Michigan Football: 5 legends that emerged in win over Ohio State

Michigan football beat Ohio State in Ohio for the first time in 22 years and these Wolverines became legends in the process. 

Nobody expected Michigan football to do what it did against Ohio State on Saturday — except maybe the Wolverines (who won in more ways than one on Saturday) and Charles Woodson.

Jim Harbaugh said earlier this season, “This is our time” and he was right. Michigan football wasn’t focused on last season or next season, it was focused on the here and now.

And after Ohio State spent a year stewing in their 42-27 loss, the Buckeyes got embarrassed — this time on their home field by the superior program and a superior head coach.

We have all seen the talk about how this game creates legends and here are five Michigan football legends who emerged from Saturday’s 45-23 butt-kicking.

J.J. (MF) McCarthy

We knew it was going to take a special quarterback to end the 22-year road-losing skid to Ohio State and it turned out to be J.J. McCarthy, the man who is now 2-0 against the Buckeyes.

It’s funny to remember that Ryan Day essentially passed on McCarthy, pissed him off, and sent him right into the hands of Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines.

Funny how things work out, isn’t it? Sort of like all the Ohio State fans who celebrated after the Jim Harbaugh extension are now calling for their own head coach to be fired.

Day basically dared McCarthy to beat the Buckeyes on Saturday and J.J. responded with a truly legendary performance — one of the best we have ever seen from a Michigan quarterback.

McCarthy threw for 263 yards and had three touchdowns of 45 yards or more (forget about the deep ball issues). He also ran for 27 yards and a TD.

It was as good a performance as I’ve seen from a Michigan quarterback in The Game since John Navarre threw all over the Buckeyes (to Braylon Edwards) back in 2003.

Let’s call McCarthy what he is — an Ohio State killer and a Michigan legend.