Sixteen Michigan coaches have squared off against the Buckeyes and five emerged with winning records – from Gustave Ferbert’s perfect 1-0-0 record (1897) to Fielding Yost’s 16-3-1 (1901-1926). Four Michigan coaches played Ohio State even and six suffered a losing record.
Ohio State has sent twenty-two coaches into battle against Michigan – all but one with overall career winning records. Only five, however, have managed winning records against Michigan – ranging from Jim Tressel’s 9-1-0 to Woody Hayes’ 16-11-1 (1951-1978) and Urban Meyer’s perfect 7-0. Wolverine alumnus Albert Herrnstein lost all four meetings, 1906-1909, with his mentor Fielding Yost.
What is remarkable, is how evenly matched the great ones were. Fielding Yost held a slim 5-3 edge over John W. Wilce. Paul Brown, who went on to fame as a professional coach, was 1-1-1 in his matches against Fritz Crisler. “Bo” Schembechler and Woody Hayes both had career winning records in the big game, but “Bo” came out on top, 5-4-1, in head-to-head matches with his former boss.
Lloyd Carr won four of his first five games against the Buckeyes, including two upset victories that ruined the national title hopes of Ohio State teams ranked second in the country. Jim Tressel was the fifth OSU coach to win his first game against Michigan and only the second to hold a 2-0 advantage over the Wolverines. Carr won a national championship in his third season. Tressel did him one better by winning the BCS title in his second. Carr gained his first win over Tressel in 2003. Tressel’s Buckeyes salvaged a disappointing 2004 season by upsetting Michigan and depriving the Wolverines of an outright Big Ten title. The Buckeyes came from behind in 2005 to give Tressel his fourth win in the series and assure Ohio State a tie for the conference title. In 2006, the series’ first showdown between #1 and #2 rated teams, OSU held on for 42-39 victory. In what would be Lloyd Carr’s final game at Michigan Stadium, the Buckeyes clinched a third straight Big Ten title with a 14-3 win, giving Tressel a 9-1 record against Michigan. The Buckeyes 42-7 win in 2008 was their largest margin of victory since 1968’s 36 point advantage. In the final game at the “old Michigan Stadium” in 2009, a big contingent of OSU fans saw the Buckeyes roll to a 21-10 win. The 2010 game opened with a scoreless first quarter and Michigan pulled within three at 10-7 in the second quarter. Jordan Hall returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to set a Buckeye series record. OSU ran off 27 unanswered points to secure a dominating 37-7 win.
With the 2010 win, Tressel extended his consecutive win streak to 7 games, three better than Francis Schmidt (1934-1937) and Woody Hayes (1950-1963). Fielding Yost holds the series record for consecutive wins with a nine-year run from 1901-1909. The second longest string for a Michigan coach is three wins: Fritz Crisler, 1938-1940 and 1945-1947; Bo Schembechler, 1976-1978; and Lloyd Carr, 1995-1997.
First year Michigan coach Brady Hoke broke the string of Buckeye victories by defeating interim coach Luke Fickle’s Ohio team 40-34. Denard Robinson led the Wolverines to their first win in seven years, accounting for 337 yards total offense and five touchdowns (2 rushing and 3 passing). In the first year of divisional play the rivalry game did not have a direct impact on either the Legends or Leaders championship, but Michigan (6-2) did finish with a better conference record than Ohio (3-5) for the first time since 2004.
