Michigan HC Sherrone Moore didn’t mince words, calling “The Game” the best rivalry in sports. The Wolverines have a four-game winning streak and haven’t lost since Ohio State HC Ryan Day’s debut season back in 2019. Despite the Buckeyes’ current No. 1 spot in the CFP rankings, Moore has a mantra that keeps them ready for the OSU matchup in Ann Arbor.

“The theme right now for our team is ‘Starve Your Distractions & Feed Your Focus,'” it’s a simple 6-word mantra that the Michigan head coach shared on the Rich Eisen Show on November 26. “There are a lot of things, there are a lot of deterrent factors out there that can get you off of your path. People telling ‘You’re doing a good job, or you know how good you are, or what this is’, and we can’t even feed into any of that. We’ve got to really reset our focus to what we’re doing and go attack.”

Michigan is also coming into this after a strong five-game winning streak, including a 45-20 blowout over Maryland. But the Wolverines remain winless against ranked teams. Their QB, Bryce Underwood, averaged 174.5 yards with a 50% completion percentage in losses to USC and Oklahoma. It won’t be enough against Ohio State’s top-ranked defense as they look to pull off another upset. But the Buckeyes HC Ryan Day seems ready, as he even changed a four-year-old tradition.

On Wednesday, Day dropped the update that instead of taking a bus from Columbus to Michigan, the team will be flying over instead. “I know the past four years, it hasn’t worked. You have to look at these things and try to figure out how to make them better and what you’ve got to do to make sure you get the job done. This is just one little thing we wanted to get done to make sure it’s as routine as possible.”

Day wants to keep the same routine that has helped the team achieve the #1 status. Hopefully, break the losing streak. Under national championship-winning coaches Jim Tressel from 2001 to 2010 and Urban Meyer from 2012 to 2018, the Buckeyes lost only once on the field to the Wolverines. The pressure is on both teams, but it is more on Michigan.

Because their playoff hopes hinge on this, the Wolverines are 18 in the CFP rankings. Even with the twelve-team bracket introduced, their path looks very dicey. Beating an undefeated team would be the biggest win anyone’s pulled off this season. The desperation at Ann Arbor is very real at this point, and the Wolverines need to hold on to that mantra for the next two days.

ESPN’s numbers aren’t exactly in Michigan’s favor. It’s just a 21.8% shot at beating Ohio State and an even slimmer 6.8% chance to make the playoff. But if the Wolverines pull off the upset and prove everyone wrong, they would demand to be in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years. With the win, they can also play spoiler to OSU’s plans.

Will fines stop Ohio State from celebrating?

Apart from staying undefeated in past encounters, Sherrone Moore’s team has left a mark after the game. During celebrations, they haven’t shied away from mocking their opponents with flag-planting initiatives. In 2022, Mike Sainristil and Michael Barrett sprinted out and stuck the Block “M” right on Ohio State’s Block “O.” The Buckeyes had already left the field, and the incident went off without a direct physical confrontation. But last year? Totally different story.

After last year’s tight 13–10 win, Michigan players tried to plant their flag at midfield again. Ohio State players were still out there and didn’t like it at all; things escalated quickly. A big scuffle broke out involving players and staff from both sides, police had to step in with pepper spray, and both teams ended up getting hit with $100,000 fines. But expect OSU to do the same if they win at Ann Arbor, at least Michigan alum believes so.

“The Buckeyes are coming to the Big House with their flag,” Rich Eisen, a former Michigan player, warned Sherrone Moore. “They probably have the pole picked out. They probably worked on that for months. It might have been stitched by somebody named Betsy Ross in Columbus. Like they are ready to bring one to the stadium and put it right in the middle of the 50-yard line. You know that. I know that.”

Ryan Day even addressed this: “We’re just going to talk about how we handle ourselves on and off the field to make sure everybody is prepared.” Moreover, Sherrone Moore echoed that if they win, there will be no more flag-planting. The odds are in favor of Ohio State, but that has not saved them before.