Michigan 16 - 35 Ohio St. (11:18 left in 3d Quarter)

On third and goal, the Buckeyes score on a pass from Fields to K.J. Hill (of N. Little Rock H.S. in Little Rock, Ark.)  I have been extremely disappointed in Michigan.  The Wolverines gave up 62 points to OSU last year, and they appear to have learned nothing in the intervening 12 months.  OSU can name the score.

ESPN gives OSU a 96.9 percent chance of victory.  Unless something major changes, I won't post anything more until this game is over.

Michigan 13 - 28 Ohio St. (13:06 left in 3d Quarter)

OSU is cruising down the field, as usual.  Facing a 2d and 7 at the Michigan 10, Fields can't find anyone open, and he runs out of bounds.  After he goes out of bounds, he is hammered by Michigan linebacker Cameron McGrone (of Lawrence Central H.S. in Indianapolis, Ind.)  Personal foul -- late hit.  Oh, and there was also defensive holding on the same play.  First and goal at the 5.  That's Michigan's day for you.

Michigan 16 - 28 Ohio St. (Halftime)

Quinn Nordin kicks a 23-yd field goal after Peoples-Jones dropped a touchdown pass, and Michigan cuts the lead to 12.

ESPN gives OSU a 90.4 percent chance of victory.  Hard to argue with that.

Michigan 13 - 28 Ohio St. (22 seconds left)

On 3d and goal from the OSU 5, Peoples-Jones appeared to catch another touchdown pass in the back of the end zone.  But a Buckeye slapped at the ball as he caught it, and he could not hang on.  So in case you are keeping track, Michigan has had:

1.  A missed extra point.
2.  A fumble deep in OSU territory
3.  A penalty on 4th and 4 to give OSU a first down
4.  A dropped TD pass in the end zone

It's all adding up.

Michigan 13 - 28 Ohio St. (3:15 left in 2d Quarter)

I thought that this would be a close game.  But I didn't realize that Michigan would make one stupid mistake after another.  In the last few minutes, Michigan fumbled deep in OSU territory, and then jumped offside to give OSU new life when the Buckeyes were about to punt.  Two plays later, J.K. Dobbins scooted into the end zone from five yards out for his third TD of the game.

ESPN now gives OSU a 92.4 percent chance of victory, and it's hard to disagree with that.  You can't give up 28 points in the first half at home and pull too many upsets.

Michigan 13 - 21 Ohio St. (3:29 left in 2d Quarter)

Michigan's defense held, creating a 4th and 4 at the OSU 43.  But then Michigan jumped offside on the punt, giving OSU five free yards and a new first down.

On the new first down, Fields hurled a pass to Garrett Wilson, who makes a diving catch at the Michigan 5.  This game is over.

Michigan 13 - 21 Ohio St. (6:32 left in 2d Quarter)

Michigan drove straight down the field, and soon had a 3d and 9 at the OSU 12.  But then Sean Patterson fumbled the snap, and the ball was recovered by OSU's Robert Landers (of Wayne H.S. in Huber Heights, Ohio).  Landers, a defensive lineman, may be the first Ohioan to touch the ball in this game.  But his play is huge.  The Buckeyes can now put Michigan in a very deep hole.

Michigan 13 - 21 Ohio St. (10:12 left in 2d Quarter)

Dobbins scoots in from six yards out, and OSU restores its eight-point lead.

I was right that Michigan is playing hard, and I was right that Michigan's offense is quite good.  But Michigan just seems to have no answer for the OSU offense.

Michigan 13 - 14 Ohio St. (11:35 left in 2d Quarter)

Facing 2d and 19 from its own 47, OSU goes 41 very easy yards on a slant pass from Fields to Garrett Wilson (of Lake Travis H.S. in Austin, Tex.)  Somehow Wilson ended up all alone on the right side of the field, and he trotted deep into Michigan territory.  So far, the Wolverines have had no answer to the Southerners who make up the OSU offense.

Michigan 13 - 14 Ohio St. (19 seconds left in 1st Quarter)

The Wolverines strike back!  It only takes Michigan three plays to go 75 yards.  They top off their drive with a 25-yard pass from Shea Patterson (of IMG Academy in Shreveport, La.) to Donovan Peoples-Jones (of Cass Technical H.S. in Detroit).  Good for Peoples-Jones -- it's nice to see a Midwesterner do something in this game.

With one quarter gone, ESPN gives OSU a 72.2 percent chance of victory.

Michigan 6 - 14 Ohio St. (1 minute left in 1st Quarter)

This is how OSU beat Michigan 16 times in the last 18 meetings.  The Buckeyes get up to midfield, and then Justin Fields (of Harrison H.S. in Kennesaw, Ga.) hits Chris Olave (of Mission Hills H.S. in San Marcos, Calif.) with a 51-yard touchdown pass.  Down through the years, Michigan's defense simply has not had an answer to OSU's athleticism.

Michigan 6 - 7 Ohio St. (3:54 left in 1st Quarter)

Michigan gets one first down, but can do no more.  The Wolverines punt to the OSU 19.

Michigan 6 - 7 Ohio St. (5:17 left in 1st Quarter)

Michigan's defense holds, and OSU punts.  After a penalty against the Wolverines, Michigan will start at its own 17.

Michigan 6 - 7 Ohio St. (7:20 left in 1st Quarter)

Michigan goes three and out and punts.  OSU will start from its own 45.

Michigan 6 - 7 Ohio St. (8:50 left in 1st Quarter)

It's easy when you know how.  OSU goes 75 yards in nine plays, capping off their touchdown drive with a 5-yd run by J.K. Dobbins of LaGrange H.S. in LaGrange, Tex.  (One of the great mysteries of college football in recent years is why so few great football players from Texas play for the University of Texas.)  Blake Haubeil of Canisius H.S. in Buffalo adds the extra point, and the Buckeyes have a one-point lead.

Michigan 6 - 0 Ohio St. (11:43 left in 1st Quarter)

The Wolverines take the opening kickoff and go 75 yards in 7 plays.  Giles Jackson, a freshman wide receiver from Freedom H.S. in Antioch, Calif., dashes 22 yards on an end-around for the touchdown.  Quinn Nordin, a senior from Rockford H.S. in Rockford, Mich., misses the extra point.

Michigan v. Ohio St.

