NUGGETS
Ohio State is just better than Michigan. A lot better. This is what I wrote after Ohio State's 62-39 destruction of Michigan last season, a game that still stands as a thorough desecration to the idea of Michigan ever climbing Mount Buckeye under Jim Harbaugh. Let's see how this holds up, shall we?
Whether he declared himself such or not, Harbaugh was supposed to be the savior of Michigan football. Four years in, Michigan’s Savior in Khakis has won 38 games, but almost none that matter. None against Ohio State. No conference championships. No division championships. Certainly no national championships.
This was the type of loss that can push the Michigan fandom outside the Five Stages of Grief, beyond anger, bargaining, denial and all the rest and into quitting football altogether. If you go into this game expecting to exorcise your demons only to learn they’re even stronger and more powerful than they’ve ever been, well, wouldn’t you have to ask yourself, “Why do I do this to myself year after year? What’s the point?”
They’ll play this game again in 2019. Michigan will probably enter with Big Ten and national championship hopes; Ohio State most certainly will. And at some point in that game, Ohio State’s players will look at each other expecting everything to break their way, and Michigan will players will look at each other wondering if this is the moment everything starts to fall apart again.
And both sides will probably be right.
It's hard to tell exactly when that moment arrived Saturday: was it when Ohio State turned a 6-0 deficit into a 14-6 lead. Was it when they went up 42-16 in the third quarter? Or how about, after Michigan pulled within 42-27, Ohio State went turnover on downs, touchdown, turnover on downs, touchdown, interception in a 7-minute span to cement their 56-27 win. Either way, the same thing happened that almost always happened on the last Saturday in November: Ohio State beat Michigan.
When was the last time Michigan entered this game with the better coaching staff? The better quarterback? The better defense? The better offensive line? In a series where the team that wins the rushing battle wins the game nearly 100 percent of the time, Ohio State out-rushed Michigan 264-91.
Jim Tressel's arrival in 2001 neatly divides this rivalry into Before and After buckets. Ohio State upset the maize and blue in 2001, won a tight one en route to a national title in '02, and then Michigan beat an 11-1, 4th-ranked Ohio State team on its way to a Big Ten title in 2003. Since that game, Ohio State ripped off a 7-game winning streak, lost by six during a transitional season between Tressel and Urban Meyer, and has now won a program-record eight in a row. You would think Michigan would do better on accident than its 1-15 record since 2004.
It's not fair to Michigan to make this all about Michigan. Ohio State is the most consistent winner in college football since the 1950s, and they've been on another level post-Tressel. They've won 10 or more games in 14 of the past 15 seasons; their worst season since Meyer's hiring in 2012 was an 11-2 mark in 2016 that saw the Buckeyes reach the College Football Playoff. (Since 2002, Ohio State is 203-33, and seven of those losses came on Luke Fickell's watch.)
And yet, the following programs have beaten Ohio State more often than Michigan since 2004:
Penn State, Purdue -- four
Michigan State -- three
Clemson, Iowa, Texas, USC, Wisconsin -- two
Obviously, a 1-15 run against your biggest rival is about more than one coaching staff, one AD, one set of recruits. It's about culture. And, from examining the two cultures from afar, it's clear that this game simply means more to Ohio State. It's a way of life in Ohio in a way that it simply isn't in Michigan. All the hokey stuff like pretending the letter M doesn't exist and refusing to say the word "Michigan" -- the "little brother" stuff that Michigan views as beneath them -- seeps into the bone marrow of everyone in scarlet and gray, to the point where the Buckeyes live this game 365 days a year and have for years on end.
As Dan Wetzel wrote for Yahoo:
Michigan seems to spend its year arguing with Michigan State about who is or isn’t the big brother around here. Then dad shows up in late November to remind them who is the real boss.
Ohio State is a complex equation to solve, a brisk thoroughbred to catch. There's no question there. But Michigan is not the only school measuring itself against a world-class rival every Thanksgiving Saturday.
Auburn does it again. They were out-gained 515-354, they allowed a kick return for a touchdown, they surrendered seven drives of 50-plus yards and achieved only two, but they won the game. For the third time in four trips to the Plains, Alabama is going home with a loss.
Gus Malzahn moved to 3-4 against Nick Saban -- this is the best winning percentage any active SEC coach owns against Saban -- thanks to a classic 48-45 win.
It was a game that saw 48 points in the second quarter, and 21 of them in a span of 84 seconds. Auburn took a 17-10 lead thanks to a pick six of Tide quarterback Mac Jones, then trailed 24-17 within a minute in a half, thanks in large part to Jaylen Waddle's 98-yard kick return touchdown. In fact, Waddle scored four touchdowns over the course of the game, and all four erased Auburn leads.
Making his first (real) start, Jones threw for 335 yards and four touchdowns, put his first pick put his team in a 17-10 hole in the second quarter, and his second turned a 38-30 Alabama lead into a 37-31 Auburn edge.
