There have been plenty of highs and lows for Michigan football fans over the years in the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.
Recently, there have been more highs than lows.
Ohio State won last season in the Big House. The Buckeyes won in a way that made it feel like the rivalry is about to shift in their direction. Michigan will need to win this year or next to try, and prevent that, but winning in Columbus, despite two wins in a row, won't be easy.
It feels like a playoff spot could be on the line for Michigan, just like it was last season. If the Wolverines had beaten the Buckeyes, they would have been in the at-large conversation.
It could set up a massive game. There have been plenty of those over the years between Ohio State and Michigan. Here's a back at three of the most disappointing finishes from a Michigan perspective with three games Wolverine fans wish they could forget.
1973 tie costs Michigan a national title
Bo Schembechler never forgot that the Big Ten athletic directors voted for Ohio State to go to the Rose Bowl over Michigan, despite the co-championship after the two teams played to a 10-10 tie in 1973.
Michigan quarterback Dennis Franklin led the Wolverines on a second-half touchdown drive to tie the game. Two field attempts by U-M were missed in the fourth quarter, leading to a 10-10 tie.
There were rumors about Franklin being less than 100 percent. The Big Ten at the time only allowed one team to play in a bowl, so the Wolverines, despite being Big Ten champions with a 10-0-1 record, finish the season ranked 6th. Ohio State won the Rose Bowl.
A win in "The Game", plus a Rose Bowl victory, could have meant a national championship or a shared title with Notre Dame, which finished undefeated that season. The Wolverines were No. 4 going into the Ohio State game. The Buckeyes were No. 1, so Michigan might have been the top-ranked team going into the bowl games, just like in 1997, when it won the AP National Championship.
A missed field goal kept Bo from winning it all.
The Shawn Crable penalty in The Game of the Century
In one of the most famous games in the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry, with Ohio State No. 1 and Michigan No. 2, the Wolverines fell short despite a furious rally in the second half, falling short 42-39 in another loss that kept Michigan football from a shot at the national title.
On a third and long in the fourth quarter, trailing by three, Troy Smith, the eventual Heisman Trophy winner, threw an incompletion. Michigan was going to get the ball, until a flag. Shawn Crable was called for a questionable roughing the passer penalty.
Ohio State scored a touchdown, pushing the lead back to 10. Michigan answered with a touchdown on its next drive, but instead of that drive being for the lead, the Wolverines cut the lead to three, and never got the ball back in the fourth with a chance to take the lead.
A tie and that three-point loss are two that will forever haunt Michigan football fans.
JT Barrett was short in 2016
There have been other consequential losses in the series like 2006, 1973, 2018, 2001, and more. None of them hurt quite as badly as the 2016 edition of "The Game."
Urban Meyer's 7-0 record against Michigan wouldn't stand if the refs had correctly ruled JT Barrett short on the fourth down in overtime. Of course, if Jabrill Peppers hadn't missed the sack attempt on the third-and-long, allowing Barrett to run, making it a fourth-and-short, instead of fourth-and-20, it all would have been a moot point.
That play haunts me more than the fourth-down play. If Peppers, who had an interception, had been able to make one open-field tackle, it would have changed the rivalry. Jim Harbaugh would have beaten Urban Meyer, Michigan would have won the Big Ten title and reached the College Football Playoff, and the eventual national title won by Harbaugh might have come earlier.
Instead, Michigan football fans are left with nothing but what-ifs.
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