The 121st edition of “The Game” will take place on this week’s “Big Noon Saturday,” as No. 15 Michigan hosts No. 1 Ohio State (12 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
This matchup has held pivotal College Football Playoff implications in recent years, and this year is no different, as the Buckeyes can earn a berth in the Big Ten title game with a victory. Should the Wolverines win, they make it to the conference championship with a loss by either Indiana or Oregon.
All that said, this matchup is the featured rivalry in the Big Ten and one of the premier rivalries in college football altogether; nothing is a given on Saturday at The Big House.
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Here’s ‘The Game’ by the numbers:
0: There are no players on Ohio State’s current roster who were on the team the last time the Buckeyes beat Michigan (2019).
1: Bryce Underwood is looking to become the first Michigan true freshman QB to beat Ohio State in the FBS era, as well as the first true freshman QB to do so since Matt Barkley in 2009.
3: The underdog has won the Ohio State-Michigan game in three of the last four seasons.
5: Michigan is looking for its fifth straight win vs Ohio State, a feat the Wolverines haven’t accomplished since winning six straight from 1922-27; prior to this streak, Ohio State had won eight straight in the series.
6: Ryan Day has only lost six regular season games in his career, and four have come against Michigan; he is 75-6 in the regular season as Ohio State’s head coach, and 81-10 when including bowl games.
7.6: Ohio State is holding opponents to 7.6 PPG, which is on pace to be the fewest allowed by a team in a single season since 1986 Oklahoma (6.8).
8: The Buckeyes have won eight straight games vs ranked opponents, the longest active streak in FBS.
11: Ohio State has won 11+ games in five consecutive seasons, the longest active streak in FBS.
13: The Buckeyes have been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll for 13 straight weeks, the school’s longest run at No. 1 since 2006.
15: Ohio State has won 15 games in a row, the longest active win streak in FBS.
19-1: Julian Sayin has thrown 19 TDs to just 1 INT against Big Ten opponents this season.
20.5: Michigan’s win as a 20.5-point underdog over Ohio State last season was the rivalry’s largest upset win in the FBS era.
23: The team to win the rushing battle has won each of the last 23 meetings between these teams; the last team to get out-rushed and still win the game was Michigan in 2000.
26-9: Ohio State has only trailed for a total of 26 minutes and nine seconds this season, and have yet to trail in the second half of any game on the year.
36: Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate have combined for 36 receiving TDs since the beginning of last season, the most of any duo in FBS in that span.
50: This is the 50th ranked matchup between Ohio State and Michigan (most of any matchup in college football history), and the sixth time in the last seven meetings between the two.
89.01: Ryan Day has won 89.01% of his games, the second-highest winning percentage of any head coach in college football history behind Walter Camp (92.4%).
98: Jeremiah Smith needs 98 receiving yards to record consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, which would make him the first Ohio State player ever to reach that milestone in his freshman and sophomore seasons.
121: This will be the 121st meeting between these two programs, with the first one having been played in 1897; Michigan leads the all-time series 62-56-6.
333: Ohio State has outscored opponents by 333 points this season, the third-best mark in FBS— trailing only Indiana and Texas Tech.
1984: The last time Michigan beat the No. 1 team in the AP Poll was 1984, taking down Miami that year; a win vs Ohio State would also be the fourth-ever win vs the AP No. 1 team in school history.
2,011: These two programs have a combined 2,011 wins between the two of them, and are the two winningest programs in college football history (Michigan— 1,022, Ohio State— 989).
2,166: Bryce Underwood has 2,166 pass yards on the year, which is already the second-most by a true freshman QB in school history (Chad Henne– 2,743 in 2004).
2,191: Gameday will mark 2,191 days since Ohio State last beat Michigan (November 30, 2019); this is the first time Ohio State has gone more than five calendar years without beating Michigan since a near-7-year drought from 1987-94.
2,217: Jeremiah Smith has 2,217 receiving yards in his career, which is the most of any Buckeye ever in their first two seasons.
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