What they're saying before Michigan vs. Ohio State: 'So much at stake' for Sherrone Moore

Toe meets leather at 12:14 p.m. ET Saturday at Michigan Stadium for the annual rivalry between the Wolverines and Buckeyes. Here’s a look around the internet at what they’re saying before kickoff.

Michael Cohen, Fox Sports: The Blueprint: How Michigan Rebuilt Itself to Bring Bryce Underwood Home

At that moment, [Champions Circle executive chair Nate] Forbes was the only person in the room who didn’t have a preexisting relationship with Bryce [Underwood] from earlier stages of the recruitment. But so much about the situation had changed that all of them would be getting something of a fresh start: Moore replaced Harbaugh as head coach, which meant Bryce could now see him through a significantly different lens; Magee returned for a second stint at Michigan, this time as general manager, to oversee roster management and player acquisition via an NFL-style model; Wangler, Forbes and Champions Circle were no longer constrained after an injunction in Tennessee federal court suddenly permitted schools to negotiate NIL deals with prospective student-athletes, drastically changing how they conducted business.

Prior to that ruling, the program’s preferred NIL strategy revolved around compensating players who were already on the team to accentuate Harbaugh’s credo that attending Michigan should be “transformational, not transactional.” But the cost of maintaining the Wolverines’ roster jumped from roughly $4 million in 2023 to nearly $12 million in 2024, a source said, straining the available budget based on fundraising efforts at the time. If Michigan wanted to remain among the sport’s elite after three consecutive trips to the College Football Playoff, the level of investment needed to change. Since then, the same source said, the price of Michigan’s roster has effectively doubled for the 2025 season.

It was around that same time — amid the transition from Harbaugh to Moore ahead of the 2024 campaign — that a group of very wealthy fans, including software billionaire Larry Ellison and his wife Jolin Zhu, a Michigan graduate, began contributing more significant gifts to assuage the eight-figure roster payrolls that were radicalizing college football. The sums those people contributed helped the Wolverines retain stars like Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant and Colston Loveland, all of whom were offered significant deals by other schools. It also armed the program with enough resources for simultaneous pursuits of elite high school talent like Bryce.

“That’s college sports in today’s day and age,” Wangler told me. “You’ve got to have the business side of it figured out.”

Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press: So much at stake for Michigan football, Sherrone Moore vs Ohio State

Signs of the program’s erosion since the end of Harbaugh’s tenure have routinely surfaced this season, just as they did last fall. Wink Martindale’s boom-and-bust defense has sprung leaks, giving up 489 yards and 31 points in a loss to USC while allowing 30 completions and three passing touchdowns in a three-point win over middling Nebraska.

The special teams, which had been a strength during Harbaugh’s golden age, have become a liability. Dominic Zvada has missed seven of 19 field-goal attempts, while the Wolverines rank near the bottom of the Big Ten in both kickoff and punt return average. On offense, even with freshman sensation Bryce Underwood at quarterback and a powerful rushing attack, the operation hasn’t always been smooth. Two years after Michigan’s national title team had a mere eight giveaways – the second-lowest total in the FBS – the Wolverines already have racked up 13 despite playing four fewer games than that undefeated championship squad.

Mistakes across all sectors have polluted the ball-dominant formula Moore inherited from Harbaugh. That was seen in a 24-22 last-second win over Northwestern, when the Wolverines barely overcame five turnovers.

“Football is a fundamental sport,” tight end Marlin Klein said. “So you’re going to get beat if you don’t play with technique and fundamentals. … That’s why we’ve gotten close to losing here and there.”

Those flirtations with disaster invited more scrutiny for Moore, who is constantly compared to his predecessor and mentor, Harbaugh. In his first 24 games in charge, Moore has generally fallen short of the standard Harbaugh set toward the end of his nine-year run in Ann Arbor. But in one area he has surpassed it: Always beating the teams Michigan fans hate the most.

That is why so much is on the line for Moore heading into Saturday.