Here are the last eighteen meetings between these two ancient rivals (home teams listed first):

11/24/01:  Michigan 20 - 26 Ohio St.
11/23/02:  Ohio St. 14 - 9 Michigan
11/22/03:  Michigan 35 - 21 Ohio St.
11/20/04:  Ohio St. 37 - 21 Michigan
11/19/05:  Michigan 21 - 25 Ohio St.
11/18/06:  Ohio St. 42 - 39 Michigan
11/17/07:  Michigan 3 - 14 Ohio St.
11/22/08:  Ohio St. 42 - 7 Michigan
11/21/09:  Michigan 10 - 21 Ohio St.
11/27/10:  Ohio St. 37 - 7 Michigan
11/26/11:  Michigan 40 - 34 Ohio St.
11/24/12:  Ohio St. 26 -21 Michigan
11/30/13:  Michigan 41 - 42 Ohio St.
11/29/14:  Ohio St. 42 - 28 Michigan
11/28/15:  Michigan 13 - 42 Ohio St.
11/26/16:  Ohio St. 30 - 27 Michigan
11/25/17:  Michigan 20 - 31 Ohio St.
11/24/18:  Ohio St. 62 - 39 Michigan

If you're keeping track at home, that's a record of 16-2 for the Buckeyes in the 21st century.  That's not much of a rivalry.  Michigan hasn't won in Columbus since Bill Clinton was president.  Michigan never beat Urban Meyer while he was at OSU.  Michigan hasn't held OSU to less than 30 points since 2012.

The odds-makers aren't giving Michigan much of a chance this year, either.  OSU's closest game was an 11-point win over Penn State last week.  Every other game has been a blowout.  According to Vegas, the Buckeyes are favored by nine in a game where 52 points are expected.  That would work out to something like a 30-21 victory for OSU.

And yet, I have a feeling that we will see some real drama today.  Early in the year, Wisconsin beat Michigan 35-14, and most folks haven't paid attention to them since.  But they are 9-2 on the year, with their only other loss coming by seven points at Penn State.  Here are their last four games:

10/26/19:  Michigan 45 - 14 Notre Dame
11/02/19:  Maryland 7 - 38 Michigan
11/16/19:  Michigan 44 - 10 Michigan St.
11/23/19:  Indiana 14 - 39 Michigan

Yes, Indiana is Indiana.  Yes, it's ludicrous that Maryland is in the Big 10.  But Notre Dame and Michigan State are long-time rivals who have tormented the Wolverines in the past -- this year Michigan crushed both of them in the Big House.  That's the version of Michigan that Ohio State is going to see today.

Fifty years ago, Ohio State was coming off of the 1968 national championship.  The Buckeyes were ranked number one all year.  They had no close games in the regular season.  The week before the Michigan game, they toyed with a Purdue team that was ranked 10th in the country, beating them 42 to 14.  But on November 22, 1969, they went to Ann Arbor and lost, 24 to 12.  The Bo Schembechler era had begun.  Jim Harbaugh has a chance to start his own era today.  I'm very curious to see what will happen.

Ohio St. 28 - 17 Penn St. (Final)

This is the only game all year where a team took Ohio State into the fourth quarter.  Down 21-0 in the third quarter, Penn State scored 17 quick points to make the score 21-17 with one quarter to go.  But OSU put one more touchdown on the board, and the Buckeye defense made it stand up, and Ohio State had its 11th victory of the season.

It was the last game of the year in Columbus, a town that loves its football team, and has rarely had a season more pleasant than this one.  The Buckeye fans cheered and cheered through the gloom and rain of the fourth quarter, and one can hardly blame them.  They have dominated almost every team they'v played, they pulled out a tough victory against a very good Penn State team, and now they are only two games away from the playoff.

Rutgers 21 - 56 Ohio St. (Final)

Neither  was this one.

Ohio St. 73 - 14 Maryland (Final)

This game was not worthy of coverage.

Ohio St. 38 - 7 Wisconsin (Final)

The Buckeyes continue to roll through the Big 10 like a runaway freight train, with no one able to give them a competitive game.  Wisconsin had completely dominated Michigan and Michigan State, and appeared to be the second-best team in the conference.  Maybe they are.  And for a quarter and a half, they seemed to meet OSU on fairly level ground.  But then the Buckeyes smashed them about as easily as they hammered Cincinnati, Nebraska, or any of the other over-matched opponents on their schedule.  OSU isn't out of the woods yet -- they still have to play Penn State, Michigan, and the Big 10 title game.  But you have to think that they are now a heavy favorite to reach the National Championship Playoff.

In the meantime, we did this blog from 2010 through 2016, and we never saw any team dominate the UCFC the way OSU is doing.  They aren't just winning -- they are crushing every team they play.

Ohio St. 24 - 7 Wisconsin (6:28 left in 3d Quarter)

The Wisconsin defense -- and, for that matter, the Wisconsin team -- look exhausted.  Fields got banged up scoring the last touchdown, and he is still in pain.  Nevertheless, OSU rolled down the field with very little difficulty.  The Buckeyes went 53 yards in only four plays.  The last play was a 9-yard run by J.K. Dobbins of LaGrange H.S. in LaGrange, Tex.

OSU has 300 yards of total offense, to only 107 for Wisconsin.  ESPN now gives OSU a 97.3 percent chance of victory.  Unless that number falls below 95 percent, I'm done with this game.

Ohio St. 17 - 7 Wisconsin (8:15 left in 3d Quarter)

Wisconsin is forced to punt, and OSU returns the punt to the OSU 47.  Now the Buckeyes can really put the hammer down.

ESPN gives OSU a 92.8 percent chance of victory.

Ohio St. 17 - 7 Wisconsin (9:34 left in 3d Quarter)

OSU took my advice.  They hammered the Wisconsin defense, going 75 yards in only eight plays.  Fields topped off the drive with a 10 yard scamper through a scattered Badger defense, and the Buckeyes have regained control of the game.

ESPN gives OSU an 89.4 percent chance of victory.

Ohio St. 10 - 7 Wisconsin (12:08 left in 3d Quarter)

It looked like OSU might dodge a bullet.  They had Wisconsin third and 6 at the OSU 26.  But then Wisconsin QB Jack Coan (of Sayville H.S. in Sayville, N.Y.) lobbed a pass through the rain toward A.J. Taylor (of Rockhurst H.S. in Kansas City).  Taylor made a great, leaping catch between two Buckeyes and fell into the end zone.  Wisconsin is on the board!

Kentucky fans could also tell OSU that if you're in a revenge game with the Badgers, they will never give up.  You have to beat them.

Ohio St. 10 - 0 Wisconsin (13:36 left in 3d Quarter)

Here come the Badgers.  First, the rejuvenated Badger defense forces a three-and-out.  And then the Badgers get their hands on the OSU punt.  The punt squibbed out of bounds at the Buckeye 30, and the Badgers will start from there.

Ohio St. 10 - 0 Wisconsin (Halftime)

Wisconsin gained a total of only 72 yards in the first half, with only four first downs.  The Badger offense has been completely dominated.  If they don't figure out something different, and figure it out soon, OSU fans should have a reasonably pleasant second half.

Ohio St. 10 - 0 Wisconsin (0:43 left in 2d Quarter)

Throughout the second quarter, OSU has slowly been gaining control of this game -- just as the stronger arm wrestler finally starts to push the other guy back.  OSU took the ball and went 58 yards on seven plays, putting themselves on the Wisconsin 27.  At this point, OSU finally threw deep.  Justin Fields (of Harrison H.S. in Kennsaw, Ga.) found Chris Olave (of Mission Hills H.S. in San Marcos, Calif.) all alone in the end zone, and the Buckeyes had their first touchdown of the game.

