The date: Oct. 16, 1897.
The place: Regents Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The result: Michigan 34, Ohio State 0.
Attendance: Estimated around 10,000 fans.
The headline in Michigan’s student newspaper two days later: “Varsity Takes a Brace: Ohio State University Defeated by a Score of 34-0.”
The headline in Ohio State’s student newspaper four days later: “Defeat – Meets the Home Eleven at Ann Arbor.”
And so began a rivalry that would become one of the defining traditions in American sports.
It didn’t happen overnight. The teams didn’t meet every year at first. But as Ohio State and Michigan grew into football powers, their meetings took on greater significance.
Ohio State joined the Big Ten in 1912, and in 1935 the rivalry moved to the final Saturday of the regular season — a date that would come to shape championship races and seasons.
Then came Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler. From 1969 through 1978, the two coaches waged the “Ten-Year War,” with Michigan going 5-4-1 during that stretch.
The rivalry had become a national event, with conference titles and Rose Bowl hopes often hanging in the balance.
As college football changed, so did the stakes. Conference realignment and the expanded College Football Playoff have reshaped the road to a championship.
But the basic equation remains: Win this game (Michigan leads the all-time series 62-52-6), and you can change the way an entire season is remembered. Lose it, and the other side gets a full year to remind you.
The rivalry has delivered its share of modern twists, too. Michigan won four straight from 2021 through 2024, including two victories in Columbus, though both teams won national championships during those four years (the Wolverines in 2023, the Buckeyes in 2024).
Nearly 130 years after that first meeting, the spectacle is bigger, the television audience is national and the championship stakes can be enormous.
Yet the rivalry still comes down to two teams, two fan bases and a year’s worth of anticipation.
Two centuries ago, on Oct. 16, 1897, it was just another college football game.
Today, it’s The Game.
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.