It wouldn't be a classic Iron Bowl on the Plains without key field goals, and this one had two of them. Trailing 31-24 with nine seconds and no timeouts left, Auburn quarterback Bo Nix threw a 17-yard dump off to running back Boobee Whitlow. Rather than go down with three or four seconds left, Whitlow fought and fought and fought until the time expired in the half. Only, he fought so long that it allowed Malzahn to argue he was actually tackled with one second left. That argument triggered a review -- which worked as a de facto timeout for Auburn, who, again, had none of its own left. That allowed Malzahn to trot his field goal team on the field, and Anders Carlson booted a 52-yard field goal as time expired. Those three points proved to be the difference. Saban was livid, and he had a point.
Then, trailing 48-45 with two minutes remaining, Alabama just needed a 30-yard field goal to tie the game. Once again, Paris's poisoned arrow hit mighty Achilles in the heel.
Saban was also livid about a punt formation maneuver Malzahn executed that drew a game-ending penalty. Doug has more here.
Having won three of the last four Iron Bowls played on their home field, Auburn is in the strangest of places right now -- they don't want to run Gus out of town or extend him from now through 2050.
Alabama is also in a strange place. For the first time since 2013 and just the second since 2008, the calendar has flipped to December and the Crimson Tide are not in contention for the national championship.
At long last, Virginia is the king of its own state. The position Virginia found itself in at noon on Friday was admirable and dangerous at the same time. Bronco Mendenhall's team could snap its 15-game losing streak to Virginia Tech, win its first ACC Coastal championship in 15 tries and, possibly, clinch its first Orange Bowl trip ever all in one fell swoop. And the hated Hokies had to come to their place. All they had to do was win -- the kind of situation that would lead to either a long weekend of jubilation or existential torment, with no in between. The Cavaliers jumped out to a 13-3 lead, and then every single blue-and-orange mind in Scott Stadium immediately started calculating how the home team would blow the game to maximum devastation, as Bud Foster's defense forced six straight punts and five straight three-and-outs and Virginia Tech turned that 13-3 deficit into a 20-13 lead with 4:42 to play in the third quarter. The Cavs' offense did not punt again. Bryce Perkins (311 passing yards, 164 rushing, three touchdowns) led UVa 79 yards to tie the game at 20, then Virginia Tech went up 27-20 in four plays, and then Virginia tied it again at 27-27 in just five snaps. A 43-yard kickoff return put the Hokies near midfield to start their first drive of the fourth quarter and gains of 16 and 13 yards moved the ball to the UVa 27, but the Virginia defense stiffened from there, forcing a 47-yard field goal, putting VT back in front, 30-27. Perkins -- at this point sparking flames every time he threw the ball -- hit a 67-yard completion on the first play of Virginia's next drive, but it stalled at the VT 8, forcing a tying field goal. With the score tied at 30 in the middle of the fourth quarter, Virginia started making the plays it spent 15 years -- a decade and a half, straight -- watching the Hokies make. It started with an interception of Hokie quarterback Hendon Hooker with 4:47 to play, then a 48-yard field goal to go ahead 33-30 with 1:23 remaining. Virginia Tech took over at its own 18 knowing a touchdown would extend their streak to 16 and send them back to Charlotte for the seventh time, but the Virginia defense sensed the moment and simply would not be denied: a 2-yard sack on first down, a 9-yard sack on second down, and then a sack, a strip and a game-clinching, division-winning, streak-ending touchdown. A 20-13 deficit turned into a 39-30 win in 19 legendary minutes of game action. For the first time since 2003, the Commonwealth Cup lives in Charlottesville. For the first time ever, Virginia will play in the ACC title game.
Another Big Ten rivalry remains one-sided. Saturday was the 129th battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe and the biggest in any of our lifetimes -- a true Big Ten semifinal. A Wisconsin win would represent business as usual, while a Minnesota win would represent a changing of the guard.
And ever so briefly, it seemed like Minnesota might actually row its boat straight from Minneapolis to Indianapolis. The Gophers forced a three-and-out to open the game, then hit a 51-yard touchdown pass on their second snap.
Their next eight offensive possessions: punt, interception, punt, punt, punt, field goal, turnover on downs, fumble. And while the Gophers scored three points over those eight chances, Wisconsin ran off 38 en route to a 38-17 win.
You expect Wisconsin to out-rush you 173-76, but you don't expect them to throw for 280 yards to your 296.
Wisconsin won the Axe for the 15th time in 16 tries -- the same record over the same span in the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, which is fitting. Both Ohio State and Wisconsin own three Big Ten titles in the 2010s, with the grudge match coming in the final Big Ten game of the decade. Minnesota, meanwhile, will spend the next month grappling with a season that was both a dream and a nightmare. How often does this program win 10 regular season games? Once a century. PJ Fleck's team hit double-digit regular season wins for the first time since 1905, which is undoubtedly a cause for celebration. And yet within that triumph is devastation. This once-a-century season contained all too familiar disappointment, as the Gophers lost to both Wisconsin and Iowa for the 12th time in the last 19 years alone.