Ohio St. 3 - 0 Wisconsin (2:37 left in 2d Quarter)

For the fifth time in the first half, Wisconsin punts the ball.  OSU takes over on its own 15.

Gus Johnson says that we have a "classic Big Ten game."  I agree with him there.

Ohio St. 3 - 0 Wisconsin (6:52 left in 2d Quarter)

Finally, someone puts together something that's sort of a drive.  OSU goes 41 yards in 12 plays, which is not exactly the 1981 Chargers, but it gets them to the Wisconsin 32.  From there, Blake Haubeil (from Canisius H.S. in Buffalo) boots a 49-yard field goal through the driving rain to put OSU on the board.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (11:27 left in 2d Quarter)

Another punt from Wisconsin.  OSU starts from its own 27.

Yes, it's really this exciting.  Gus Johnson is the high point so far.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (14:08 left in 2d Quarter)

Another punt for Ohio State.  Wisconsin starts from its own 26.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (1:12 left in 1st Quarter)

Another punt from Wisconsin.  OSU starts from its own 10.

Gus Johnson just read a promo for the World Series, and it was the best baseball commentary I've ever heard on FOX.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (3:54 left in 1st Quarter)

Another punt by Ohio State.  Wisconsin will start from its own 19.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (7:33 left in 1st Quarter)

Another punt by Wisconsin.  The Buckeyes will start from their own 13.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (10:56 left in 1st Quarter)

The Bucks go nowhere, and punt back to Wisconsin.  After a penalty, the Badgers will start from their 19.

Meanwhile, the rain is pouring down, and Gus Johnson is talking about how we have "perfect playing conditions for this Great American Game called Football."  Gus Johnson is a treasure.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (12:53 left in 1st Quarter)

Wisconsin takes the opening kickoff, doesn't do much with it, and punts to the OSU 30.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Wisconsin (Pregame)

We have a noon kickoff, in Columbus, in the rain, on FOX, with Gus Johnson on the mike, and both the Buckeyes and Wisconsin wearing their real uniforms, as opposed to some weird alternate.  You can't ask fairer than that.

Ohio St. v. Wisconsin

OK, so let's review what Ohio State has done so far in its first year under coach Ryan Day (home teams listed first):

08/31/19:  Ohio St. 45 - 21 Florida Atlantic
09/07/19:  Ohio St. 42 - 0 Cincinnati
09/14/19:  Indiana 10 - 51 Ohio St.
09/21/19:  Ohio St. 76 - 5 Miami (Ohio)
09/28/19:  Nebraska 7 - 48 Ohio St.
10/05/19:  Ohio St. 34 - 10 Michigan St.
10/18/19:  Northwestern 3 - 52 Ohio St.

Very impressive.  OSU is number 3 in the country, trailing only Alabama and LSU.  They are 7-0, and they have yet to play a competitive fourth quarter.  But check out Wisconsin's record:

08/30/19:  S. Florida 0 - 49 Wisconsin
09/07/19:  Wisconsin 61 - 0 Cent. Michigan
09/21/19:  Wisconsin 35 - 14 Michigan
09/28/19:  Wisconsin 24 - 15 Northwestern
10/05/19:  Wisconsin 48 - 0 Kent St.
10/12/19:  Wisconsin 38 - 0 Michigan St.
10/19/19:  Illinois 24 - 23 Wisconsin

Until their trip to Champaign-Urbana last week, the Badgers were playing extraordinarily well.  They were caught napping at the end of the Illinois game and it cost them.  So today's game -- which should have been the Game of the Year in the Big 10 with two top-six teams -- features the number-3 Buckeyes against the number-13 Badgers.  Now it's not even the biggest game of the day; that honor goes to LSU v. Auburn.

But Kentucky fans know that Wisconsin is not the sort of team you want to play when they are the underdogs.  It is very difficult for the Badgers to maintain the type of discipline and focus that you need to go all the way -- they will often lose just when you start to believe in them.  But what they love to do more than anything is to beat heavy favorites.  And like Taylor Swift, there is nothing that they do better than revenge.  Now that the Badgers have probably thrown away their own chance at reaching the College Football Playoff, they would love to spoil Ohio State's chances.  The Buckeyes will not see the team that threw away a pretty easy win against a mediocre Illinois team.  Instead, they will host the guys who blew out Michigan and Michigan State.

Of course, the Buckeyes may turn out to be so good that they can beat Wisconsin even when the Badgers are going all out.  That's what Vegas thinks.  The folks out there have installed OSU as a 14 point favorite in a game where 49 points are expected.  That would work out to something like a 31-17 win for the Buckeyes -- and a very impressive win it would be.

Northwestern 3 - 52 Ohio St. (Final)

I don't cover college football games on Friday night, unless it's a bowl game.

Ohio St. 34 - 10 Michigan St. (Final)

Nothing much happened in the second half, as OSU used its defense to maintain its stranglehold on the Spartans.  For the game, the Buckeyes outgained MSU by 529 yards to only 285.  OSU took a solid, well-coached team -- the type of team you're likely to see in one of the better bowl games -- and crushed them.  OSU is now 3-0 in the Big 10, and 6-0 overall, and no one has been able to challenge them.

They get next week off, and the rest of their schedule looks like this:

10/18:  at Northwestern (1-4)
10/26:  WISCONSIN (5-0)
11/9:  MARYLAND (3-2)
11/16:  at Rutgers (1-4)
11/23:  PENN ST. (5-0)
11/30:  at Michigan (4-1)

After that would come the Big 10 title game, which would probably be a rematch with Wisconsin.  And then the Playoff.  It is a favorable schedule -- they get Wisconsin and Penn State at home, and Michigan is not as good as either of those teams.  If I were forced to guess, I would guess that the Buckeyes will run the table.  We'll know more about how good they are if they ever have to compete in the second half.  But so far, no one has been able to make them do that.

Ohio St. 27 - 10 Michigan St. (Halftime)

Ohio State tacks on a 43-yard field goal to end the first half, and ESPN now gives them a 97.4 percent chance of victory.  Unless something extraordinary happens, we won't be doing a lot more blogging on this game.

I am very impressed with the Buckeyes.  They are a spectacular team, and they have a very good chance to add the National Championship to the Big Gold Trophy.

Ohio St. 24 - 10 Michigan St. (1:46 left in 2d Quarter)

MSU goes three and out, and OSU will take over at its own 30.

Ohio St. 24 - 10 Michigan St. (2:24 left in 2d Quarter)

Well, that didn't take long.  On 3d and 2 from his own 33, J.K. Dobbins (of LaGrange H.S. in LaGrange, Tex.) bursts into the open field and dashes 67 yards for a touchdown.  The Buckeyes have suddenly scored 21 points in the second quarter, and the pressure increases on MSU.

Ohio St. 17 - 10 Michigan St. (3:36 left in 2d Quarter)

Michigan State never says die.  The Spartans grind their way down to the OSU 21 -- and had what appeared to be a wide-open touchdown pass, but the ball was overthrown.  So Matt Coghlin (of Archbishop Moeller H.S. in Cincinnati, Ohio) boots a 39-yard field goal, and Sparty is back within seven.  Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit are very concerned that MSU will regret missing that touchdown pass.

