Ohio State 37, Michigan 7. in almost all the big ways, Michigan was clearly a better team in 2010 than it was a year ago, and certainly than it was in 2008. The Wolverines staved off another second half collapse with wins over Illinois and Purdue, must-win games they lost in '08-09, securing a winning record in the process. The offense found a cornerstone in prolific quarterback Denard Robinson, the spark for the No. 1 total offense in the Big Ten and the highest-scoring attack at Michigan in more than a decade. They'll be in a bowl game next month for the first time in three years, with a lineup set to return 18 starters in 2011. This is a better team that should be better still in nine months.But again today, on the biggest stage of the season, against the most important measuring stick, the Wolverines came up woefully short. The losing streak against Ohio State – now at seven years, and nine of ten since Jim Tressel arrived in Columbus in 2001 – is torture enough. The gnawing part at this point, years after the losing became an ingrained reality, is that the gap shows no signs of closing.
This beating was worse than last year's in Ann Arbor, and on par with the rout in Columbus in '08. The Buckeyes won the yardage battle by 128 yards. The Michigan offense was plagued by dropped passes. Three more giveaways today pushed it past Purdue for the worst turnover margin in the conference. With a chance to sustain a bit of momentum in the second quarter, the kickoff team followed a touchdown to cut the Ohio State lead to 10-7 by allowing an 85-yard return that immediately restored the Buckeyes' advantage to ten. A pair of shanked punts set up the OSU offense in Michigan territory for two more scores. Robinson channeled his worst tendencies, fumbling away an early scoring chance in the red zone and later exiting the lineup with a hand injury just before the half, leaving the offense to be shut out in his absence the rest of the way. In three hours, the only hint of progress is that it took the Buckeyes an entire quarter to formally begin the onslaught.
Even before the game, roughly half the fan base and some segment of the local press either thought that Rich Rodriguez would be gone or should be gone with anything less than an upset to close the regular season. Athletic director Dave Brandon made it pretty clear that isn't going to happen. Rodriguez will be on the sideline for the bowl game, wherever that is, and the fact that there is a bowl game is a reliable indicator that he'll still be there in 2011, too. There are worse fates than an ugly loss to a one-loss conference champion ranked in the top ten.
One of those fates, unfortunately, is three ugly losses to a conference champion ranked in the top ten, which Rodriguez now has. If some semblance of "progress" out of the tangled wreckage of his first two seasons is enough to buy Rodriguez a fourth, at some point there has to be a clear, unmistakable step toward the final destination. Assuming that includes a win over Ohio State in the foreseeable future, it looks as far away right now as it ever has.
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