The early years of the Ohio State rivalry
Once upon a time, Michigan was a booming state. With ore and lumber coming in from the UP and the burgeoning auto industry in Detroit, Michigan was one of the richest states in the nation and it backed that up with a state university that was considered world class. And that university had a football team virtually untouched by anyone in the land.
To the south, Ohio was in the opposite situation. Mired in poverty, the state had yet to fully enter the 20th Century. It's flagship university was still a land grant school at heart, teaching the sons of farmers how to farm even better. With the manufacturing industry that would eventually bring the state some financial prosperity in it's infancy, Ohio was a backwater.
This was the birth of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. The have's vs the have-not's. The rich vs the poor. The educated vs the men of the land.
And it was a one sided rivalry, to be sure. We all know that Michigan didn't lose a game to the Buckeyes in the first 16, and that after a three year losing streak we reeled off another six straight. It's fair to say that, in a world where MSU was irrelevant and we'd yet to play Notre Dame, Ohio State was "little brother". For they had neither the tradition of competitiveness that defined our main rival, Chicago, nor the stakes of our jug stealing rivals in Minnesota. They were merely the school that couldn't accept that we didn't hate them as much as they hated us, they were the academically and athletically inferior hicks who couldn't run with us if they tried.
Then something funny happened. Chicago, our only true rival on the field and in the classroom, got progressively worse on the field until they just dropped the sport altogether. Meanwhile, those annoying Buckeyes had beaten us four years in a row... wait, let me rephrase that. They destroyed us four years in a row, to the tune of 114-0. We were also in the midst of what would become an 11 year Jugless drought. These were the circumstances in which Ohio State became our main rival.
I'm posting this for two reasons... one because it's not the way the rivalry is traditionally presented and two because it's funny how it fits our feelings about State today. Let me be crystal clear, the things that lead to OSU's rise as our main competitor will never happen with State. But maybe, just maybe, they might one day rival them in stature.
To the south, Ohio was in the opposite situation. Mired in poverty, the state had yet to fully enter the 20th Century. It's flagship university was still a land grant school at heart, teaching the sons of farmers how to farm even better. With the manufacturing industry that would eventually bring the state some financial prosperity in it's infancy, Ohio was a backwater.
This was the birth of the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry. The have's vs the have-not's. The rich vs the poor. The educated vs the men of the land.
And it was a one sided rivalry, to be sure. We all know that Michigan didn't lose a game to the Buckeyes in the first 16, and that after a three year losing streak we reeled off another six straight. It's fair to say that, in a world where MSU was irrelevant and we'd yet to play Notre Dame, Ohio State was "little brother". For they had neither the tradition of competitiveness that defined our main rival, Chicago, nor the stakes of our jug stealing rivals in Minnesota. They were merely the school that couldn't accept that we didn't hate them as much as they hated us, they were the academically and athletically inferior hicks who couldn't run with us if they tried.
Then something funny happened. Chicago, our only true rival on the field and in the classroom, got progressively worse on the field until they just dropped the sport altogether. Meanwhile, those annoying Buckeyes had beaten us four years in a row... wait, let me rephrase that. They destroyed us four years in a row, to the tune of 114-0. We were also in the midst of what would become an 11 year Jugless drought. These were the circumstances in which Ohio State became our main rival.
I'm posting this for two reasons... one because it's not the way the rivalry is traditionally presented and two because it's funny how it fits our feelings about State today. Let me be crystal clear, the things that lead to OSU's rise as our main competitor will never happen with State. But maybe, just maybe, they might one day rival them in stature.
Post needs pics, but is otherwise very erudite and well written. I like my history served with no dates and times and places and such. It makes it easier to remember and less hazardous to cite. The perspective this article provides is quite reassuring and entertaining. And, I liked the beat.
9.5
A pic would have got you a 10.
Perhaps a Santonio Holmes photo would be appropriate here. I think we all know which photo I am referring to.
Potato salad.
I don't know which photo you are referencing.
Nicely done.
And it puts to mind a fact I still can't come to terms with.
Michigan has more natural resources per capita than any other state. Why the HECK is the state so poor these days?
I'll keep politics out. I have to believe that Alaska has more natural resources than Michigan for 2 reasons:
1) So few people
2) Such a big state
But we should be able to figure out a way to make money and employ people other than taking California's prisoners and Canada's trash.
Its simple really. Too much reliance on one industry. You let Democrats run things.
Democrats aren't the problem, it's the utter control of the government by the auto corporations and the UAW.
Michigan is home to a lot of major companies aside from the Big Three. Kelloggs, Dow, La-Z-Boy, etc... yet all we ever do is curtail to the auto industry. It's laughable.
Great post. It's interesting to think about the times in these rivalries when OSU and MSU have been most competitive. It's almost hard to remember that, in the modern era, the closest OSU has been in the overall series was in 1975, right in the middle of the Ten Year War, when they cut down the overall lead to 11 games. Woody had almost immediately started making up ground after he came to OSU in '53, and Bo only managed to claw back to one game over .500 vs the Buckeyes by the end of his tenure, leaving a 15-game lead.
On the other hand, MSU's best years were under Duffy Daugherty, but Bo quickly reversed that rivalry and only dropped four games to the Spartans in 20 years.
The not-at-all shocking conclusion: When Michigan is weak (like under Elliott and, to some extent, Oosterbaan), more teams beat us, including our rivals. When Michigan gets strong again, only a top-flight program can hang with us. It remains to be seen whether Dantonio can put together that kind of program at MSU and whether Michigan can return to its usual spot in college football. Maybe it'll end up like things were in the '90's, where Michigan is the dominant program, but winning 6/10 instead of the 8/9 we've won this decade so far.
Before there was ever a football rivalry, there was a rivalry between the states themselves. The Michigan-Ohio fireworks began over the "Toledo Strip," a small but important (at least important at that time) tract of land that stretched all the way across the border between the two.
In fact, Michigan was not a state but a "U.S. Territory" at that time (early 19th century). You couldn't become a state until you had a certain population level. Due to its larger population, Ohio was able to attain statehood first, and Ohio then used its influence in Washington to prevent Michigan from achieving statehood - Ohio was using its influence in Washington as leverage for the Toledo Strip (FYI - the female OSU fans just south of the border have a different definition of "Toledo Strip").
At that time Ohio was by far the more prosperous between the two. Michigan was underdeveloped and sparsely populated in comparison.
In other words, before Michigan ever dominated Ohio on the football field, the two states were competing, and Ohio was dominating Michigan in political and economic spheres. Michigan was the original "little brother." But hey, that just makes me root for them more, because as a little brother myself, I understand what it feels like to really want to kick your older brother's ass.
Later on, as you explain, the tables turned on Ohio. And now they've turned against us. And hopefully that damn table will keep its ass turning.
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