Rewatch the 2nd half of The Game when possible
What a glorious victory...while last year was cathartic, this year was validation that Jim has built something special and sustainable at UM, not just a fluke.
For those that have time, I'd say go back and watch the 2nd half of the game...you can literally see when OSU begins get tight, lose hope and give up. You can see the point when their will is broken - as players such as Sainristil and Barrett suggested. After the past 20 years, I never would have thought we'd see UM so superior to OSU mentally, psychologically and in terms of resilience. Toughness is not just physicality....OSU has become an incredibly soft and vulnerable program.
When OSU cracked: After JJ's TD to make the score 31-20, you can just hear it in the crowd and see the OSU players start to slow down, slump over, play softer and our O-line take over.
The two late D. Edwards runs were incredible, but really the effects of one program (UM) with a tougher - 60 minutes of football culture, and another (OSU) that tries to blow you off the field with talent in the first 20 minutes - but wants no part of a dog fight.
TLDR: Teams take on the personality of their head coach and leaders...Harbaugh has steel in his spine, Day really is that "born on 3rd" guy.
November 28th, 2022 at 1:39 AM ^
Definitely agreed. To me, it really became apparent in the second half OSU thought they were entitled to victory and playing the game itself was a formality (no halftime adjustments, no scheme changes, overly conservative play calling, etc.).
They looked like a team that talked the talk, but deep down believed beating Michigan is a formality and not something that they had to earn. When they became confronted with reality, they didn't know how to respond and subsequently folded. Edwards dealt them the knockout blow with the back-to-back 75+ yard touchdown runs.
Ryan Day has built and prepared his team to win horse races while Jim Harbaugh has built and prepared his team to win dog fights. Ryan Day and his team has not been prepared to respond when they get punched in the mouth and that's been the difference that's restored the balance in the rivalry.
November 28th, 2022 at 3:44 AM ^
Some of their late game defensive heroics really gave them a false sense of dominance. They weren't much better than Penn State and then the last half of that 4th Q happened.
November 28th, 2022 at 2:44 AM ^
We came, we saw, we conquered.
November 28th, 2022 at 6:27 AM ^
I can’t believe how much the script has flipped. For as many bad things as I can say about urban Meyer, you can safely say this probably never would’ve happened if the team was still under his direction. His teams brought physicality and a mental edge to rivalry games that could almost never be matched.
Like the OP mentioned, OSU now strikes me as a team that wants to just blow you off the field in the first 15 to 20 minutes and overwhelm you with superior talent, and then go on cruise control until the end. If you bring them into a dog fight for four quarters, they don’t want any part of it.
They’re still soft. Bringing Knowles in didn’t change that.
November 28th, 2022 at 8:24 AM ^
I was so happy when Freeman got the ND job. I think he would have been a huge upgrade at DC for OSU. Then they hired Knowles and said "he had the best defense in the Big12." To me that's like saying "he had the best smelling poop in the toilet."
November 28th, 2022 at 7:16 AM ^
I've watched the game three times now. After McCarthy scored to make it 31-20, their spoiled rotten fans quit on them.
November 28th, 2022 at 9:23 AM ^
How many times do you expect me to watch the 2nd half? This would make it 4 times in 3 days.