Winning in Ann Arbor has never been easy for Ohio State’s football team. In my lifetime (since 1961) Ohio State is a pedestrian 16-15-1 in the Big House. Taking Michigan lightly, particularly in the mitten, is never a good idea.
Early in the twentieth century, Michigan was a dominant football powerhouse. They were one of the few midwestern teams able to compete with the east coast schools. Ohio State started out 0-13-2 vs the vaunted Wolverines, having been outscored 21-369.
UM was the largest school in the west with 2000 students. Their rival was Chicago. Ohio State only had 400ish students.
In 1919, Ohio State sold season tickets for the first time because of the growing interest surrounding phenom Charles ‘Chic’ Harley. UM was the fourth game in Ann Arbor.
The Buckeye legend Harley was voted team captain in a unanimous vote prior to the season. His senior year would be his only game ever against Michigan. The Wolverines left the conference from 1908 until 1917, then in 1918 Harley was away serving in WWI.
Talk had begun that this could be the year the Buckeyes finally beat Michigan. Coach Dr John Wilce had the Buckeyes practice for Michigan the week of the Kentucky game. Ohio State beat Kentucky 49-0 before 7500 fans.
On October 25, 1919, the greatest rivalry in sports was ignited.
Both coaches worked their squads hard that week even having nighttime walkthroughs to go over new plays. Michigan was expecting its largest crowd ever of 28,000. Ohio State had sold over 1000 tickets to fans planning to make the trip.
The Buckeyes boarded a train Friday morning and arrived in Ann Arbor about 5:30pm. The team was met at their hotel by a mob of Buckeye fans. Temporary bleachers had been set up at Ferry Field to accommodate the overflow crowd.
Telegraph operators had been hired to send out the play-by-play of the game to twenty newspapers.
Late in the first quarter, Ohio State blocked a Michigan punt and recovered it in the end zone to go up 7-0. Michigan kicked a 37 yard field goal. At the half the score was 7-3.
Midway through the third quarter HB Pete Stinchcomb ran for 24 yards to cross midfield and on the next play Harley sprinted 42 yards for the touchdown.
It was estimated that Ohio State had 5000 fans at the game. Michigan tried to come back by throwing the ball, but Harley had two interceptions while Stinchcomb had one. Harley also averaged 42 yards on his 11 punts.
Michigan coach Fielding Yost gave a congratulatory speech to the Buckeyes locker room following his defeat. He would finish his career 16-3-1 against Ohio State.
A line formed outside the Lazurus Department Store in downtown Columbus on the Monday night following the game. Three thousand tickets were going on sale at 9am Tuesday for the final game of the year – Illinois. It would be for all the marbles. Buckeye football had arrived. Also, after the Michigan game, talk ramped up about building a U shaped stadium for around $500,000.
Early in the twenty first century, the Buckeyes were trending up against Michigan. The 1990s were in the rear view mirror. Fifth year head coach Jim Tressel represented a new day in Columbus against the TTUN. The Buckeyes had vanquished their demons and backed up Tressel’s now legendary words in 2001 by beating Michigan in Ann Arbor and turning the tide on the rivalry.
This, however, is the story of the 2005 game. Buckeye honorary captain Eddie George gave the pre-game talk to the troops in the bowels of the Big House. He came out for the coin toss on a cold & windy late November game before 111,000.
Ohio State was ranked ninth at 9-2 and featured the likes of future NFL players Ted Ginn jr, Anthony Gonzales, Nick Mangold, Santonio Holmes, Donte Whitner and AJ Hawk and future coaches Brian Hartline and Marcus Freeman.
The Buckeyes wore a commemorative ‘RM’ on their helmets honoring Buckeye wrestler Ray Mendoza ‘RM’ who lost his life in action in Iraq on his third tour of duty. His brothers were on the sidelines.
Dynamic junior QB Troy Smith ran for a four yard touchdown in the first quarter, however, kicker Matt Frantz, who had made 52 straight PATS, missed the extra point.
On Michigan’s first offensive play of the game, Buckeye captain Bobby Carpenter went down with a broken leg. Ohio State turned to freshman James Laurinitis at LB. Then, an Ohio State turnover and a quick Michigan touchdown. At the half, the Buckeyes led 12-7.
The third quarter was all Blue. Another Ohio State turnover led to a UM field goal. Then another short field, another short touchdown run, a 2-pt conversion and later a field goal.
With 7:49 to go in the game, Michigan was up 21-12.
Troy Smith then took over. Facing a third down & ten at midfield, he rolled left, faked a pass, ran, faked like he was going out of bounds and picked up 20 yards. Then he hit Santonio Holmes across the middle for a 26-yard touchdown, and the Wolverines lead was cut to 21-19.
Michigan’s next drive stalled in Ohio State territory, and they were forced to punt.
The Buckeyes got the ball back, deep in their own territory with 3:54 left. Smith artfully drove his team down the field to the Michigan 30-yard line. On first & ten, the pocket collapsed, he was flushed right and able to hit Anthony Gonzales downfield who was immediately tackled at the four.
Just :24 seconds remained. On the next play, Ohio State handed off to Antonio Pittman who rolled off left tackle for the winning touchdown. Buckeyes won 25-21 for the fourth time in five years against UM.
“I think Troy Smith will be a legend when he leaves here,” said Buckeye senior guard Rob Sims after the game. “He kept fighting. He wouldn’t give up.”
Which is usually what it takes to win this game.
Sources: Chic – The Extraordinary Rise of Ohio State football and the Tragic Schoolboy by Bob Hunter; 2005 Ohio State Buckeyes at Michigan Wolverines, May 18 2023, Southwest Ohio Sports Archive, www.youtube.com; The Ohio State University Football Vault by Jack Park (2008); www.espn.com; UM vs OSU All-Time Results, Bentley Historical Library, https://bentley.umich.edu; Players, Teams and Stadium Ghosts by Bob Hunter, 2019; 2005 Roster, www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com; Featured picture courtesy Columbus Monthly, November, 1980; Featured picture (top) is from my personal collection and includes one of my best high school buds and me. He is dentist in Michigan, attended both Notre Dame & UM (thus his hat) and is a diehard true blue fan. The scoreboard picture includes my in-laws Mike and Corinne who were at the game.