Is this actually the formula for The Game? The better defense almost always wins
Inside the recent history of Ohio State-Michigan, and what it means for the best defense in the country
COLUMBUS — Saturday could look a lot like the 2021 version of The Game. The forecast for Ann Arbor has a temperature around 30 degrees with expected light snow. That’s how it was four years ago, when the teams took the field in what looked like a snow globe, and Michigan beat Ohio State for the first time in a decade.
That game in 2021 featured something else it will share with the 2025 version — a menacing defense filled with future NFL Draft picks. But four years ago, that defense was in maize and blue, and this time, it will be in scarlet and gray.
Ohio State’s four-game losing streak to Michigan has been too defined for the Buckeyes by conversations about toughness and the run game. As I’ve considered The Game in the Ryan Day era, it’s always been an offense-first discussion for the Buckeyes.
Look at 2021 – every single Ohio State offensive starter went on to be drafted in the NFL. That included five first-round picks in quarterback C.J. Stroud, receivers Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave and Jaxon Smith-Njigba and offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr.; a second-rounder in running back TreVeyon Henderson; and third-rounders in tight end Jeremy Ruckert and offensive lineman Nicholas Petit-Frere.
The Buckeyes gained 458 yards as Stroud threw for 394, with the three star receivers combining for 28 catches and 334 yards. You look at the offensive talent and stats and wonder how Ohio State could have lost.
In thinking about Ohio State’s extraordinary defense this season, I’ve wondered if maybe that question about the 2021 game is backwards. Is the real idea that it took an offense full of NFL players to have a chance against a Michigan defense that good?
Because maybe, when it comes to The Game, is it really that the better defense typically wins?
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