{"id":10939,"date":"2017-11-26T17:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-26T22:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosoncfb.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=10939"},"modified":"2018-01-08T12:07:31","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T17:07:31","slug":"ohio-state-defeats-michigan-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2017\/11\/26\/ohio-state-defeats-michigan-yet-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio State Defeats Michigan Yet Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saturday was a disappointing one for Michigan Wolverines fans everywhere.\u00a0 After jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Wolverines eventually fell at home to their arch rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.\u00a0 The loss marks Michigan\u2019s sixth straight loss to the Buckeyes as well as Ohio State Quarterback J.T. Barrett\u2019s<\/strong> fourth win against the team up north, a first for any quarterback from either team.<\/p>\n

Michigan Sticks to the Plan<\/h2>\n

With Brandon Peters<\/strong> under concussion protocol, Michigan\u2019s Jim Harbaugh<\/strong> turned to once-starter John O\u2019Korn<\/strong> under center.\u00a0 Michigan\u2019s only hope to win the game was with stout defensive play and a constant rushing attack to minimize the potential for errors through the air.<\/a>\u00a0 That plan initially started off well.\u00a0 Michigan\u2019s defense ate up Ohio State’s run game and harassed Barrett at every opportunity.\u00a0 Holding the Buckeyes scoreless through the first twenty minutes of the game seemed to give the team confidence. The Wolverines\u2019 rush-dominate offense scored 14 points.<\/p>\n

Ohio State Starts Rolling<\/h2>\n

However, late in the second quarter, Barrett returned to rare form. The momentum seemed to shift back to the Buckeyes as the Wolverines’ defense gave up a pair of touchdowns on a 21 yard Barrett run and a 25 yard pass from Barrett to wide-receiver Marcus Baugh<\/strong> right before half time.<\/p>\n

With Ohio State rolling, Michigan was forced into more passing situations.\u00a0 As he has all season, O\u2019Korn struggled.\u00a0 A number of throws that would have gained critical first downs were off their mark. Including two that likely would have netted touchdowns.\u00a0 Michigan running back Karan Higdon<\/strong>, ran the ball in for the Wolverines\u2019 final points midway through the third quarter.\u00a0 Ohio State blocked Michigan\u2019s PAT attempt.\u00a0 This was particularly devastating for Wolverines fans. Many thought going into the game, if the Buckeyes scored 21 points they would win.<\/p>\n

These fears were all for naught, however, because from there, it was all Buckeyes. Despite Barrett leaving the game after aggravating a bizarre knee injury sustained by colliding with a man carrying a camera during warm ups<\/a>, the Buckeyes managed to exploit big yardage plays given up by a Michigan defense that found itself constantly on the field.\u00a0 The Buckeyes rushed for two additional touchdowns and added a field goal for good measure, bringing the final score to 31-20.<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes Playoff Hopes Stay Alive<\/h2>\n

The win in Ann Arbor keeps hopes alive of a possible return to the College Football Playoffs for the Buckeyes.\u00a0 Next week, Ohio State travels to Indianapolis to face Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game.\u00a0 A win there certainly adds credibility to their argument.\u00a0 Undoubtedly, the loss by Miami to Pittsburgh aids their cause<\/a> as it takes the possibility of two ACC teams in the playoff out of the question.\u00a0 However, Alabama\u2019s loss to Auburn in the Iron Bowl may be a roadblock for Ohio State<\/a>.\u00a0 The Buckeye\u2019s blowout loss to Iowa will always be a blemish on their record.\u00a0 With the ACC and Big-12 Champions likely each getting a spot, some will make the argument that a one-loss Alabama is more deserving of a playoff slot than the Buckeyes. Especially, if Auburn handily beats Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.<\/p>\n

Michigan\u2019s Way Forward<\/h2>\n

For Michigan, the loss is another disappointment in a disappointing season.\u00a0 With preseason hopes of trips to Indianapolis and even the playoffs, the Wolverines will likely end up in Outback Bowl in Tampa.\u00a0 In the near term, the team will get a much needed rest.\u00a0 This should allow for Peters to return to quarterback and for the backfield to return to full strength.\u00a0 With a fully mended offense to compliment an impressive defense, there is much hope for the Wolverines in whatever bowl they end up in.\u00a0 In the long term, there is much hope for Wolverines fans.\u00a0 Not only will Harbaugh get another off-season to coach up Peters, a whole host of starters will return on both sides of the ball.\u00a0 As Barrett and the Buckeyes can attest to, experience is always a positive thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saturday was a disappointing one for Michigan Wolverines fans everywhere.\u00a0 After jumping out to a 14-0 lead, the Wolverines eventually fell at home to their arch rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes.\u00a0 The loss marks Michigan\u2019s sixth straight loss to the Buckeyes as well as Ohio State Quarterback J.T. Barrett\u2019s fourth win against the team up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2339,"featured_media":10960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[79,71,279,73],"class_list":["post-10939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-bigten","tag-college-football","tag-football","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2339"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}