thread prob won't last enough years that we ever prove it by analysis at this URL. Heck, I'm not even predicting a win, but after the last 20 years of "hope-gambles," I'm heartened by the ways this feels different. Of course ... That could prove to be another dime a dozen nothin'. 

Anyway, this is a bad post that could have been summed up thus:

"🤞"

I knew when Tressell arrived things would change but not like that.Followed him at YSU where he went to 6 Div II NC games and won 4 of them.Fundamentals,technique,mechanics,Xs & Os don't change from Div II to Div I just the size of the players/stadiums/interest.I counted how many players Michigan and Ohio State had drafted during the Cooper years and I think it was dead even at 64(not counting Free agents).That tells you all ya need to knowI pretty much detested Cooper from the start.He lost the 1st 4yrs to M and took him 7 to finally beat them.Most of us diehards had our skin crawling at the sight of him - "I down't havv a Kle-e-e-w".Only Gordon Gee with his tie on too tight couldn't see it,SMDH.Talk about F-Up,move up

I agree on Cooper generally, but I think there needs to be some context.  Cooper took over a program that had really dropped off in Earle Bruce's last few years.  

Bruce went 5-4 against TTUN but again, context is important.  He started out 4-2.  Bruce's last season of 1987 was a terrible year for the Buckeyes with the surprise upset win over Michigan being the only bright spot.  In spite of that upset the Buckeyes were clearly inferior to TTUN and the cabinet was bare.  Cooper's 1988-1991 losses were at least partially the responsibility of Bruce.  

From 1993 through the end of Cooper's tenure the Ohio State program had caught (or arguably passed) Michigan but Cooper just couldn't win the damn game.  That is completely on him and, as I've said on these pages before, the losses to clearly inferior Michigan teams (see 93, 95, 96) were incredibly frustrating.  

I will give Cooper credit though for setting the table for Tressel's later success.  Tressel took over a program that had the foundation needed to accomplish what he did in the early 2000's.  

October 20, 1928:  Prior to the 1928 game the Wolverines had flat out dominated the "rivalry".  In the very early days it wasn't much of a rivalry as the Wolverines were playing in the new Western Conference and playing high-end national games against the powers of the day while Ohio State was just trying to beat Wesleyan and Case to be the best team in Ohio.  Ohio State had only beaten the Wolverines three times (1919, 1920, 1921) and after that Michigan reasserted their dominance and reeled off six straight wins from 1922-1927.  Thus, heading into the 1928 game Michigan had an all-time record of 16-3-1 against the upstart Buckeyes.  Since then it is a very different story with the Buckeyes owning a 47-39-4 advantage dating back to the 1928 game.  On a more micro-level, in the 19 years starting with the 1928 game the teams were even at 9-9-1 from 1928-1946. 

Just a minor nitpick here. Prior to the Big Ten series Michigan dominated. No doubt about that.

The series took a hiatus from 1913-17, so OSU won three of the first four "Big Ten" games once the series resumed, with the lone loss in 1918, which can arguably be attributed to Chic Harley and Pete Stynchcomb taking the year off to go fight in WWI. 

So when OSU moved into the Shoe in 1922, they likely believed that they had turned the page in the budding rivalry. Instead they fell off of a cliff, and were mired in mediocrity there for a while. 

This sort of back and forth seems to be common to many rivalries that exist in CFB.  You'd think in general a rivalry would be a roughly 50-50 split, but they seem to run in streaks.  Obviously, some of that is because Team A is better than B for a while, like Clemson and South Carolina, or Alabama and Auburn.

I wonder if each of them has similarly pivotal games where things changed.

I was at the 2001 game.  It was miserable for Michigan fans.  Rain and scoreless at the half if memory serves me.  Lloyd tried putting a true freshman in at QB, Gonzalez I think, and it got even more ugly.  The experience so whacked him the youngster changed positions the following year and later transferred. 

That was my second to last UM-OSU game.

It wasn't scoreless at the half, Michigan was down quickly.  Mike Doss almost pick sixed Navarre on Michigan's first drive, and OSU scored on I think the very next play.  Navarre had three first half turnovers, and OSU was up 21-0.  After the third Navarre turnover, Michigan got the ball right back, and that's when Carr put Gonzalez in.  It was a disaster, I think there were like two false starts and a negative QB rush.  Then, out of the shotgun, the ball was snapped when he wasn't looking, and went out of the back of the end zone for a safety and an OSU 23-0 halftime lead.  That was the only series Gonzalez got.

Michigan still almost came back and won.  They only lost by 6.  Epstein missed a chip shot FG, UM had a turnover on downs in the red zone, where they would have been attempting another chip shot FG if Epstein hadn't missed the first.

I also don't think Gonzalez transferred, he was just never a good enough passer to be a QB, and once they moved him fully to WR after his freshman year, he was never quite athletic enough to see the field in a stacked WR group with Braylon, Avant, Breaston, Tabb and Arrington.

Just a minor nitpick here. Prior to the Big Ten series Michigan dominated. No doubt about that.

The series took a hiatus from 1913-17, so OSU won three of the first four "Big Ten" games once the series resumed, with the lone loss in 1918, which can arguably be attributed to Chic Harley and Pete Stynchcomb taking the year off to go fight in WWI.

So when OSU moved into the Shoe in 1922, they likely believed that they had turned the page in the budding rivalry. Instead they fell off of a cliff, and were mired in mediocrity there for a while.

I thought about adding 1919 (Ohio State winning then winning the next two in a row) and 1922 (Michigan winning then winning the next five in a row) as additional "inflection points" but note that all of the others led to changes that lasted at least a decade while those two changes only lasted three and six years respectively.  In the 100+ year history of the rivalry I don't really see those two as major changes.  Ohio State winning three in a row from 1919-1921 was just a small bright spot for the Buckeyes in the otherwise miserable first 31 years (1897-1927) and 24 games of the rivalry.  The inflection points that I picked are based on long-lasting changes.