COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The game had barely ended before the chants began to rain down from a large contingent of Michigan fans clustered in one corner of SECU Stadium.
Beat O-hio! Beat O-hio!
Four years running, Michigan has. The Wolverines have done it by following a reliable formula that involves hitting their crescendo at exactly the right time. It looked for a while as if this year’s team might have to find a new approach. As Michigan’s stretch of mediocrity dragged into November, the idea of a late-season surge started to look unrealistic.
A 45-20 victory against Maryland, a team that’s lost seven games in a row, won’t make anyone in Columbus cower in fear. Still, Saturday’s performance, coupled with the first three quarters of last week’s narrow escape against Northwestern, could be enough to raise the question: Is this happening again?
“This whole season we’ve been preaching, ‘Peak at the perfect time,’” quarterback Bryce Underwood said. “I feel like it’s coming along.”
Michigan spends 364 days a year getting ready for The Game. Winter workouts, spring practice, summer conditioning, preseason camp — all of it builds toward that final Saturday of the regular season. The intensity that fuels the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is impossible to sustain for the course of a full season, or even a few weeks. The adrenaline has to hit at the perfect time.
How Michigan does this, exactly, is a bit of a mystery. The Wolverines aren’t trying to play at less than their best against teams like Purdue and Northwestern. They certainly didn’t try to commit those five turnovers last week at Wrigley Field. Nevertheless, when they’ve needed to level up against Ohio State, they’ve found a way to do it.
“You can’t prepare for The Game the week of The Game,” coach Sherrone Moore said. “It’s gotta happen in January. It’s gotta happen in February. It’s gotta happen in March, in the summer. If you try to shift the way you prepare that week, then it’s too late.”
The narrative of late is that Michigan’s four-game winning streak against the Buckeyes is partly a product of how Michigan approaches The Game. There was a time when the Wolverines were accused of not emphasizing it enough. That changed in 2021, when Jim Harbaugh put beating Ohio State at the heart of his plan to rejuvenate Michigan football. It worked, regardless of what people want to say about the NCAA fallout that followed.
Last year’s Ohio State team buckled under the pressure of the rivalry and lost at home to an inferior Michigan team. After the Buckeyes went on to win the national championship, there was talk of keeping the rivalry in perspective and not letting the Michigan game define the season. The Buckeyes have dominated every team not named Michigan, so there’s a good case for treating the Wolverines just like everyone else.
Sherrone Moore led Michigan to a big upset of Ohio State in Columbus last November. (Jason Mowry / Getty Images)
There’s zero debate about which team has been more consistent this season. The opponents change, but Ohio State’s scores mostly look the same: 42-9, 48-10, 34-10, 38-14, 34-0. The Buckeyes have every reason to believe that as long as they do what they’ve done all season, they should handle Michigan with ease.
The Wolverines know they can’t do what they’ve done all season and have a prayer of beating Ohio State. We’ll see if that helps or hurts. We’ll see if an Ohio State team that’s been in cruise control for much of the season can find the white-hot intensity that this rivalry demands, and we’ll see if Michigan can grow up fast enough to hang with college football’s most complete team.
“I watch them every week,” Moore said. “They’re a really good football team. They’re the No. 1 team in the country. They’ve got talent everywhere: on offense, on defense, on special teams. I think we’ve got a really good football team, too.”
Many Michigan fans would have disagreed with that assessment at points this season. As recently as last week, in fact, there was tension in the air when the Wolverines were in danger of blowing a double-digit lead against Northwestern. It will take more than one comfortable win against Maryland to change the forecast for Ohio State, but if there was a week to stomp an overmatched opponent, this was it.
Michigan converted 12 of 14 third downs, got 100 rushing yards from third-string running back Bryson Kuzdzal and didn’t have a single punt. Most importantly, Underwood looked as calm and poised as he has all season.
Underwood’s two fourth-quarter interceptions against Northwestern overshadowed the noticeable improvements he’s made. He is completing 67 percent of his passes and averaging 9 yards per attempt the past two weeks, both significantly better than his season averages. With freshman Andrew Marsh emerging as a go-to wide receiver, Underwood is showing the patience to find Marsh when he’s open, which seems to be most of the time.
“You never stop coaching these kids,” Moore said. “The best thing about it (is) he wants it. He wants to be coached. He wants to be pushed. He just keeps getting better and better.”
Moore has been saying things like that all season. Now, at last, it’s starting to show up on the field. There are no guarantees that Michigan’s modest progress will be enough to beat Ohio State, but we’ve seen the Wolverines do this before, and they’re starting to look like a team that could do it again.
It might be too little, but it’s definitely not too late.