Breakdown of Michigan Football’s 30-24 win over Ohio State
“Hello, yes!” Podcast hosts Tony Garcia and Rainer Sabin break down Michigan’s 30-24 win over Ohio State, Nov. 25, 2023, at Michigan Stadium.
Ohio State and Michigan lived up to the hype and delivered a high-pressure, head-to-head matchup between two of the best teams in the Bowl Subdivision.
Michigan’s 30-24 win is the program’s third straight win in the series, and its first since 1995-97, putting into bold and italicized text what we already know: The Big Ten and this rivalry belongs to the Wolverines.
The win sends Michigan to the Big Ten Championship game and a matchup with Iowa. A win there would make the Wolverines no worse than the No. 2 seed in the semifinals depending on what happens in the SEC Championship game.
Beating the Buckeyes keeps the spotlight off coach Jim Harbaugh, who served out a three-game suspension from the conference as part of the program’s sign-stealing scandal and will return to the bench for the game against the Hawkeyes. The loss would have made it impossible to ignore the ongoing NCAA investigation into the scandal and the fact that Harbaugh was suspended for half of Michigan’s regular-season schedule.
Instead, Saturday’s fallout is reserved for Ohio State coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes, who spent months honing a more physical style to better suit the Wolverines but were outmatched in the second half.
A year ago, Ohio State lost to Michigan but reached the College Football Playoff. Given the depth of the Power Five contenders in this year’s race, the Buckeyes’ chances of finishing in the top four this season are slim to none.
The program should head into next season with Day under control, though the scrutiny he’ll face after this loss could make this a moment to evaluate other prospects, like Texas A&M. With or without Day, this will be another season of intense self-reflection.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes lead Saturday’s winners and losers:
Winners
Washington
It took some luck, clutch kicking and overcoming some head-scratching play calls in the final minute, but Washington remained undefeated with a 24-21 Apple Cup win over Washington State. This turns next Friday’s Pac-12 Championship rematch against Oregon into a playoff game. The Huskies won 36-33 when the rivals met during the regular season. Washington was able to sneak past the Cougars despite another mediocre game from quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who completed 18 of 33 throws on just 6.2 yards per attempt. But he made a 65-yard scoring drive in the final two minutes that was capped off by a 42-yard field goal as time expired. The Huskies have been living on borrowed time for months with a string of close wins but are still just one victory away from a playoff berth.
Alabama
With Alabama down 24-20 and facing fourth-and-goal from the Auburn 31-yard line with less than a minute left, Jalen Milroe took a shotgun snap, stood in the middle of a clean pocket for seven seconds and then found wide receiver Isaiah. Bond in the back left corner of the end zone to steal a 27-24 Iron Bowl win and keep the Crimson Tide’s playoff hopes alive entering the SEC Championship game against Georgia. Milroe made another Heisman statement late in the day with 366 yards of total offense, including a team-best 107 yards on the ground, and two touchdown passes and no interceptions. The miracle win sends the Tide into December with just one non-conference loss to Texas, making this season one of the most impressive of coach Nick Saban’s career.
The miracle of the iron pot: The improbable win shows that God is a fan of Alabama
Oklahoma State
Down 24-6 at halftime against Brigham Young, the Cowboys rode three touchdowns from Ollie Gordon to force overtime and then outscored the Cougars 40-34 in two overtime frames to earn a spot versus Texas in the Big 12 championship game. Oklahoma State was sidelined as a contender after Losing in September to South Alabama and Iowa State, Oklahoma State closed with seven wins in eight games to win its second conference title of the Mike Gundy era. The comeback win is heartbreaking for rival Oklahoma, which lost to the Cowboys earlier this season and needed a BYU win to earn a rematch with the Longhorns. Gordon’s 166 yards and five touchdowns could be enough to get Gordon into Manhattan as a Heisman finalist.
Florida State
It wasn’t a perfect day: Louisville’s loss to Kentucky isn’t good for Florida State, which clearly would have preferred the Cardinals to have just one defeat in the ACC Championship game, and Alabama could have beaten Auburn to stay in the playoff. The Seminoles are looking over their shoulders when the committee releases the final rankings next Sunday. However, in the end, all they can and should do is focus on taking care of things and finish the regular season undefeated, confident that no undefeated Power Five teams will miss the top four. So far, so good. Backup quarterback Tate Rodemaker had 134 receiving yards in his first start in place of Jordan Travis and the Seminoles posted a 24-15 win at Florida to head into the matchup with Louisville up 12-0. Defensively, FSU held the Gators to just 232 yards and did a really nice job containing young quarterback Max Brown, who had just 86 yards on 16 attempts with an interception.
