CLEVELAND — The unofficial holiday for Ohio State Buckeyes football fans is here.
It is time for “The Game” between the Ohio State Buckeyes and their archrivals, “That Team Up North,” the University of Michigan Wolverines. This year’s edition will be played at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor at noon Saturday.
To make sure fans were ready for “The Game,” the Ohio State football team posted a hype video to its Twitter and Facebook accounts.
From the marching band introduction to the countless clips of Ohio State’s successes from many editions in “The Game,” the hype video encouraged the players to “write history, leave a legacy, fight tough, become legends.”
This year, the Buckeyes (11-0) come into “The Game” as the No. 1 team in the country, according to the latest College Football Playoff rankings, while Michigan is the 13th ranked team in America heading into their “Senior Day” matchup with Ohio State.
Michigan leads the all-time series, 58-50-6, as well as the games played in Ann Arbor, 31-23-4, but Ohio State is on a seven-game winning streak against the Wolverines, including last year’s 62-39 victory at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.
Ohio State already has clinched the Big 10 East Division title and will play in the Big 10 Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday, December 7, but that is of little consequence to the Buckeyes, who know what this game means to fans.
“In recruiting, we talk to them right from the get-go,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said in his press conference earlier this week. “That’s one of the reasons why some people come to school here, for the rivalry. We make such a big deal of it.
“When you walk in the building, it’s all over the place. We talk about it all the time, talk about it in recruiting in all areas, strength and conditioning, football, other areas. It’s something that you just ingrain. The more these guys are in the program, the more they get it. We still have a huge majority of our guys from the area. They get it. They talk to the guys about that.”
