Kornacki: Wolverines Look Forward to The Game
11/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- It could be said that playing Ohio State on Saturday (Nov. 29) in Columbus will be Michigan's bowl game. But if the Wolverines are able to spring an upset, which they've done several times against long odds in this rivalry, it would actually make them bowl eligible.
Still, Michigan's players seemed motivated most by simply beating the Buckeyes.
"It's the biggest rivalry in all of sports," said Wolverines outside linebacker Joe Bolden, a junior from Cincinnati. "It's the last Saturday in November. Going back to your home state, in front of a lot of people that don't like you anymore, but obviously it's a meaningful game.
"You can throw out the records, you can throw out what the point difference is -- it's a football game. It's played like every other football game, and at the end of the day you're going to see who is better."
But where the records are concerned, Ohio State is 10-1 and headed to the Big Ten championship game. Though, the Buckeyes can forget a berth in the College Football Playoff's semifinals with one more defeat.
Michigan (5-6) would like to have a winning record and go bowling, but it quite simply just wants to win the game. Coming so close last year in a game nobody gave them a chance to win fuels their belief that victory is possible. The Wolverines lost, 42-41, when a two-point conversion pass for the win went incomplete.
"We're not playing for a whole lot like they are," said Michigan center Jack Miller, from Perrysburg, Ohio. "They are trying to get a bid into the playoff, but games like this are what this rivalry's built on, when one team is a big underdog."
Miller, after Saturday's loss to Maryland, looked around the postgame interview room, where middle linebacker Jake Ryan of Westlake, Ohio, and Bolden also were speaking to the media
"All three kids in here are Ohio kids," Miller said, "and I can tell you that it would be pretty sweet to go in their backyard and get a win."
Last year's near-win has Miller and his teammates believing.
"That's my point exactly," he said. "We were kind of in the same boat last year, and we were right there able to win the game."
But Miller downplayed the aspect of potentially ruining OSU's season.
"It's about us trying to go out on a good note," he said. "That's a pretty nice way to end the season. They are playing for a lot, and we're not. That's no secret. Would it ruin their season? Yeah. But that's not the goal. The goal is to go out on the right note.
"Obviously, at the end of the year you would like to say that you didn't have a losing record or that you went to a bowl game. But we're just trying to beat Ohio and let the chips fall where they may."
Michigan will have to run the ball well to challenge the Buckeyes, and it rushed for its Big Ten season-high of 292 yards Saturday against Maryland. Junior/sophomore Drake Johnson, an Ann Arbor native who had 14 carries for 94 yards against the Terps, credited the offensive line for the holes provided and senses a growing confidence in the ground game. He's looking forward to his first carries against OSU.
"I think it's the biggest rivalry," said Johnson, "and we are going to go out there and give 100 percent. It's Ohio, and we are going to give them that extra (attention). Especially since it is the last game of the year with everything riding on it."
Ryan has been Michigan's best player this season and is coming off a career-high 14-tackle game that pushed his season total to 104. Saturday's game will be his last as a Wolverine unless his team can win.
"It's the biggest rivalry in college football," said Ryan. "I've played in it, and it's going to be a great game. I can tell you that much. We're going to treat it like every other game, but it's a rivalry game, so it'll be more amped up. We're excited for it."
Michigan head coach Brady Hoke, who grew up near Dayton, Ohio, but rooted for the Wolverines as a youngster, was asked about re-focusing his team on the Buckeyes after Saturday's loss.
"From what I've seen of this team, every week, I don't think that will be a problem," Hoke said. "I do know that the opportunity to play in the greatest rivalry in sport, that kind of gets your juices going.
"Obviously, we've got the greatest rivalry game, in my opinion, in college football coming up, and that's what we're going to focus on."
