By Kelley King, SI.com
What we learned
Ohio State: Off-field troubles can dampen a team's spirits or galvanize them. Ohio State, after spending the past two weeks fielding questions about former tailback Maurice Clarett's allegations of athletic department impropriety, found the fire that seemed to be lacking for the better part of the season. From the game's first drive, in which sophomore quarterback Troy Smith launched the ball to freshman Anthony Gonzalez for a 68-yard touchdown, Ohio State played with equal parts fearlessness and intelligence. An offense that has been unproductive all year finished with 446 total yards -- 47 more than a talent-packed Wolverines attack.
Michigan: In the week before this game, Wolverines freshman quarterback Chad Henne said that playing Ohio State in Ohio Stadium sounded "like fun." On Saturday, Henne, learned the hard way just how tough Big Ten road games, especially one against a good-news-hungry, 105,000-fan-strong crowd can be. After leading the Wolverines to two straight scoring drives to start the game, Henne's play started to dip, and Michigan's productivity fell along with it. Besides recording two interceptions against Henne, the Big Ten's pass-efficiency leader headed into the game, Ohio State allowed just 63 yards to Michael Hart, who paced conference running backs with 131.1 yards per game coming into Saturday. Henne and Hart have fed off of each other all season long, but "once [Ohio State] brought pressure," said Henne afterward, "it disrupted our timing and threw our game off."
Player who impressed me
Ohio State WR/PR Ted Ginn Jr. With all due respect to his former Glenville High (Cleveland, Ohio) teammate Smith, who had 241 passing yards and 145 rushing yards in the best game of his short career on Saturday, Ginn is a player whom you can't take your eyes off of. The Wolverines discovered that early in the second-quarter, when the freshman collected his first of five catches, which would include a 42-yarder to set up an Ohio State first down at the Michigan 22. Most electrifying of all his touches, however, was a punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter: After juking three Wolverines, he raced around punter Adam Finley and sprinted 82 yards up the left sideline for his fourth scoring return for the season, which ties an NCAA record. By the looks of it, his assault on the Buckeye record book has only just begun.
Locker room confidential
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr called Ginn's punt return for a touchdown "the turning point in the game." ... Why has it taken Ohio State so long to use Smith in the shotgun formation, a move that paid off in spades on Saturday? Said coach Jim Tressel: "I don't know, but it did, and here we are and now we're doing a little bit better." ... Ohio State snapped Michigan's eight-game winning streak this season and ended the Wolverines' 13-game Big Ten streak dating back to last year. ... 105,456 was second-largest crowd in Ohio Stadium history, surpassed only by the attendance from the 99th playing of this rivalry game. ... Perhaps the most impressive display by the Wolverines all day was the defensive line's denial of four straight Ohio State attempts within the 2-yard line in the second quarter.
The Big Picture
This wasn't the way Michigan wanted to head to the Rose Bowl -- by backing in -- but the Wolverines will take it. They had to wait to for the result of the Iowa-Wisconsin game, which began at 4:30 p.m. EST, to find out their fate. The Badgers squandered their chance to earn a trip to Pasadena, losing to the Hawkeyes in Iowa City and re-opening the door for Michigan to make its second straight journey Westward.
If Ohio State had found this rhythm earlier in the season, it may have been playing for a Big Ten title rather than spoiling another team's hopes for claiming it outright. Nevertheless, the Buckeyes did manage to avoid what could have been their first sub-.500 finish in conference play since 1999, and after a rocky week, that in itself is a triumph.
