The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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❱ BUCKEYES WIN THE RUSH BATTLE, AND THE GAME The old adage is that the team that wins the rush- ing battle wins The Game. After a four-year stretch of dominance for Michigan in that regard, it lost both in the 27-9 defeat to Ohio State, meaning the 24-year streak remains alive in college sports' great- est rivalry. OSU took a few punches from Michigan early, but led 17-9 at the half and never looked back, winning the rushing battle, 186 to 100 yards. U-M went away from the run game once OSU pulled ahead, but never quite got enough out of freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, who com- pleted 8 of 18 passes for 63 yards and 1 interception in the game. "You always want to be balanced," head coach Sherrone Moore said. "I think just when it starts working, the first part of the game, you lean on that a little bit more. So, I don't think that wasn't the plan. We wanted to be balanced in what we did. But when you're successful in the run game like that, that's what you want to do. "We didn't do a good enough job of doing that in the second half." The Buckeyes leaned on their running game, head- lined by a 20-play, 81-yard drive that took up 11:56 of game clock in the second half. Freshman Bo Jack- son ran 22 times for 117 yards, and the Wolverines never could get enough of a push in the trenches to slow their rivals down. "I thought we would have been better at stopping the run there," Moore said. "And they did late in the game, they did a really good job of leaning on us. We didn't do a good enough job of stopping the run. "Credit to them, again, I'm not gonna take any- thing away from them and how they played. They played well." — Anthony Broome PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL THE BIG PICTURE RUSH SUCCESS IN THE GAME Year Result Rushing Yardage Battle 2025 27-9, Ohio State 186-100, Ohio State 2024 13-10, Michigan 172-77, Michigan 2023 30-24, Michigan 156-107, Michigan 2022 45-23, Michigan 252-143, Michigan 2021 42-27, Michigan 297-64, Michigan 6 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2026