Ohio St. 17 - 7 Michigan St. (8:09 left in 2d Quarter)

Back and forth we go.  The Buckeyes are rolling now.  They go 75 yards in 7 plays, largely on the strength of Justin Fields's running.  Finally, Fields hurled a 21-yard touchdown pass to Luke Farrell, a real life Ohioan (he went to Perry H.S. in Perry, Ohio).  The Blackout crowd thinks this may lead to a blowout, and certainly the MSU offense is under pressure.

Ohio St. 10 - 7 Michigan St. (10:36 left in 2d Quarter)

Well, I didn't expect that.  The Spartans go 75 yards in five plays against the normally stout Buckeye defense.  The scoring play is a 25-yard pass from Brian Lewerke (of Pinnacle H.S. in Phoenix, Ariz.) to Darrell Stewart, Jr. (of Nimitz H.S. in Houston, Tex.)  (It's very interesting to see how few Midwesterners appear to be taking the field in this game, at least at the skill positions).  Anyway, the points still count, and MSU has clawed its way back into the game.

Ohio St. 10 - 0 Michigan St. (12:12 left in 2d Quarter)

Well, here we go.  From his own 40, OSU quarterback Justin Fields (of Harrison H.S. in Kennesaw, Ga.) hits Binjimen Victor (of Coconut Creek H.S. in Pompano Beach, Fla.) at about the MSU 25.  Victor goes racing down the sidelines and dives into a corner of the end zone.  After the usual litigation, the officials tell us that the call of a touchdown -- stands.  OSU adds the conversion, and the Buckeyes -- thanks to two big stars from SEC country -- have a 10-point lead.

Ohio St. 3 - 0 Michigan St. (14:09 left in 2d Quarter)

The Spartans move out to their own 39, can't move any further, and punt down to the OSU 14.

Ohio St. 3 - 0 Michigan St. (1:52 left in 1st Quarter)

Ohio State gets the ball out to its own 30, but can't get much further.  They punt to the MSU 24.

Very good defense from MSU so far.

Ohio St. 3 - 0 Michigan St. (4:49 left in 1st Quarter)

The Spartans make a few first down, but their drive stalls at midfield.  They punt down to the OSU 4.

Ohio St. 3 - 0 Michigan St. (9 minutes left in 1st Quarter)

For the third time tonight, OSU is held without a first down.  Once again, Blake Haubeil (of Canisius H.S. in Buffalo, N.Y.) comes on to try a field goal.  This time it's good, and the Buckeyes lead 3-0.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Michigan St. (9:58 left in 1st Quarter)

So the Michigan State defense holds, and Ohio State MISSES a field goal.

The Spartans take over at their own 20.  But on their second play, they FUMBLE again.

That's four plays for MSU, and two lost fumbles.  Team Blackout will start from the MSU 22.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Michigan St. (12:40 left in 1st Quarter)

But on Michigan State's second play from scrimmage, a Spartan receiver FUMBLES THE BALL at the 50.  Malik Harrison, a senior linebacker from Walnut Ridge H.S. in Columbus, Ohio, scoops up the ball, and returns it to the MSU 26.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Michigan St. (13:30 left in 1st quarter)

The Spartans immediately show their intention to give OSU an actual contest -- as opposed to the walkovers the Bucks have enjoyed so far.  On the first possession of the game, MSU forces a three-and-out.  The Buckeyes punt, and MSU will start from its own 38.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Michigan St. (Pre-Game)

Oh, I get it.  It's a whole blackout thing in Columbus tonight.  Everyone's in black -- the team, the cheerleaders, the band, even the fans.  To me, a "blackout" game is the sort of thing that a mediocre program -- Indiana, say -- should do once every decade or so when it plays a really big game.  Ohio State should play blackout games about as often as its fans should rush the field -- which is to say, never.

Michigan State is wearing white jerseys, green numerals, white pants, and white helmets with the traditional Spartan logo.  They look fine, although I like the green helmet better.

We are the 8 o'clock game on ABC tonight -- the second week in a row that OSU has appeared in prime time.  Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit are on the mikes.  For now, I'm listening to Pandora.  If things get close, I may go with Chris and Kirk.

Ohio St. 0 - 0 Michigan St. (Pre-game)

This game is already off to a bad start.  OSU is wearing black jerseys and black helmets with red trim.

Ohio St. v. Michigan St.

Michigan State did not join the Big 10 until 1949, and didn't become a regular part of Ohio State's schedule until the mid-1960's.  The Buckeyes have generally been the better team, and lead the all-time series 32-15.  But the Spartans have had their moments -- perhaps most famously in 1974 when they upset an undefeated Ohio State team 16-13 in a wild game at Spartan Stadium.  OSU thought it had scored the game-winning touchdown on the last play of the game -- but the officials ruled that the play did not count because the game ended before the ball was snapped.  Madness in Spartyland.  Woody Hayes went berserk, pushing a Michigan State fan who tried to get onto the field, and keeping his players in readiness for a final down that he thought should have been played.  MSU's coach said that the officials had declared the game over, and his team was done playing.  The Big 10 Commissioner of the time was at the game, and spent 46 minutes trying to figure out what had happened, while the players and fans waited.  Finally, he told Hayes that the game was well and truly over, and the Bucks had lost.  For me, an eight-year-old watching on ABC who had never seen OSU lose -- or even be challenged -- by a Big 10 opponent, the whole thing was a great thrill.  And a few years later, when Hayes's career ended with an attack on a Clemson player who had intercepted an OSU pass, I remembered how he had acted in defeat at East Lansing.

I don't expect that type of drama today.  This game is in Columbus, Ohio, for one thing -- and for another thing, Woody Hayes isn't there.  Michigan State is a good team -- they are 4-1 on the year, with their only defeat coming at home against Arizona State.  They are well-coached, and they play hard.  But they are not Ohio State.  The oddsmakers say that OSU will win by 20, and that the total number of points scored will be 50.  That would work out to a 35-15 win for the Buckeyes, which would be the closest game they've played all year.

Nebraska 7 - 48 Ohio St. (Final)

Last Saturday night, in Lincoln, Nebraska, the Cornhuskers had a chance to re-introduce themselves to the nation after a long period of mediocrity.  They had second-year coach and local legend Scott Frost.  They had a vociferous hometown crowd.  They had a night game that was also the featured game on ESPN Gameday.  They had lots of things going for them -- and they were absolutely crushed.  The Buckeyes rolled by 41 points -- the largest margin in history for a visiting team at ESPN Gameday -- and it wasn't that close.

Let's review the bidding on this OSU team.  Here's what they've done so far (home teams listed first):

08/31:  Ohio St. 45 - 21 Florida Atlantic
09/07:  Ohio St. 42 - 0 Cincinnati
09/14:  Indiana 10 - 51 Ohio St.
09/21:  Ohio St. 76 - 5 Miami (Ohio)
09/28:  Nebraska 7 - 48 Ohio St.

