Bryce Underwood reaffirms Ohio State rivalry as the biggest in sports

There are very few rivalries like The Game. For Michigan Wolverines quarterback Bryce Underwood, 2025 will be his first chance to play in the game. However, growing up in Michigan, it’s a rivalry he was raised with.

Underwood made a recent appearance on The Hard Count with J.D. PicKell. There, he opened up about his own relationship with this rivalry with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

“I just knew it was the biggest rivalry in sports history,” Underwood said. “It still is to this day, of course. So, just knowing my home state is willing to fight and defend and do anything that’s possible to not only beat Ohio State but be the best we can possibly be. It’s just life-changing for me, honestly, to see growing up because I played for a little league football team. That was the Motor City Marines. So, it showed like that’s how you do it, I guess.”

Just a freshman, 2025 will be the first chance Bryce Underwood has to play in The Game. This comes after Michigan has found a lot of success in recent seasons. That includes winning in each of the last four seasons, even knocking off the Buckeyes last season as they were about to make their national championship run. That game ended in a fight after the Wolverines went to plant a flag at midfield in The Shoe.

The Game itself dates back to 1897. In those early years, Michigan dominated, including an 86-0 win in 1902. In 1918, the two sides began to play annually. Along the way, there have been streaks of success for each team. However, Michigan leads the series overall to this point, 62-51-6.

While Bryce Underwood already knows the value of The Game, it’s been suggested that things are taken too seriously. In particular, Dan Wetzel shared over the summer that Ohio State is taking the Michigan game too seriously, and it’s hurting them.

“I think it’s particularly needed at Ohio State. Last year, they take this thing too seriously. The team up north. We won’t say Michigan … Crossing out the M’s on campus. If you walk around Ohio State’s campus the week of the Michigan game, it is crazy … Ryan Day last year before this game, said losing to Michigan, and I’m paraphrasing, it was, you know, as painful as the death of his father, like this thing needed to be relaxed. I think it just became overwhelming of late,” Wetzel said.

“And I think that they all talk like we can’t lose, like they’re trying to impress, like they’re trying to be more hardcore than the most hardcore fan, right … I think Michigan has had a better understanding of it. They’re not afraid to say the word Ohio. It’s okay, right? They take it very seriously. They want to win, but I don’t think anybody was just going to, you know, pass out if they didn’t do it. So I thought the intensity of that game had gotten overwhelming, and that’s probably why they lost the game.”

Regardless of how outsiders feel, both Ohio State and Michigan will continue to take The Game seriously. This year will be Bryce Underwood’s first taste as a player when the two meet in Ann Arbor this November.