Bob Wojnowski, The Detroit News: Wojo’s Pigskin Picks: Perhaps it’s time UM shows a little mercy to tortured Buckeyes

As a long-time observer of Buckeyes in their natural habitat, I can tell they’re desperate, on the verge of delirium. The signs are obvious.

They spent the entire offseason demanding the NCAA hold someone accountable for the Wolverines’ repeated violations of unwritten rules, such as their unsportsmanlike 13-10 victory over Ohio State as three-touchdown underdogs last year. Ultimately, the NCAA found no evidence Michigan decoded OSU’s game plan, and in fact found no evidence of a game plan at all.

Undaunted, the Buckeyes are back for more, embittered and emboldened. Here they come, 11-0 and ranked No. 1, pulling their rickety trailers into Ann Arbor to face a Michigan team good enough to be 9-2, fortunate enough to not be 7-4, young enough to have no idea how it feels to lose to the Buckeyes.

It’s another epic edition of The Game, and I think we need to set the record straight on a few things. First of all, let’s stop all the talk about asterisks and tainted titles. No, I don’t think the Buckeyes deserve an asterisk for their tainted national championship last season. They earned that consolation prize despite suffering the biggest upset in the rivalry’s history, at home to a 6-5 Michigan team that used a former walk-on quarterback and other unfair tactics, such as repeatedly running the ball.

The Buckeyes were so nervous that day, you’d think UM was using giant pictures of Jim Harbaugh to signal plays from the sideline. Ryan “Third” Day, on the advice of his lawyers, opted not to use any signals or throw passes to any of his big-play receivers.

The Wolverines have beaten OSU four straight meetings, each as a significant underdog. Four years is a long time, longer than it takes most Buckeyes to complete their freshman year. OSU is favored again by 10-plus Saturday, and I think we need to take a compassionate view of this.

Perhaps it’s time the Wolverines do the honorable thing and stop tackling so viciously. UM already won a bunch of Big Ten titles, as well as the non-consolation-prize 2023 national championship. With another loss to UM, the state of Ohio could face a devastating mental health crisis. Buckeyes are humans too (sort of) and feel real pain (when tased in a post-game riot).

Austin Meek, The Athletic: Why Michigan-Ohio State is hard to pick and more Wolverines thoughts after Maryland

Michigan’s ability to pressure the quarterback without sending extra pass rushers has been a major factor in the Wolverines’ four-game winning streak against Ohio State. Aidan Hutchinson, Mason Graham, David Ojabo and Josaiah Stewart left their mark on this rivalry, and now we’ll find out if Derrick Moore and Jaishawn Barham can do the same.

Michigan sacked Maryland’s Malik Washington three times Saturday, equaling his sack total from the first 10 games. Derrick Moore had one of those sacks, bringing his season total to 9.5. Michigan’s pass rush is not quite as dominant as it’s been in the past, in part because the Wolverines don’t have players like Graham and Kenneth Grant on the interior. It’s still very good, and the Wolverines will need it to be great Saturday.

Spencer Holbrook, Lettermen Row: Three keys for Buckeyes in rivalry clash at Michigan

Play your game
Ohio State coach Ryan Day made it absolutely clear during his Tuesday press conference: the Buckeyes will do what they need in order to be in position to win the game. This is a contrast from the past, when talk about the team that wins the rushing battle winning the game, needing to prove toughness and worrying about the rivalry by getting over-emotional.

Day is striking a different cord this time around.

“This is a different team,” Day said. “This is a different opponent in terms of their personnel, and so, you know, we’re going to do everything we can to win this game and focus on that because what’s coming tomorrow or what’s coming on Saturday doesn’t matter. What matters is right now, like having a great Tuesday.

“But what’s happened in the past doesn’t matter either. It doesn’t. You can learn from it, but let’s just have a great Tuesday and prepare the best we can to go win this game on Saturday, and that’s where the focus has to be, and we can’t let anything else distract us.”

