With a comfortable 42-9 victory over Rutgers in Week 13, Ohio State continues marching toward an unbeaten regular season. However, head coach Ryan Day’s team now faces archrival, Michigan, in the season finale. Despite how dominant the Buckeyes have been this year, ex-Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe has issued a warning, suggesting the game will be a tough affair.

“No matter what, no matter what Michigan might look, might you what you might think or may not think of Michigan. Michigan play them tough. Michigan is physical. They’re a physical team.” Shannon Sharpe said on the November 22nd live stream of his show, indicating that OSU will get tested. “They’re going to run the football, and they’re going to try to shut your ward off and stop you from running the football. So, it’s going to be a very interesting matchup.”

This will be the 121st “

The Game” meeting between the two teams. For Ryan Day, a win is necessary not only to cement Ohio State’s unbeaten run, but also to end the nightmare of repeatedly losing to the Wolverines. Michigan has beaten the Buckeyes in its last four matchups. And with a prominent Michigan figure starting the fireworks earlier this month, Week 14 has become even more intense. Shannon Sharpe believes Ohio State must stay ready because Michigan will come out with an aggressive mindset and a determination to win.

Currently, Ohio State ranks No.1 nationally in points against. The OSU defense has been very strong under defensive coordinator

Matt Patricia this season. However, they are yet to get tested against a strong opponent. The last four of their opponents before Rutgers ran fewer than 50 plays. And Michigan is no UCLA, Purdue or Rutgers for even that matter.

For the Wolverines, a win at Michigan stadium next weekend is necessary. Not only will that snap Ohio State’s perfect record, it will launch Michigan into the playoff conversation instantly. That will be a two birds-one stone situation for head coach

Sherrone Moore.

OSU linebacker Sonny Styles’ message gets ignored

Going against Rutgers in Week 13, OSU LB Sonny Styles made it clear that he knows Michigan are different from the other teams they have faced recently. Starting with the Wolverines, Styles believes the road is only going to get tougher.

“I think we’re staying on top of our stuff, and we’re ready for the hard games. We have a lot of goals ahead of us, and we want to beat the team on North.” Styles said. “You know, no one here has been a back-to-back national champion.”

His message indicated that Ohio State plans on becoming a back-to-back champion. The last team to do so was the Georgia Bulldogs in 2021 and 2022. However, Michigan could crush those hopes with a Week 14 win. Although the defense has gone untested all season, that lack of challenge could work against them when they face a Michigan team of this quality.

So while Sonny Styles’ message sounds confident, Michigan will look past it, hungry for a home win and a chance to ruin their archrival’s season.

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