Michigan State
The Spartans ended the regular season on Friday with a 42-0 loss to Penn State, the latest chapter in one of the most miserable years in program history. A day later, some good news came: Michigan State officially hired former Oregon State coach Jonathan Smith, a skilled rebuilder who turned the Beavers into one of the best teams in the Pac-12 and a New Year’s Six contender. That experience will pay off when he takes over a team and program that needs an overhaul.
The new vessel is eligible
Many teams clinched bowl eligibility outright. That includes Central Florida, which beat Houston 27-13. Virginia Tech returned to the postseason for the first time under coach Brent Brey with a 55-17 win in the Commonwealth Cup against Virginia. South Florida, Rice, Marshall, Syracuse, Old Dominion, Louisiana-Lafayette and Northern Illinois also earned their sixth win on Saturday.
Losers
Ryan Day
Day’s tenure is in danger of being swallowed up by his team’s missteps in the game against Michigan, in the same way that John Cooper’s era at Ohio State is remembered not for two semi-national championships in 1996 and 1998 but for his dismal record against him. Wolverine. Today is now 56-7 overall with the Buckeyes, but three of those losses have come in that rivalry and all but one have come against teams in the top five in the playoff standings. So these games against Michigan could present a bigger problem for the program: Ohio State has enjoyed lesser opponents but has fallen short against other members of college football’s upper crust, starting with this bitter rivalry.
Louisville
Louisville’s playoff hopes didn’t change very dramatically with the 38-31 loss to Kentucky — the Cardinals almost certainly wouldn’t make it anyway, no matter what. Not to say it doesn’t hurt. The Cardinals outgained the Wildcats by more than 100 yards but turned the ball over three times, allowed special teams touchdowns and couldn’t stop Ray Davis, who had 127 yards of total offense and three scores. The bottom line doesn’t change much: Louisville can secure a new bid for Year 6 by beating Florida State in the ACC Championship game or as the next best team from the conference if the Seminoles finish in the top four. Unfortunately, the loss puts a bad end to what was a great first regular season for coach Jeff Brohm.
North Carolina
UNC won six in a row to open the year but will enter the postseason having lost four of six, capped by an ugly 39-20 loss at rival North Carolina State. The Wolfpack and coach Dave Doeren deserve a lot of credit for a nine-win season that almost no one expected, especially given the team’s woes at quarterback and offense. But this was more about the Tar Heels and the feeling that this was a lost season: wasted by not making the most of a hot start, a buyout-ready ACC and what will likely be the final season for quarterback Drake Maye, potentially the top pick. In next year’s NFL draft. NC State did a good job on Maye, limiting the potential All-America selection to 22 completions on 38 attempts for 254 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. However, Maye had 106 yards and a score on the ground.
Florida
Florida is an undisciplined, inconsistent mess of a program that can’t even find a way to beat the Travis-less Seminoles at home when it needs to win to earn bowl eligibility. The loss dropped the Gators to 5-7 and made Billy Napier the program’s first coach since Raymond Wolfe in 1946-47 to have back-to-back losing seasons. Napier joins Wolfe and Josh Cody (1936-37) as the only coaches to have a losing streak in each of their first two seasons. Yes, in case it wasn’t obvious: Napier became a historically disastrous hire for Florida.
Colorado
Two months ago, Colorado was hailed as the biggest story in college football — if not the biggest story in all of sports — after opening the Deion Sanders era with wins over TCU, Nebraska and Colorado State. The Buffaloes would win just one more from there, capping the regular season with starting quarterback Shedor Sanders sidelined for a 23-17 loss to Utah. Playing as fourth-string quarterback Luke Bottari, the Utes would make just 10 pass attempts on 53 carries for 268 yards.
Quintet club
Multiple teams entered the weekend’s competition needing one win to relegate to the bowl game but fell short. BYU and Washington State just missed out on some upsets. There’s also Navy, which trailed SMU 52-7 at halftime in a blowout loss. Minnesota couldn’t get over the hump after losing to Wisconsin for the first time in three years. Illinois lost in a shootout to Northwestern 45-43. South Carolina was shut out with a 16-7 loss to Clemson. Earlier this week, Mississippi State dropped the Egg Bowl to Mississippi, Central Michigan lost to Toledo, Oklahoma destroyed TCU, and worst of all, Nebraska lost 13-10 to Iowa to end Matt Rhule’s first season.
Happy club
Well, at least it’s over. Fortunately, we won’t have to watch Baylor, Cincinnati, Nevada, Indiana, Pittsburgh and Houston again. The Bears couldn’t get a late defensive stop and lost 34-31 to West Virginia, raising the odds that the program will move on from Dave Aranda. Cincinnati has won more than 50 games in the last five years under Luke Fickell, but went 3-9 under Scott Satterfield, closing with a 49-16 loss at home to Kansas. Pittsburgh also finished 3-9, and the less said about the Panthers the better.
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