For those of you keeping track at home, OSU has outscored its five opponents by a total score of 262-43.  Even this figure doesn't really capture OSU's dominance, as I think they could have scored even more points in several of those games if they had really wanted.

So Nebraska will have to wait for a return to national prominence, and the Bucks keep the Big Gold Trophy.

Ohio St. 76 - 5 Miami (Ohio) (Final)

I'm sorry, Miami of Ohio fans, but you don't deserve the usual post for a new UCFC applicant.  The score in this game was 49-5 at the half, and things didn't get any better in the second half.  The Redhawks were playing for the Big Gold Trophy, and we expect more of the Old College Try than a 71-point defeat.

With today's game, the exhibition phase of OSU's season has come to an end.  Let's see how they've done so far:

08/31/19:  Ohio St. 45 - 21 Florida Atlantic
09/07/19:  Ohio St. 42 - 0 Cincinnati
09/14/19:  Indiana 10 - 51 Ohio St.
09/21/19:  Ohio St. 76 - 5 Miami (Ohio)

Who would have thought that Florida Atlantic would be the most competitive team on that list?

But give credit where credit is due.  Ohio State has looked very good so far.  Now let's see who they play in the regular season:

09/28/19:  at Nebraska
10/05/19:  MICHIGAN ST.
10/18/19:  at Northwestern
10/26/19:  (13) WISCONSIN
11/09/19:  MARYLAND
11/16/19:  at Rutgers
11/23/19:  (13) PENN ST.
11/30/19:  at (11) Michigan

(That's not a typo.  Wisconsin and Penn State tied for 13th place in last week's poll.)

Now Wisconsin crushed Michigan 35-14 today, so the Badgers will move up and the Wolverines will move down.  But you will note that OSU has Wisconsin at home and Michigan on the road, so that's a favorable development for the Buckeyes.

Right now, it appears that OSU will be favored in all of its remaining games, and will be heavily favored in all of the games except for the one against Wisconsin, where the Buckeyes will be at home.  College football is a crazy sport, and we've all seen odd things happen, but right now you have to think that OSU will be extremely disappointed if they don't keep the Big Gold Trophy through the end of November.

Indiana 10 - 51 Ohio St. (Final)

The Hoosiers put up even less resistance than expected.  OSU rolls to another easy win.

Indiana 3 - 23 Ohio St. (8:30 left in 2d Quarter)

Well, that was pretty easy.  Starting from a 1st and 15 on its own 20, OSU began with a 56-yard run by J.K. Dobbins (of LaGrange H.S. in LaGrange, Tex.)  Four plays later, Justin Fields tossed his second touchdown pass of the game, this one a 9-yarder to K.J. Hill (of N. Little Rock H.S. in Little Rock, Ark.)

ESPN's gametracker now gives OSU a 96.5 percent chance of victory.  That's good enough for me, so this blog will take the rest of the afternoon off, unless something really amazing happens.

Indiana 3 - 16 Ohio St. (10:15 left in 2d Quarter)

OSU is starting to impose its will on this game.  The Bucks' defense stopped IU three and out, and then Chris Olave -- the same guy who just caught a touchdown pass -- blocked the punt.  The ball rolled out of the back of the end zone for a safety, and OSU had two more points.  They'll also get the ball back.

Indiana 3 - 14 Ohio St. (11:26 left in 2d Quarter)

A lovely drive by OSU there.  The Buckeyes hammered IU with a strong running game, and then a fake handoff turned into an easy 37-yard pass from Fields to Chris Olave (from Mission Hills H.S. in San Marcos, Calif.)  Olave was about 4 yards behind everyone else, and it looked for all the world as though he and Fields were playing catch in a very large back yard.  Blake Habeil (of Canisius H.S. in Buffalo, N.Y.) added the extra point, and OSU now has an 11-point lead.

Indiana 3 - 7 Ohio St. (13:50 left in 2d Quarter)

The OSU defense holds without too much trouble, and IU punts to the OSU 37.

So far OSU had 135 total yards to 60 for Indiana.

Indiana 3 - 7 Ohio St. (46 seconds left in 1st Quarter)

So far the Hoosiers are giving it the old college try.  OSU had one drive that ended on a missed field goal, another that ended on a 3-yard touchdown run by QB Justin Fields (of Harrison H.S. in Kennesaw, Ga.), and another that ended in a punt.  IU has only had one decent drive, which ended in a field goal by Logan Justus (of Mt. Vernon H.S. in McCordsville, Ind.)

And now, at the end of the first quarter, IU has the ball, facing 2d and 3 on its own 25.

We are on FOX, and we have the ever-excellent Gus Johnson on the mike.

Indiana v. Ohio St.

Today's match-up has great historic resonance -- for fans of college basketball.  Bobby Knight famously played on an OSU team that won the national championship in 1960, then later coached Indiana to national titles in 1976, 1981, and 1987.  But that was basketball, not football.

In football, OSU leads the all-time series 74-12-5.  There are few series with more than 90 meetings that features so few interesting games.  The Buckeyes have not lost to the Hoosiers since 1988.  Here are the last three match-ups in the series:

10/08/2016:  Ohio St. 38 - 17 Indiana
08/31/2017:  Indiana 21 - 49 Ohio St.
10/06/2018:  Ohio St. 49 - 26 Indiana

This week, Ohio State is ranked number 6 in the country by the AP.  Indiana is 2-0 after wins over Ball State and Eastern Illinois, but the Hoosiers are unranked.  The folks in Vegas have OSU as an 18-point favorite in a game where they expect 60 points.  That would be a 39-21 victory for the Bucks, which would be relatively consistent with recent history.

Indiana

In 1967, Indiana had a miracle football season, one in which they won an amazing number of close game.  They beat Kentucky 12-10.  Then they beat Kansas 18-15.  They beat Iowa 21-17.  They beat Michigan 27-20, Wisconsin 14-9, Michigan State 14-13, and Purdue 19-14.  At the end of the year they were 9-1, they were number 4 in the country, and they were the Big 10 champs.  They were also the subject of a great article by Dan Jenkins in Sports Illustrated.  They went to the Rose Bowl, where O.J. Simpson and USC beat them 14-3.

And that's pretty much it for the history of Indiana football.  John Pont, who coached that Indiana team, never went to another bowl game.  Indiana's last bowl win came in 1991, when they won the Copper Bowl.  Their last appearance in the year-end AP poll was in 1988, when they won the Libirty Bowl and finished number 20.  Their big rivalry game is with Purdue, where they play for the Old Oaken Buckey.  The Hoosiers trail in that series 41-74-6.  But today they have their chance to make history as they host the Big Gold Trophy and the OSU Buckeyes.  I'm a skeptic, but as the saying goes, that's why they play the games.

Ohio St. 42 - 0 Cincinnati (Final)

Not much more to say about this game, although it was a very solid performance for a Buckeye team that had been favored by 15, and won by 42.  The Bearcats were just never competitive.

