100th Big Game -- The Best Rivalry in College Football
11/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
| Author Bill Cromartie refers to it simply as "The Big One." ESPN.com proclaimed it to be the greatest 20th Century rivalry in all of sports, ahead of Ali-Frazier, Red Sox-Yankees, and Chamberlain-Russell. It is Michigan versus Ohio State. No single college football game has consistently meant more to its respective sport on the national scene than this one. Fans of Oklahoma-Nebraska, Auburn-Alabama, Florida-Florida State and USC-UCLA can offer compelling arguments for those rivalries, but not one of those games has stood the test of time better than this one. "You can't buy a great rivalry," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said last summer during the Big Ten meetings in Chicago. "It takes tradition, and it takes a long time. "Nothing can add or detract from that rivalry. Every single year, it is one of those games that everybody in the country wants to see. It's a benchmark. It has always been the greatest rivalry in college football." What makes it that way Obviously, longevity is part of it -- today's game at Michigan Stadium is the 100th in the series -- but that is only the start. There is the long list of great coaches and great players who have participated in this series. It reads like a who's who of college football history, featuring between the two programs nine Heisman Trophy winners and 58 members of the College Football Hall of Fame. The stadiums are two of the largest and most storied in the nation. The helmets and colors of both schools are among the most recognized, as are the marching bands and fight songs. Most important of all, the game almost always has great significance in terms of the Big Ten and national championship races. At least one of the teams has been ranked in the final top 10 every year since 1987, and only five times since 1967 has this game not had a direct bearing on the conference title race. Plus, only once during that time has either team had a losing record (Ohio State in 1988). No other rivalry can claim this. "When you have a great rivalry, it has a focus like nothing else," Carr said. "No one forgets what happens that day. That's what legend and tradition are all about." WHAT MAKES THIS RIVALRY COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S FINEST Ask any player on either team, and they'll tell you this is the one game they hate to lose. "We can't stand to lose to Michigan," Ohio State defensive lineman Darrion Scott said. "They can't stand to lose to us. We can't swallow it if we lose." Both teams have won national championships in the past decade: Michigan in 1997, Ohio State a year ago. It is worth noting that the Buckeyes' national championship rings feature, not the score of their Fiesta Bowl win against Miami of Florida, but their 14-9 win against Michigan in Ohio Stadium. "To beat Michigan for the second year in a row and to go to the Fiesta Bowl, you couldn't have asked for anything more," Scott said. "It's almost like winning two championships in a row." Each team has spoiled the other's championship hopes. In 1993 and 1996, an underdog Michigan team handed Ohio State its only loss of the season. In 1995, the Wolverines handed the Buckeyes their only regular-season loss. The Buckeyes denied the Wolverines a share of the Big Ten championship and a Bowl Championship Series bid with a 2001 win at Michigan Stadium. The rivalry has produced two of the most memorable games in college football history: Michigan's stunning 24-12 upset of the top-ranked and defending national champion Buckeyes in 1969; and the "Snow Bowl" in 1950. The 1969 win returned Michigan to its place as one of the nation's elite programs, and it came at the expense of one of the great juggernauts of the 20th Century. That the 1950 game is instantly recognized by its nickname is a testament to the significance and tradition of the rivalry. The game often has provided a national stage on which players have provided compelling arguments that they deserve to win the Heisman Trophy. Michigan's Charles Woodson became the first primarily defensive player to win the Heisman after he put on a show in the 1997 game. Another Wolverine, Desmond Howard, struck the Heisman pose following a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown in 1991. Yet another Wolverine, Tom Harmon, was so dominant in the 1940 game that he received a standing ovation from an appreciative Ohio Stadium crowd. From Fielding H. Yost to Fritz Crisler to Paul Brown to Woody Hayes to Bo Schembechler to Earle Bruce, the game has featured many of the game's legendary coaches. In fact, the "Ten-Year War" between the teams coached by Hayes and his protg, Schembechler, lifted the rivalry to new levels of intensity and importance. The stadiums are two of the largest in the country: Michigan Stadium is first with a capacity of 107,501; Ohio Stadium is fourth at 101,568. Not surprisingly, each team helped to dedicate the other's new stadium in the 1920s. As Yost wrote before the Michigan Stadium dedication game in 1927: "I can think of nothing that expresses Michigan's regard for Ohio State more tangibly ... than the formal opening of our new stadium. When a man is married, he invariably invites his best friend to be his best man. When he accomplishes something exceptionally worthwhile, it is his closest friend who is first with congratulations. And so it followed that, when we planned the formal opening of the new stadium, we should single out Ohio to meet us on the gridiron." And though it is loath to admit it, Ohio State's marching band can thank its rival, the Michigan Marching Band, for its famed formation, the "Script Ohio." The Michigan band first performed the formation in 1932 at Ohio Stadium to honor the relationship between the two universities. Not surprisingly, given that the rivalry between the two bands is every bit as intense as the one between the two teams, there is no mention in any history of the Ohio State band that its most famous formation was invented and first performed by Michigan. Finally, there is the matter of respect, which overshadows everything else. These games matter, because Michigan and Ohio State understand what the other will bring to the field every November. For those 60 minutes, nothing else matters. "The guys who play in this game won't say my Ohio State-Michigan game was special because it was the 100th," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "It was special because it was theirs. Just like the guys who played in the 64th one. Players and coaches on both sides say what a privilege it is to play in this game. And it's true." This story is part of the special Michigan-Ohio State content in the 100th Game Commemorative Program produced by Barbara Cossman and the U-M Athletics Department in conjunction with Pro Sports Publications. Limited quantity available for $15 apiece (including postage) or online for $15 each plus $3 per order. Order Form: SOLD OUT! |
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