Displaced Cleveland Fan

The Buckeyes rolled into Ann Arbor having already guaranteed their spot in the Rose Bowl after defeating Iowa last week. This one was just about beating Michigan for the sixth straight year.

On the other side of the rivalry, the Wolverines were looking to end their five game losing streak to the Buckeyes. At 5-6, they were needing a win to become bowl eligible. They were losers of six out of their last seven. Michigan needed to win this game.

Fortunately, the Buckeyes weren’t going to let them have it.

Ohio State beat Michigan 21-10 in a game that was closer than it should have been. Watching the game, I was amazed at how long the Wolverines stayed in the game. But any hope they had was snuffed out by freshman QB Tate Forcier.

Forcier’s troubles began on their first drive when he fumbled the ball in the end zone and Ohio State’s Cameron Heyward recovered the ball for the Buckeyes’ first touchdown. After that, the freshman quarterback threw 4 interceptions - 3 of them coming in the 4th quarter.

Ohio State won again with the style they’ve developed this year - tough defense, good running game, limited mistakes in the passing game. The defense scored a touchdown on a fumble recovery and picked off four passes. The offense posted 251 rushing yards (Dan Herron - 96, Brandon Saine - 84, Terrelle Pryor - 74). Throwing the ball, Terrelle Pryor was 9 for 17 (52.9%) for 67 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.

The win gives the Buckeyes an outright Big Ten title. Michigan’s loss ends their season with a 5-7 record. The Wolverines are not bowl eligible. In their second year under coach Rich Rodriguez, Michigan has its second straight losing season and has finished in last place in the Big Ten for the first time since 1962. The only conference game they won was at home against Indiana. Even then, they only won by 3 points. Should be another rough year for the Wolverines next year.

Meanwhile, Ohio State is looking forward to facing either Oregon or Oregon State in the Rose Bowl.

-dcf

Tags: Brandon Saine, Cameron Heyward, Dan Herron, Michigan, Ohio State, Rich Rodriguez, Tate Forcier, Terrelle Pryor

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 4:09 pm and is filed under Ohio State Buckeyes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.