Ohio St. 21 - 0 Cincinnati (7:26 left in 2d Quarter)

J.K. Dobbins just broke a 60-yard run to put the Buckeyes up by three touchdowns midway through the second quarter.  I have some errands to run, so unless something truly shocking happens, I will wrap up this week's game coverage after the game is over.  It looks as though next week, OSU will be taking the Big Gold Trophy to Bloomington, Ind. for their first conference game of the year.

Ohio St 14 - 0 Cincinnati (8:03 left in 2d Quarter)

OSU forces a three-and-out.  Cincinnati punts, and the Buckeyes will start from their own 39 yard line.

Ohio St. 14 - 0 Cincinnati (8:14 left in 2d Quarter)

The Buckeyes kept going down the field and scored on a 7-yard run by J.K. Dobbins, a junior from LaGrange H.S. in LaGrange, Tex.  OSU now leads 14-0, and ESPN gives them a 92.5 percent chance of victory.

Ohio St. 7 - 0 Cincinnati (11:10 left in the 2d Quarter)

So far, this has been a very competitive game.  The Buckeyes scored with 8:28 left in the first quarter on a 7-yard run by QB Justin Fields.  UC had a long drive that went deep into OSU territory, but ended on a blocked field goal.  And now OSU has a first down at the Cincinnati 43.

Ohio St. v. Cincinnati

One of my favorite facts about the OSU Buckeyes is that they have not lost to a team from the state of Ohio since 1921, when they were beaten by . . . Oberlin.  Since then, they've gone undefeated against the rest of the state.  Of course, for much of that time they generally refused to play the rest of the state.  But they do have close to 50 wins against Ohio competition since that Oberlin defeat.

The Bucks don't play Cincinnati much at all.  They have an all-time record of 14-2 against the Bearcats.  UC lost three games in a row to OSU between 1893 and 1895, then beat the Bucks in 1896 and 1897.  Since then, they've only met 11 times, and OSU has won them all.  OSU and UC didn't meet at all from 1931 to 1999.  However, this will be their sixth meeting since then.

Of course, no reference to OSU and Cincinnati is complete without a discussion of one of the most dramatic rivalries in the history of college basketball.  In the late 1950's and early 1960's, OSU would not play UC in college hoops, even though the Bearcats had one of the best teams in the country -- due in part to their willingness to play African-Americans like Oscar Robertson, who weren't exactly welcome at schools like OSU and Kentucky.  In 1960, OSU won the NCAA championship with a loaded team featuring sophomores Jerry Lucas and John Havlichek.  Since those two guys were back for their junior and senior years, and since they're both Hall of Famers, the Buckeyes were in really good shape.  And sure enough, OSU returned to the national championship game in both 1961 and 1962.  But both times, Cincinnati was waiting for them -- and both times, Cincinnati beat the team that refused to play them in the regular season.

Anyway, the bookmakers have installed OSU as a 15 point favorite in a game where the over-under is 52.  That would imply a final score of something like 34-18 for the Buckeyes.  Given that UC beat UCLA 24-14 last week, that would be a solid outcome for OSU.

Cincinnati

The City of Cincinnati is part of a network of cities laid out along the big rivers of the Midwest and South in the early parts of the 19th century.  Louisville and St. Louis are also in this group.  These days, when the East Coast struggles to distinguish the various parts of Middle America from one another, these cities tend to get lumped in with the rest of their states in the national mind.  But the river folk who established these cities were often of very different mettle than the Baptists, Methodists, and Calvinists living on farms and in villages throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri.  The river folk created their own society -- very different from that of both your typical small town, and your big cities of the East Coast.  They were a raffish, shiny, braggadocious sort of people -- tough, and shrewd, and very good at making money and playing games.  Pete Rose, who grew up in Cincinnati (where he attended Western Hill High School) is a good representative of this type.

These cities had their own universities -- separate from the lordly and vast institutions that took the names of their states, and created the big conferences that came to dominate college football.  But those universities were historically excluded from the inner sanctums of the game.  Instead, they wandered like nomads from conference to conference, mostly playing against their own kind.

For example, since World War II the University of Cincinnati has competed in the Mid-American Conference, the Missouri Valley Conference, Conference-USA, the Big East, and it now plays in the American Athletic Conference.  It also spent much of this time -- including every season from 1970 to 1995 -- as an independent.  That's a tough way to build a football program, and so Cincinnati has always been on the outskirts of Big-Time Football.

But things have trended upward in recent years.  The never-ending demand for football on TV has made it easier for schools like Cincinnati to make money and grow their fanbase.  As of 1996, the Bearcats had only ever appeared in three bowl games -- the last of which had been in 1951.  Since then, Cincinnati has gone to 15 bowl games -- including the 2009 Orange Bowl and the 2010 Sugar Bowl.  In fall of 2009, UC went undefeated in the regular season, dominating the Big East Conference and getting all the way up to number 5 in the AP Poll.   Before the Sugar Bowl, however, Coach Brian Kelly announced he was leaving for Notre Dame, and the Bearcats haven't reached that same level since.  They have remained very competitive, though, and last week they beat UCLA.  So it will be interesting to see how they do against OSU.

Ohio St. 45 - 21 Florida Atlantic (Final)

There really wasn't much to this game.  OSU scored three easy touchdowns in the first few minutes, and then spent the rest of the afternoon on cruise control.  So they hold the Big Gold Trophy for another week.

Ohio St. 21 - 0 Florida Atlantic (8:19 left in 1st Quarter)

I got back from lunch, turned on the TV, saw Gus Johnson back for another year, and saw what the OSU helmets look like at the beginning of the year before anyone has earned any stickers.  Then this happened:

13:07 left in 1st quarter:  Justin Fields runs 51 yards for a touchdown (OSU 7-0 FAU)
11:05 left in 1st quarter:  Fields throws 25-yd TD pass to Jeremy Ruckert (OSU 14 - 0 FAU)
9:12 left in 1st quarter:  Fields throws 32-yd TD pass to Binjimen Victor (OSU 21 - 0 FAU)

At this point, the ESPN Gamecast gives OSU a 99.4 percent chance of victory.  That's good enough for me.  It's a beautiful day, and I'm prepared to take my chances that FAU will not launch a monster comeback.

Oh, wait.  Fields (of Carl J. Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Ga.)  just threw a 29-yd touchdown pass to Chris Olave (of Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, Calif.)  Bucks now lead 28-0.  I'm guessing they will retain the UCFC for another week.

Florida Atlantic

If watching Ohio State gives you a sense of the history and tradition of college football, the Buckeyes' opening round opponent reminds us that college football also features variety and change.

In 1960, Woody Hayes was nearing the end of his first decade as the OSU football coach -- and Florida Atlantic University did not exist.  But in 1961, the Florida state legislature decided to create a new university in Boca Raton.  Florida Atlantic University opened on September 14, 1964.  At first, it only took students who had already earned at least an associate degree from a community college.  In 1984, however, FAU began admitting freshmen.  In 1989, the legislature designated FAU as the lead state university serving Broward County.  By 1999, FAU had six different campuses across the country.  Today, it has almost 25,000 undergraduates.

