I don't understand why OSU is ranked by most everyone over Michigan. One can run the ball and the other can't. That means something to me.
You could certainly make a case for Michigan to be ranked higher based on the eye test. I probably would, although I would go back-and-forth like I do lol.
But-that Ohio State can’t run the ball is a completely false narrative. They are not too far off of Michigan in terms of average yards per carry. Michigan is 5.65 and Ohio State is 5.45 ( better than Georgia by the way). Michigan runs the ball 45 times a game which is substantially more than Ohio State.
between Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama, Oregon, Penn State, Illinois, Clemson ( I could keep going with highly ranked teams or teams perceived to be running teams ) who had the most rushing yards yesterday? Ohio State. And that was in a situation where the wind at 30-50 mph gave the other team the knowledge that there was zero passing threat.
Ohio State also has much better passing #s
any stat you measure. They lead the nation in scoring offense and are in the top ten in scoring defense. ( I believe UM is top 2).
Michigan is elite in rushing defense- 2.6 per carry. OSU is not far behind at 3.03
We know these stats are impacted by “ who you play”, for example, Iowa is top 5 in scoring defense but OSU put more than 50 on them.
So, let’s look closer at who they played. They now have 4 common opponents. Ohio State won by a bigger margin in three of those four games.
and we can’t even look at Michigan’s out of conference schedule, there is no comparison.
The only other game is that Ohio State beat Wisconsin by 34 points, and yesterday they beat Michigan’s other opponent Maryland, beat by seven.
again I’ve never believed in the transitive property in football, and I firmly believe the statistics mean Jack shit with these two teams have to play each other. I wouldn’t touch that game with a five dollar bet. Just answering your question of why some people would rank Ohio State had a Michigan right now.