Ohio State can’t be box-score watching to see if it’s winning the rushing battle. It can’t worry about proving toughness or anything other than winning the game. And if the Buckeyes play their game, the same game that has brought them to Ann Arbor at 11-0 as a double-digit favorite to win The Game, Ohio State should win The Game.

It should be the top priority for Day: play your game. Don’t play The Game.

Scott Dochterman, The Athletic: Ranking college football’s 100 best rivalries. Who earned the top spot?

1. Michigan vs. Ohio State
Arguably, Michigan-Ohio State football is the greatest rivalry in American sports. It unquestionably holds that status in college athletics. Their co-dependence deepens the intensity, both in victory and in defeat. There’s history from the territorial conflict over Toledo in 1835-36 that led to Ohioans referring to Michiganders as “Wolverines.” There’s proximity, prominence, moments, stakes, frequency and longevity. There is nothing like it.

Austin Meek and Cameron Teague Robinson, The Athletic: Is Ohio State ready to finally beat Michigan? 5 final questions for The Game

What factors will make the difference for each team?
Meek: I’ll start with the obvious. Underwood has made a few careless throws the past two weeks — those can’t happen against Ohio State. Michigan needs to avoid sacks, penalties and negative plays. Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale needs to have his defense dialed in, which means applying enough pressure to keep quarterback Julian Sayin uncomfortable but not trying to do too much.

I have a strange feeling that this game could turn on a special teams play, which ought to make Michigan fans nervous. Kicker Dominic Zvada and punter Hudson Hollenbeck have been inconsistent this year, and Michigan’s return units have been a mess. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game comes down to a return, a muffed punt or a last-second kick.

Teague Robinson: Is it too much of a cop-out to say Ohio State’s health? I believe Ohio State’s defense is its strength and its success will rely on stopping the run and confusing Underwood. It also needs to contain Underwood’s legs. As we saw last year, though, the offense has to have a pulse.

This year, the offense is more efficient and Sayin gives them a more accurate passing attack. Ohio State has forced the run against Michigan the last few years, leading to four straight losses. This year, it has an advantage in the passing game and Day is ready to unleash it. If that’s the case, the Buckeyes need Smith or Tate to play to really open everything else up.

Brandon Marcello, CBS Sports: Michigan can rewrite century of history with another win over Ohio State — and probably make CFP field

The Game is a pressure cooker. Last year’s loss aggravated some Ohio State fans so much that Day was compelled to hire security to guard his home. His family was reduced to tears.

Former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr knows the cycle better than most. He started 3-0 against OSU and went 5-1 before dropping six of his final seven.

“When you’re on a streak, there’s nothing like it,” Carr told CBS Sports. “And when you’re on the downside, you live every day with the thought that you have to lead this team into victory in this game.”

Michigan’s current run began in 2021 when Jim Harbaugh hopped off the hot seat and snapped Ohio State’s eight-year stranglehold with a 42-27 win. That win sparked the program’s run to the 2023 national championship. 

Since that afternoon in 2021, when fans stormed the field and grown men cried in the snow, the rivalry has only become more serious. On-field drama. Off-field controversy. And a sign-stealing scandal that added jet fuel to Ohio State’s fury.

Then came 2023: an undefeated showdown, Harbaugh suspended and Michigan sealing a 30-24 win with a late interception. It became a defining moment in the rivalry for Michigan.

“It’s undeniable that it’s the biggest game in the history of the rivalry when you look at it,” [university of Michigan lecturer and football historian Greg] Dooley said. “But it frankly almost felt like a relief for Michigan fans.”

For comparison, you have to rewind to the 1990s when Michigan ambushed four Ohio State teams — including three undefeated Buckeye teams — ranked in the top five.

“In the ’90s, the tables were turned,” Dooley said. “Ohio State had these superpower teams. It has a similar feel to today, where it just seems so unlikely for us to get them again — and we kept doing it.”