FRIESThe Super 16. The Nuggets is once again honored to vote in the FWAA-NFF Super 16 poll. Here's this week's ballot.
- Ohio State
- LSU
- Clemson
- Georgia
- Utah
- Oklahoma
- Baylor
- Wisconsin
- Alabama
- Minnesota
- Penn State
- Auburn
- Memphis
- Oregon
- Notre Dame
- Florida
Odds and Ends a. Thanks to Western Michigan's 17-14 loss to Northern Illinois on Tuesday, Central Michigan clinched its first MAC West championship in a decade with a 49-7 thumping of Toledo on Friday. It'll be Miami (Ohio) vs. CMU for the MAC title in Detroit on Friday night. b. Kent State is bowling for the first time since 2012 -- and the fourth time ever -- after a 34-26 win over Eastern Michigan on Friday. c. The Conference USA championship is set, as 2018 champ UAB will visit 2017 champ Florida Atlantic for the 2019 title. d. Thanks to Alabama's loss, both Big 12 title participants will head to Dallas thinking they're in the Playoff with a win. e. Baylor completed a 1-11 to 11-1 2-year turnaround with a 61-6 spanking of Kansas.
f. Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State for the fifth time in a row, the seventh in the last eight, the 15th in the last 17, the 44th in the last 52, and the 89th time in 114 all-time meetings.
g. Utah will have something to say about the Big 12 coronation, as the Utes moved to 11-1 with a 45-15 pummeling of Colorado. Kyle Whittingham's team has yet to beat a ranked team -- they'll get the chance against No. 14 Oregon next week in the Pac-12 Championship -- but 10 of their 11 wins have come by 18 points or more.
h. A year after winning one game over FBS competition, North Carolina is going bowling in Year 1 under Mack Brown 2.0. The Heels clinched it with a 41-10 drubbing of NC State in Raleigh.
i. Louisiana-Lafayette clinched the school's first 10-win season and also kept Louisiana-Monroe home for the winter with a 31-30 win, as the Cajuns survived a 35-yard field goal miss with two seconds left.
j. The Sun Belt championship pits a 10-2 ULL against App State, the first 11-1 team in conference history. Normally, Sun Belt teams rack up losses against Power 5 competitions, but App State won at North and South Carolina and lost only to a bowl-bound Georgia Southern. k. An awkward situation has developed in the American, where a 34-24 Memphis win over Cincinnati on Friday clinched an AAC championship that is... Cincinnati at Memphis in an immediate rematch. Despite heavy competition from App State and an 11-1 Boise State, the winner of Bearcats-Tigers II is likely headed to the Cotton Bowl. l. This is why you don't schedule inter-divisional games in the final week of the season unless tradition leaves you no other choice. m. Nebraska missed a bowl in three straight years now for the first time in nearly six decades, and this is how it happened.
n. Kentucky beat Louisville for the second straight year and third out of four behind "quarterback" Lynn Bowden, Jr., who threw for four yards and ran for an SEC quarterback record 284 yards and four touchdowns in a 45-13 blowout.
o. Duke 27, Miami 17.
p. Michigan State 19, Maryland 16.
q. If the football gods are just, 6-6 Miami will play 6-6 Michigan State in the Pinstripe Bowl, and it'll be 15 degrees and sleeting sideways.
r. After losing in seven overtimes last season, LSU scored six touchdowns and surrendered seven points in a 50-7 drubbing of Texas A&M.
s. Washington beat Washington State 31-13, and the joke here is that the author of the tweet played quarterback for the Huskies for four straight Apple Cups.
t. Whatever feeling Minnesota has after its 10-2 season, Air Force shares it. Troy Calhoun's team completed a 10-2 regular season with a 20-6 win over Wyoming, but losses to Navy and Boise State means the Falcons missed out on the Mountain West championship and the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. u. After starting 0-2 and 2-5, Tennessee is 7-5 after a 28-10 win over Vanderbilt. Vandy's longest winning streak over Tennessee in 90 years is now history, and it'll probably be another 90 years before Vanderbilt beats Tennessee three times in a row again. v. You don't see this often: Syracuse beat Wake Forest in overtime, by nine points. The Orange got a field goal in the top of the first overtime, then raced a fumble 94 yards for the clinching, unnecessary touchdown. w. The Tony Sanchez era at UNLV closed with a win and an ugly brawl at Nevada.
x. The new Rutgers head coach will inherit a 21-game Big Ten losing streak after a 27-6 loss to Penn State, and the new Arkansas coach will inherit a 19-game SEC losing streak after a 24-14 loss to Mizzou on Friday.
y. Indiana has won eight games for the first time since 1993 after blowing a 28-10 lead over Purdue, then holding on for a 44-41 win in double overtime. IU is a football school.
z. Isn't it sad that it's taken this long to mention the Florida-Florida State game? Florida won 40-17, (somehow) the Gators' first win over FSU in the Swamp since Tim Tebow's Senior Day.
DESSERT I know you know about this by now, but Ole Miss really lost the Egg Bowl because one of its players celebrated his decisive touchdown by pretending to urinate like a dog.
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