FAU had no intercollegiate athletics until 1979, and played its first football season in 2001.  Howard Schnellenberger, who had won a national championship for Miami of Florida in 1983, launched the program and served as head coach until 2011.  For the first four years, the FAU Owls were an independent in I-AA football, or whatever that level was called at that time.  Then they moved up to I-A and started playing in the Sun Belt Conference.  Starting in 2013-14, the Owls moved into Conference USA.

Schnellenberger, who had one of the strangest coaching careers in NCAA history, had some success at FAU.  In 2003 -- only the third season of football -- the Owls made the I-AA playoffs.  They beat Bethune-Cookman and Northern Arizona to reach the semi-finals, where they were ousted by Colgate.  In 2007, the Owls went 8-5 and won their first bowl game, beating Memphis 44-27 in the New Orleans Bowl.  The next year, the Owls finished 7-6 after beating Central Michigan 24-21 in the Motor City Bowl.

Schnellenberger retired after a 1-11 season in 2011, and the Owls didn't do much for the next few years.  For the 2017 season, however, the Owls hired Lane Kiffin, formerly of Tennessee and USC.  Kiffin went 11-3 in his first year at the helm, beating Akron 50-3 in the Boca Raton Bowl.  Then last year, the team slipped to a 5-7 record.  This year, Athlon picks them to finish third in the C-USA East, behind Marshall and Florida International.

FAU may not seem like that big a deal in the world of college football, but from my perspective it is part of one of the most important stories in the last few decades.  Florida was a very sparsely populated state at the beginning of the 20th century, which meant that for many decades its only I-A football programs were Florida, Florida State, and Miami of Florida.  In the 1980's and 1990's, these teams feasted on the enormous football-playing population of Florida, while states like Texas and California divided their talent among a much larger number of teams.  Between 1983 and 2001, Miami won five national championships, Florida State won two, and Florida won one.  Anyone who remembers college football from that era will recall the extent to which the three Florida schools dominated the sport.  But now Florida has at least four more I-A schools:  Central Florida, South Florida, Florida Atlantic, and Florida International.  If you took all of the best players on those teams, and put them on the three original Florida schools, they would probably still be the powerhouses we remember.  But these days, college football is dominated by Clemson and Alabama, and Florida's Big Three -- while still very important -- are not as dominant as they used to be.  Florida's infrastructure caught up to its population, and that fact has significantly changed college football.

According to the oddsmakers, Ohio State is supposed to win today by 27 points in a game that will feature 63 1/2 points of total offense.  That works out to a score of something like 45-18 for the Buckeyes, and would make a nice easy start to the new season.

Ohio State

1.  Ohio University and Miami of Ohio are two of the oldest and best public universities in the country, but they are both in the southern part of the state -- which turned out not to be very convenient once the largest city in Ohio ended up on the shores of Lake Erie.  So while the Ohio State University is only the ninth oldest university in the State -- it wasn't formed until 1870 -- its central location and comprehensive curriculum allowed it to become a dominant force in the state.  It also meant that Ohio -- unlike Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan -- has only ever had one member of the Big 10.  And that meant that Ohio State will always get the lion's share of football players in one of the most talent-laden states in America.

2.  It took a long while for Ohio State to really get going.  Up until the 1930's, the three great college football powerhouses in the Midwest were Michigan, Notre Dame, and Chicago.  OSU didn't have a really good team until 1935, when the Buckeyes went 7-1.  In 1942, however, Paul Brown -- yes, that Paul Brown -- took the Buckeyes all the way to their first National Championship.  But he left for another job, and the war messed everything up.  By 1951, Michigan led the all-time series against OSU with a record of 32-12-4.

3.  Then, in 1951, Woody Hayes became the head coach, and everything changed.  Hayes made the Buckeyes the best program in the Midwest, with the possible exception of Notre Dame.  He went 16-11-1 against Michigan, he won the National Championship in 1954 and 1968, and he ruined a lot of my Saturday afternoons in the 1970's with really boring wins against hapless Big 10 competition.

4.  Ohio State wasn't the same for a long time after Woody Hayes left.  For one thing, Ohio -- which had been an extremely important and powerful state from the Civil War until the 1950's -- was slowly turning into the Rust Belt.  For another, Southern schools had started to use African American players, which dramatically changed the playing field in college football.  OSU spent most of the 1980's and 1990's longing for a return to the glory years.

5.  They finally got there in 2002, when they beat Miami of Florida to win the National Championship in what has to be one of the most violent college football games ever played.  Under Jim Tressell, the Buckeyes were always good -- he finished with a record of 106-22, even though he never won another national title.  In each of his last six seasons, OSU finished in the top 10.

6.  Tressell departed in the wake of a scandal, but by 2012 the Bucks had plugged in Urban Meyer.  He was even better than Tressell, leading OSU to its fifth national title in 2014 and putting up a record of 83-9.  Of his seven teams at Ohio State, five finished in the AP top five.  He won a Sugar Bowl, a Fiesta Bowl, a Cotton Bowl, and a Rose Bowl.  He went 54-4 in the Big 10, and never lost to Michigan.  (Now OSU trails by only 51-58-6 in that series).  I think he's the best coach they ever had, with the possible exception of Paul Brown.

7.  Now Meyer is gone, and the job falls to Ryan Day, who was the offensive coordinator last year.  He has some big shoes to fill.  But he's in a very good place for a football coach.

What'd I Miss?

First, a hat-tip to Tony, who updated my last post with several title changes.

Second, the last game blogged on this web page was Clemson's 35-31 victory over Alabama on January 9, 2017.  By winning that game, Clemson not only won the 2016 national championship -- the Tigers' first such title since 1981 -- but Clemson also won the Unofficial College Football Championship.

Even though we stopped updating this blog, they kept playing college football games, and there have been a whole bunch of UCFC battles since the last time we wrote about them.  Here is a brief summary of what happened:

1.  On September 2, 2017, No. 5 Clemson beat Kent State 56-3 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  The Tigers retained the UCFC.

2.  On September 9, 2017, No. 3 Clemson beat No. 13 Auburn 14-6 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  Auburn failed in its attempt to regain the UCFC for the SEC, and Clemson kept the title.

3.  On September 16, 2017, No. 3 Clemson beat No. 14 Louisville 47-21 at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Ky.  This was an ESPN GameDay game, but the Cardinals were no match for the Tigers, who kept the UCFC.

4.  On September 23, 2017, No. 2 Clemson beat Boston College 34-7 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  Another easy win.

5.  On September 30, 2017, No. 2 Clemson beat No. 12 Virginia Tech 31-17 at Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Va.,  The Hokies were ranked number 12 going into the game, and this was another GameDay battle, but the Tigers were too much for Virginia Tech.  They defended the title for the fifth time in a row.

6.  On October 7, 2017, No. 2 Clemson beat Wake Forest 28-14 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C.  A sixth consecutive defense for the Tigers.

