2023-24 ohio state #1
THE ESSENTIALS
| WHAT | #75 Michigan (6-10, 1-4 B10) vs #42 Ohio St (12-4, 2-3 B10) |
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|---|---|---|
| WHERE | Crisler Center Ann Arbor, MI |
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| WHEN | Noon | |
| THE LINE | Kenpom: OSU-1 Torvik: OSU-2 |
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| TICKETS | available | |
| TELEVISION | Fox (streaming link) |
THE OVERVIEW
Michigan Football just won the National Championship, as well as three straight Big Ten titles thanks to three straight victories over Ohio State, which hasn't beaten its rival in the one thing they care about since 2019. There are people walking the Earth with fully functional long-term memories who were not alive when Ohio State last beat Michigan.
Also the Detroit Lions won a Playoff game for the first time since I was eleven.
The sacrifice for this was Michigan Basketball, which hasn't won a game since EMU on December 16th, and hasn't defeated a Big Ten opponent at home since the overtime game against Wisconsin last February. Their losses this year have been like last year's. Since the start of December, the cagers fell to Oregon in OT, gave up a late lead to Indiana, fell to Florida in double-overtime, fell short of a comeback against McNeese State, finished a bucket short against Minnesota, and gave up a pair of double-digit halftime leads on the road against Penn State and Maryland. The last was the first of PG Dug McDaniel's six road game suspensions, with visits to Purdue and MSU on the horizon.
It's safe to say this season is pretty much dead. However the message boarders feel about it, the vibe from Athletics is Warde Manuel may give Juwan Howard—as John Beilein and Jim Harbaugh were given at similar points in their Michigan tenures—a chance to remake his program. Outcomes from here on are largely irrelevant. What is relevant is Michigan only has three games left on their schedule—all at home—that they're favored to win according to Kenpom. At 49 percent, this is the next closest. It would also make Ohio State fans feel bad, in addition to, you know, the football things.
As for OSU, they have an emphatic victory over Alabama, a not-as-good-as-it-looked win over UCLA, and a three-point loss at Penn State that they led by as much as 18 at one point. They're on a two-game losing streak right now.
[Hit THE JUMP for I'm half-assing it again because the other article I have open is a giant Neck Sharpies from the Championship Game.]
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