Keith Strudler: Michigan Finally Wins

You can only imagine what Woody Hayes would say right now. The legendary if but controversial former head coach of the Ohio State Buckeye football program allegedly wouldn’t even stop to buy gas in the state of Michigan due to his abject hate of that school up north, as he used to call it. So to know that the Michigan Wolverines may cost Ohio State a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, and perhaps even the college football playoffs, would likely be too much to bear. Especially since it has nothing to do with playing an actual game on the field.

Of course, it’s just the opposite. This week Michigan announced it would have to withdraw from its rivalry match against the Buckeyes this weekend because of ongoing Covid outbreaks, which also kept them from playing Maryland last weekend. Which means that Ohio State will only have five football games under its belt this season, one shy of the number set by the Big Ten to qualify for the Conference Championship Game before this helter skelter season began. So by not playing their dreaded rival Ohio State this weekend, Michigan may effectively keep Ohio State from winning a Big 10 Championship and perhaps even from being one of the four teams selected to play in the college football playoffs, considering there’s lots of other schools from around the country with double the games played, including conference championships and high profile wins against top teams. With Ohio State, we’re largely going on spec.

It’s no conspiracy to suggest that Michigan may not have been particularly motivated to make this weekend’s game happen – to put it lightly. Michigan has lost with such regularity and fervor to their rival that it’s become nearly a right of passage, enough so that it will likely cost Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh his job. So far this season, Michigan has played just slightly better than a Texas high school team, with perhaps their biggest highlight being an overtime win against Rutgers. Rutgers. So it’s not a stretch to imagine that given the choice between doing everything in their power to field a squad to get demolished by the despised Ohio State Buckeyes to make sure they can win a national title or play it safe and stand down, well, come on.

This has put Ohio State, and the Big 10 Conference, and college football in general in something of a pickle, on top of all the problems this season. At all costs, college football programs have tried to maintain a sense of integrity to this process, especially when it comes to crowing a national champion. That’s led to some pretty wild decision making, like BYU deciding on Wednesday to head to Myrtle Beach for a Saturday game against Coastal Carolina to try and boost their rankings or the ACC canceling a Notre Dame game to make sure they’ve got an even matchup against Clemson in the conference title game. Teams have used backup quarterbacks, moved games, coached over Zoom, and played through a whole lot of positive Covid tests, all in the name of crowning a champion that could legitimately lay claims to that title.

It’s entirely likely that the Big 10 will handle the Michigan problem by simply changing their own rules, which are all of about two months old, and let Ohio State play in the title game with only five games under their belt. That’s probably exciting for everyone except Northwestern, who now have to play the Buckeyes instead of Indiana – and no offense to the Hoosiers. Assuming Ohio State wins, they’ll likely be the 4th seed in the college football playoffs where they’ll play Alabama in a matchup of teams whose head coaches have already sat out for Covid – in Alabama’s case, twice. And I’m saying this so I don’t jinx the Gators this weekend.

What does it all mean? Well, basically this. Take everything with a grain of salt. In the end of the say, or the season, the best team may in fact win the national title. They also may not. They also might have ten guys in quarantine, and they may only be there because they didn’t have to play a full strength Wisconsin. College sports in the age of Covid is a lot of things – some good, and some not so much. But the one thing they aren’t are fair. So for anyone disappointed that Ohio State may play for a national title while playing fewer games than a high school JV squad, just get over it. That is simply sport in the age of Covid. And don’t blame Ohio State – as Woody Hayes would tell you, it’s Michigan’s fault anyway.

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