7.  On October 13, 2017, No. 2 Clemson traveled to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. for a game with an unranked Syracuse team.  The Orange stunned the Tigers -- and the country -- with a 27-24 victory.  Syracuse moved to 5-3, on the year, and took the UCFC.  The Orange would not win another game that season.

8.  On October 21, 2017, Syracuse traveled to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  There they were beaten 27-19 by the No. 8 Miami Hurricanes.  The Canes, who were number 8 in the country, moved to 6-0 on the season.

9.  On October 28, 2017, No. 8 Miami beat North Carolina 24-19 at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C.  The Canes were not very impressive, but they retained the UCFC.

10.  On November 4, 2017, No. 9 Miami beat No. 13 Virginia Tech 28-10 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  The Hokies had a pretty good season, finishing 9-4 with a loss to Oklahoma State in the Camping World Bowl.  But this was their second failure in the UCFC.

11.  On November 11, 2017, No. 7 Miami hosted No. 3 Notre Dame at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  Naturally, ESPN showed up for GameDay in this Catholics vs. Convicts rematch -- the first big game between these two teams in many years.  And the Canes put on a show, crushing the Irish 41 to 8.  At this point, Miami's record was 9-0 and they moved up to No. 2 in the country.

12.  On November 18, 2017, No 2 Miami beat Virginia 44-28 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.  It was the Hurricanes' 10th win in a row, and their last win of the year.

13.  On November 24, 2017, No. 2 Miami traveled to Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to play a Pitt Panther team with a record of 4-7.  The game was the Panthers' last game of the year -- and they pulled off a stunning upset, beating Miami 24-14.  It was the second time in 2017 that the number 2 team in the nation lost the UCFC to a team that was not only unranked, but which finished the year with a losing record.  These are two of the biggest upsets in UCFC history, and they both happened in the same year.  As a result of this game, Pitt took the UCFC.  Since the Panthers were not eligible for a bowl game, this was the last UCFC game of the 2017 season.  Alabama eventually beat Clemson and Georgia in the playoffs to win the National Title.

14.  On September 1, 2018, Pittsburgh beat Albany 33-7 at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh to retain the UCFC.

15.  On September 8, 2018, Pittsburgh hosted No. 13 Penn State at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.  The Nittany Lions crushed Pittsburgh 51-6 to take the UCFC into the Big 10.

16.  On September 15, 2018, No. 11 Penn State beat Kent State 63-10 at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa.

17.  On September 21, 2018, No. 10 Penn State beat Illinois 63-24 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill.

18.  On September 29, 2018, No. 9 Penn State hosted No. 4 Ohio State at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa.  A crowd of 110,889 showed up to watch, which was the largest crowd in the history of the Stadium.  ESPN was there for College GameDay.  It was a spectacular game.  With 8 minutes left, Penn State led 26-14.  But OSU quarterback Dwayne Haskins hurled a 47-yard touchdown pass to make the score 26-21 with 6:42 left.  Then Haskins got the ball back at his own 4 with 4:35 left.  He drove the Buckeyes 96 yards, capping off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass with 2:03 left.  Down 27-26, PSU tried to answer, but the Nittany Lions were stopped on 4th and 5 at the OSU 43, and the Buckeyes had taken the UCFC.

19.  On October 6, 2018, No. 3 Ohio State beat Indiana 49-26 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

20.  On October 13, 2018, No. 3 Ohio State beat Minnesota 30-14 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.

21.  On October 20, 2018, No. 3 Ohio State went to Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Ind. for a game against a Purdue team that had started the year 0-3.  But the Boilermakers were now 3-3, and in an emotional game, the Boilermakers delivered a stunning upset for Tyler Trent -- a Purdue student who was dying of bone cancer.  Purdue rolled over OSU by the amazing score of 49-20, and Purdue took the UCFC.

22.  On October 27, 2018, Purdue traveled to Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich. for a game with Michigan State.  In a hard-fought defensive struggle, the Spartans knocked off Purdue 23-13, and took the UCFC.

23.  On November 3, 2018, Michigan State beat Maryland 24-3 at Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md.  With the victory, the Spartans moved to 6-3 on the year.

24.  On November 10, 2018, Michigan State hosted No. 8 Ohio State at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing, Mich.  For the second time in the year, OSU took the UCFC in a road game -- rolling over the Spartans 26-6 in front of 74,633 fans.

25.  On November 17, 2018, No. 9 Ohio State traveled to Byrd Stadium in College Park, Md. to play the Maryland Terrapins.  It was the second time in three weeks that Maryland had hosted the UCFC, and this time the Terrapins really put on a show.  Maryland led for most of the game, and led by 45-38 with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter.  Once again, Dwayne Haskins led OSU to a comeback victory.  First, he sparked a touchdown drive that tied the game a 45 and sent both teams to overtime.  Then he scored a TD in overtime to make the score 52-45.  Maryland scored to cut OSU's lead to one, and then went for the victory with a two-point conversion.  They did not make it, and the Buckeyes escaped with a 52-51 victory.  This game ended up being very important, as it effectively killed OSU's chances of making the year-end playoff.  However, OSU still had the UCFC.

26.  On November 24, 2018, No. 10 Ohio State hosted No. 4 Michigan at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.  Both teams were 10-1, and a huge crowd of 106,588 showed up for the Game of the Year in the Midwest.  Of course, College GameDay was also there.  In the last-ever meeting between Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh, Meyer came out on top once again -- crushing the Wolverines 62-39.

27.  On December 1, 2018, No. 6 Ohio State beat No. 21 Northwestern 45-24 in the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.  In my opinion, OSU should have gotten into the playoff.  But their terrible loss at Purdue, and their terrible win at Maryland, sunk their chances, and they were left out.  Clemson rolled through the playoffs with easy wins over Notre Dame and Alabama to take their second title in the last three years.  Ohio State went to the Rose Bowl.

28.  On January 1, 2019, No. 5 Ohio State beat No. 9 Washington 28-23 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.  The game wasn't actually that close.  OSU led 28-3 midway through the third quarter, and were up 28-17 with less than a minute to go.  Washington got a touchdown with 42 seconds left that didn't make much of a difference to the outcome, but makes the score look better in the record books.

That Rose Bowl was Urban Meyer's last game as coach of the Buckeyes.  In seven years at Columbus, his record was 83-9.  His record in the Big 10 was 54-4.  He went 7-0 against Michigan.  Personally, I think he's the best coach Ohio State ever had -- just as I think he was the best coach Florida ever had.

The Rose Bowl was also Dwayne Haskins's last game as quarterback for the Buckeyes.  In one year as the starter, he went 13-1 with 50 touchdown passes and only 8 interceptions.  He completed 70 percent of his passes and threw for 4,831 yards.  He will be missed.

But the UCFC goes on.  At noon Eastern Daylight Time on August 31, 2019, the Buckeyes will defend the UCFC at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio against the Florida Atlantic Owls.  We will see what happens.

Stay Tuned

Further updates may be coming.