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.

Donovan Edwards

I’ll never forget listening to Urban Meyer talk about how Michigan football couldn’t run the ball against the Buckeyes’ defense and how the Wolverines weren’t going to be able to in the second half.

Meyer said it as if it were a guarantee.

Man, what I wouldn’t give to be Charles Woodson in that second half. I would have loved to sit right there and see the stunned look on his face as Donovan Edwards ran for two touchdowns of more than 75 yards in the second half.

It wasn’t all Edwards of course.

The offensive line was incredible and we’ll talk about those guys in a minute, but what Edwards did was the stuff of legend.

It was Tim Biakabutuka-esque.

Edwards finished the game with 22 attempts for 216 yards and two of the most iconic touchdown runs in Michigan football history.

And he did it with a cast on his hand.

It was truly incredible and for that, he will forever be a Michigan football legend.

Cornelius Johnson

All season long, we have talked about how Michigan football needed some of its wide receivers to step up and on the biggest stage, they did exactly that.

In the first half, Ohio State seemed to have all of the momentum. Then, Cornelius Johnson totally changed the game with back-to-back touchdowns of more than 69 yards.

Ohio State was determined to stop the run and on third-and-five, McCarthy threw a great ball on a five-yard out and Johnson broke a tackle. With nobody around after an all-out blitz, Johnson went 69 yards for a score.

On the next possession, Johnson toasted the Ohio State defender on a double move and after stepping up perfectly in the pocket, McCarthy hit him right in stride for a 75-yard touchdown.

Both plays reminded me of the Tai Streets touchdown in the 1996 win. Michigan was struggling to hang around on that day too and Streets broke a short pass from Brian Griese for a touchdown early in the third quarter, which changed the whole game.

Michigan won 13-9 and was down 9-0 at the time. The Wolverines were down 10-3 on Saturday and facing a third down when Johnson caught the first touchdown. They were down 13-10 when he caught the second.

Considering the catch he had last season to set up a touchdown against Ohio State, Johnson is easily a Michigan legend for what he’s done vs the Buckeyes.

The entire Michigan offensive line

The most significant transformation in the game on Saturday was the difference between the Michigan offensive line in the first half and the second half.

In the first half, the Buckeyes sold out to stop the run and they did a great job of winning the trenches. However, even in the first half, there wasn’t much pressure on McCarthy and to my knowledge, the vaunted OSU pass rush was credited with just one sack (I don’t remember one).

The Buckeyes’ defensive front wilted in the second half.

For the second straight year, Michigan football broke their will and they did it by running the football.

It was after the second touchdown drive of the second half, the one that covered 15 plays and 80 yards — that’s when you knew it was over.

But on the opening drive of the second half, Michigan football faced a fourth and short and Jim Harbaugh didn’t even hesitate. The offensive line drove forward for a first down and then carried the offense down the field on the drive that put Michigan ahead 31-20.

The Wolverines then capped the game when the offensive line and Edwards ripped off two long touchdown runs.

242 rushing yards in the second half. Michigan football had 10 in the first half and for the second year in a row, The Game was one in the Trenches — by Michigan’s offensive line.

That’s why there isn’t just one legend in the group — they are all legends.

I’m going to cheat on the last one too.

The no-name defense

One could say that Jim Harbaugh became a Michigan football legend on Saturday, but he was already one of those, especially after the Third-Base comment.

Harbaugh guaranteed a win as a player and delivered. He also ended the reign of terror by instilling Harbaugh ball in 2021. So his spot was already reserved. He just added to his legend on Saturday.

But the 2022 defense, cemented its status as one of the great defenses in Michigan football history and the Wolverines did it by allowing just three points to Ohio State in the second half.

All season, we have talked about how great the defense was in the second half and Saturday was the best performance of them all.

Jesse Minter was incredible. Give the man the Broyles Award! He’s also a Michigan legend and so is his defense.

Joel Klatt talked about the four-point plays (the red-zone) stops and Minter and the Michigan football defense delivered more than a few in the second half. It was incredible.

The Wolverines also intercepted C.J. Stroud twice and as good as the pass was in 2021, that’s how good the secondary was in 2022. (Marvin Harrison was invisible in the 2nd half).

Beyond that, Rod Moore, Mazi Smith, Michael Barrett (his bone-jarring hits), Will Johnson, Braiden McGregor, Mike Sainristil (his breakup was legendary) and so many more were legendary.

For the second year in a row, everyone was about to give C.J. Stroud the Heisman and the Michigan defense stopped it.

Ryan Day said he was going to “Hang 100” and it took him two games just to reach 50.

That’s all you kneed to know about this Michigan football defense.