[NCAA Football] College Football season 2008 #1

quote:

Op woensdag 3 september 2008 21:21 schreef Moonlighter het volgende:
maar het lijkt me zo vet om die grote scholen tegen elkaar te zien spelen in een knock-out systeem.
volgens mij zal dat de rivalry alleen maar vergroten. moet je voorstellen dat ohio-state in een playoff game wordt uitgeschakeld door michigan er zal een oorlog ontstaan tussen ohio en michigan

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During 1835-36, the State of Ohio and the Michigan Territory engaged in a brief and bloodless border dispute known as the Toledo War. Some have proposed that the football rivalry is a modern manifestation of this historical tension.

“The Ten-Year War”: Woody Hayes vs. Bo Schembechler 1969-1978

On November 22, 1969, Hayes led his top-ranked Buckeyes into Michigan Stadium against Bo Schembechler, a first-year head coach who had once been an assistant under Hayes at OSU. The Buckeyes brought a 22-game winning streak into Ann Arbor, but behind an inspiring 60-yard punt return by Barry Pierson that set up a Wolverine touchdown in the second quarter, and a defense that intercepted Ohio State six times (three by Pierson), the Wolverines won a defensive battle (both teams were scoreless in the second half) for a 24-12 upset.

The contest was the first in the famous “Ten-Year War” between Hayes and Schembechler, which pitted some of OSU’s and UM’s strongest teams against one another. Four times between 1970 and 1975, Ohio State and Michigan were both ranked in the top five of the AP Poll before their matchup. The Wolverines entered every game during those years undefeated and won only once, a 10-7 victory in Ann Arbor on November 20, 1971. The Michigan graduating class of 1975 shared or won the Big Ten championship every season, yet went to the Rose Bowl only once, in 1972. They only lost or tied with Ohio State during the regular season in that period.

In 1973, both teams entered undefeated, with the winner guaranteed a trip to the Rose Bowl. The rivals played to a 10-10 tie in Ann Arbor on November 24, and the athletic directors of the other Big Ten institutions were forced to vote on the Big Ten representative for the bowl game. In a secret ballot, Ohio State won the vote, to the outrage of Michigan athletic officials and fans. It was rumored that Michigan State University voted for Ohio State, although a more likely reason why the Buckeyes won the secret ballot was the injury suffered by Michigan starting quarterback Denny Franklin in the UM-OSU game. It was unclear if Franklin would be ready to play in the Rose Bowl, and the Big Ten ADs may have felt Ohio State would therefore have a better chance to win the bowl game. Schembechler argued that Michigan was robbed of its on-field achievements, and for months afterward, Ohio State newspapers were flooded with angry Wolverine letters and threats of lawsuits.

During the “Ten-Year War,” Ohio State and Michigan shared the Big Ten title six times. Between 1976 and 1978, Michigan won the game each year, and Ohio State failed to score a touchdown in each of those contests. Woody Hayes was fired at the end of the 1978 season as a result of an incident involving a Clemson player at the Gator Bowl, which ended the "War". The 1978 game was won by Michigan, 14-3, giving Schembechler a record of 5-4-1 against Hayes. At the end of the Hayes tenure, the series stood at 42-28-5.