Again It's Michigan Vs. OSU For 'All The Marbles'

AGAIN IT’S MICHIGAN VS. OSU FOR ‘ALL THE MARBLES’

By Wayne DeNeff

No Big Ten rivalry can compare with the Michigan –Ohio State series when it comes to determining the conference champion.

What follows on the left is the actual final standings of the top teams in 13 different years when the Michigan-Ohio State game was vital to determining whether one or the other won the title. At right is the way the race would have shaped up had the battle between the Wolverines and Buckeyes ended otherwise.

1968

Ohio State won, 50-14, winning the championship and Rose Bowl trip and leaving Michigan second.

1964

Michigan won, 10-0, winning the championship and Rose Bowl trip and leaving OSU second.

1956

Michigan won, 19-0, knocking Ohio State out of a share of the championship.

1955

Ohio State won, 17-0, winning the championship and leaving Michigan third instead of first.

1954

Ohio State won, 21-7, winning the championship and Rose Bowl trip and knocking Michigan out of a title share.

1952

Ohio State won, 27-7, knocking Michigan out of the championship and Rose Bowl.

1950

Michigan won, 9-3, in the famous Snow Bowl, winning the championship and Rose Bowl trip and leaving the Buckeyes second.

1949

Michigan and Ohio State tied, 7-7, sharing the championship and OSU earning the Rose Bowl trip because Michigan was in Pasadena two years before.

1944

Ohio State won, 18-14, winning the championship and knocking Michigan out of a title share.

1942

Ohio State won, 21-7, winning the championship and leaving Michigan third.

1933

Michigan won, 13-0, winning the championship and leaving OSU third instead of first.

1932

Michigan won, 14-0, winning the championship and leaving Ohio State fourth.

1926

Michigan won, 17-16, gaining a share of the championship and leaving OSU third instead of tied for first.

So there’s the rundown on the Michigan-Ohio State games of title significance—six victories for Michigan, six for Ohio State and one a tie—setting up a rubber game in Michigan Stadium tomorrow when the two teams again clash.

Most memorable games?

It’s hard to say.

For Ohio State, last season’s runaway victory on the hard rushes of fullback Jim Otis and the clever ballhandling of quarterback Rex Kern was one of the big wins of all time.

A great goal-line stand by the Buckeyes turned the tide in 1954. The Wolverines couldn’t score on four players, starting from the four-yard line. The ball went over and the Buckeyes marched 99 ½ yards to take the lead, 14-7.

Michigan fans were convinced the Wolverines would come back and win the title in 1955 because of the return of All-America end Ron Kramer, Terry Barr and others.

But OSU, advancing steadily on Hopalong Cassady’s rushes, overpowered Michigan with a typical “thee-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust” attack.

No Michigan triumph in the series is discussed more than the “Snow Bowl” of 1950 when the Wolverines earned the Rose Bowl trip on a 9-3 victory without benefit of a first down.

Barr scored two touchdowns in the 1956 game when the Wolverines came back from losses to OSU in the two previous years.

Michigan All-America quarterback Benny Friedman set the pattern for great individual effort in the series when he passed for two touchdowns—one to All-America Bennie Oosterbaan—in the 1926 victory, 17-16. Friedman added two extra points and a 52-yard field goal.

Bob Timberlake’s touchdown pass to Jim Detwiler and his field goal were all the Wolverines needed for a great victory and the Rose Bowl on a bitter cold day in Columbus in 1964. Michigan’s defense never allowed the Buckeyes a real serious threat.