Ohio State vs. Michigan: The Game With a Border Fight Behind It.
Ohio and Michigan were fighting long before anyone kicked a football. In the 1830s the two sides argued over a strip of land around Toledo, and the dispute became known as the Toledo War. The compromise reached in 1836 gave the Toledo Strip to Ohio and the western Upper Peninsula to Michigan, which became a state in January 1837. Border settled. Grudge, apparently, not. Football arrived decades later, and the rivalry inherited the attitude.
Fans call it The Game, and they do not need to say which one.
If you like rivalries with a story, start with our ranking of the greatest college football rivalries, then read about Michigan’s other big fight in the Paul Bunyan Trophy rivalry. This one is older, bigger and more personal than most, and the best way to understand it is to start where the two states started.
Some rivalries begin with a game. This one had a grudge waiting for it.
— THE ORIGIN —
A Border Fight, Then a Blowout
The border dispute that became the Toledo War came more than six decades before the football rivalry. The teams first met on October 16, 1897, in Ann Arbor, and Michigan won 34 to 0. Michigan kept winning for years, often by lopsided scores.
Ohio State did not beat Michigan until 1919, by a score of 13 to 3. The series paused from 1913 to 1917, then resumed in 1918 and has been annual ever since, with one big exception. That finale slot is part of the myth. Since 1935 the two teams have met in the last regular-season game of the year, except in 1942 and 2020. The 2020 cancellation, caused by COVID-19, ended a 102-year run of consecutive annual meetings.
Think of it as a final exam. Whatever happened in September and October, the season gets graded in this game.
— THE STAGES —
The Stadiums, the Pants and the Blizzard
Both schools chose their rival for a stadium dedication. Michigan beat Ohio State 19 to 0 at Ohio Stadium in 1922. Five years later, Ohio State was the opponent again at Michigan Stadium, and Michigan won 21 to 0. The Big House and the Horseshoe both arrived with the other team in the opposite locker room.
Then came the pants. Coach Francis Schmidt, who beat Michigan 34 to 0 in his first season, helped start the Gold Pants Club in the mid-1930s. Players on teams that beat the Wolverines receive a tiny pair of gold pants, engraved with the date, their initials and the score. The idea traces to Schmidt telling his team that Michigan players put their pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else.
The strangest chapter came in 1950. In Columbus, a blizzard turned the Snow Bowl into a 9 to 3 Michigan win. Plenty of rivalry games get remembered for brilliance. This one is remembered for survival.
— THE WAR —
The Ten Year War
Rivalries have rivals, and this one had two famous men in charge. Woody Hayes coached Ohio State. Bo Schembechler, who had played for and coached under Hayes, took over at Michigan in 1969. His first team won 24 to 12 and ended an Ohio State winning streak of 22 games.
The two coaches met ten times between 1969 and 1978, and the stretch became known as the Ten Year War. Schembechler finished 5-4-1 against his old mentor, with a 10 to 10 tie in 1973 and a 14 to 3 Michigan win in Columbus on November 25, 1978 closing the era.
It was also personal in a way few rivalries are. Hayes and Schembechler stayed close friends until Hayes died in 1987. The war was real. So was the respect.
— THE RITUALS —
What Fans Actually Do
Rivalry week looks different on each side. In Columbus, seniors take part in the Senior Tackle, a tradition dating to 1913 in which they hit the sled one last time in front of teammates, coaches and families. Campus also fights a blood-donation battle with Michigan every year. According to Ohio State’s news site, the school that donates the most units to the American Red Cross gets recognized at the game.
Ann Arbor has its own liturgy. “The Victors” dates to 1898. The Big House opened in 1927, the Go Blue banner debuted in 1962, and the stadium has been famous for crowds of more than 100,000 since 1975.
If you want the full picture of what these fanbases are like, read our Fandom of the Week on Ohio State Buckeyes fans and Michigan Wolverines fans. Ohio State fans also sing “Carmen Ohio,” written in 1903 on a train ride home from Ann Arbor after the game.
— THE GAMES —
Games People Still Talk About
The list of games that fans bring up without being asked is long. Ohio State won 14 to 9 in 2002 and went on to the national title game. Four years later the two teams met as the top two in the AP poll, and Ohio State took a 42 to 39 thriller that fans still call the Game of the Century. The 2016 meeting needed double overtime before Ohio State won 30 to 27.
Then the pendulum swung. Michigan won 42 to 27 in 2021 and ended an eight-game Ohio State winning streak. Michigan followed with one-score wins in 2023 (30 to 24) and 2024 (13 to 10). Ohio State answered in 2025, winning 27 to 9 in Ann Arbor and reclaiming the bragging rights.
Nobody in either state needs the full name of the matchup. It is known simply as The Game, and the capital letters are part of the point. Sports talk shows, family group chats and wedding seating charts all treat the week of the game as its own season.
Look at that list and notice the pattern. The result changes. The stakes do not. Whoever wins, the other fanbase starts counting down to next year.
— THE MEANING —
Why It Never Cools
A rivalry like this survives because both sides inherit it. Kids in Columbus learn to dislike maize and blue before they learn algebra. Kids in Ann Arbor learn the same lesson about scarlet and gray. The football is the carrier, but the real subject is identity: two states, one border, one game at the end of the year. It is the same engine that powers Notre Dame vs. USC and the Red River Rivalry, and it is a big reason college football fan culture feels different from every other sport.
Ohio and Michigan settled their border in 1836. Their football game has never settled anything. And every November, two states decide again who gets to feel better about it.
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