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11/29 16:08 CST No. 1 Ohio State tops No. 15 Michigan 27-9, will play No. 2
Indiana for B10 title
No. 1 Ohio State tops No. 15 Michigan 27-9, will play No. 2 Indiana for B10
title
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) --- Ryan Day can rest easy. Julian Sayin and No. 1 Ohio
State dominated The Game on Saturday.
Sayin threw three touchdown passes, including a 35-yarder to Jeremiah Smith on
a fourth down in the second quarter, and the Buckeyes beat No. 15 Michigan 27-9
to give Day a sorely needed victory in one of college football's biggest
rivalries.
With Day on the sideline, Ohio State had lost four in a row to Michigan. Not so
much this time around, not with Sayin and Bo Jackson powering the offense, and
the defense shutting down Bryce Underwood and the Wolverines.
"Nobody wants to win this game more than me," Day said. "To win this game, it's
just a great moment. It's one of those moments that you want to just grab on
for a while and just enjoy it."
The defending national champion Buckeyes (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten, No. 1 CFP) likely
earned a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff. They can keep their
top seed with a win against No. 2 Indiana (12-0, 9-0, No. 2 CFP) in the
conference championship game Saturday night in Indianapolis.
It was quite a performance by Ohio State a year after it was a big favorite for
The Game and ended up losing to Michigan in Columbus. That upset sparked
speculation that Day might lose his job.
"It's a great win when you think about the point where we were at last year,"
Day said.
As much as Day tried to redirect the focus to his players, they knew the win
meant a lot to him.
"I could see the joy on his face," said Jackson, a freshman who rushed for a
season-high 117 yards.
The Wolverines (9-3, 7-2) started strong with two field goals and an
interception on the first three possessions of the game, but couldn't generate
pressure when Ohio State wanted to pass.
Just Sayin.
After throwing an interception on his second snap, the redshirt freshman took
advantage of the time and space he had to throw.
Sayin was 6 of 6 for 68 yards with two touchdowns on third and fourth down in
the first half, including a 4-yard throw on third down to Brandon Inniss with
16 seconds left that made it 17-9 at the break. He finished 19 of 26 for 233
yards and threw for at least three touchdowns for the sixth time this season.
Like a savvy veteran, Sayin gave credit to his offensive line.
"All season long they've just had an edge them and played nasty," he said. "We
hand it off, we get 7 yards. You see guys getting thrown on the ground, it
looks like carnage out there."
His clutch throw to Smith early in the second stirred some controversy.
Smith bobbled the ball as he went into the end zone and Fox's officiating
expert, Mike Pereira, questioned the call during the TV broadcast.
"They said that he had control of it --- didn't look like he had control of
it," Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. "They told me that it was
inconclusive."
Michigan might have gotten a break early in the game when edge rusher Jaishawn
Barham was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, but wasn't ejected, after
appearing to make contact with an official.
"The official grabbed him and he shouldn't have reacted," Moore said.
In the end, the calls were moot because Ohio State put together a convincing
performance.
Sayin helped the Buckeyes pull away with a perfect pass to Carnell Tate for a
50-yard touchdown in the third quarter, lofting a ball over the receiver's
shoulder after he got past Michigan's secondary.
That put the game out of reach for the Wolverines, who couldn't catch up after
being relegated to kicking three field goals in the first half and failing to
get their defense off the field in the second half.
The Buckeyes removed all doubt with a field goal midway through the fourth,
capping a 20-play, 81-yard drive that took nearly 12 minutes off the clock.
Underwood, the nation's No. 1 recruit a year ago, was 8 of 13 for a season-low
63 yards with an interception late in the game.
The Wolverines ran for just 100 yards on 24 carries against the nation's
top-ranked defense.
"It's got to be better," Moore said. "I put it on me."
The takeaway Ohio State: Day improved to 2-4 against the Wolverines, quieting any critics that were not convinced by the national championship he won. "To tell you that the last four years have been easy is not true," Day said after beating Michigan for the first time since his debut season in 2019. Michigan: Underwood's uneven season as a passer proved to be costly because it limited big-play potential against a defense that didn't give up a touchdown for the fifth time this year. "We just couldn't get a rhythm," Moore said. Up next The Buckeyes will face the Hoosiers for the first time since beating them 38-15 a little more than a year ago. Michigan will find out next Sunday where it play in a bowl game with just pride at stake. ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here and here (AP News mobile app). AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football |
