Harbaugh Hammered in Ann Arbor! Buckeyes cruise to 42-13 win!

Ezekiel Elliott ran over the Michigan Wolverines for 214 yards and two touchdowns,while J.T.Barrett added 139 yards and three touchdowns as Ohio State bounced back from their loss to Michigan State with a 42-13 romp over the Wolverines in Ann Arbor.
The running game dominated the game with 369 yards as Ohio State outscored Michigan 28-3 in the second half.
The 11-1 Buckeyes now will wait and watch to see if they have a slim chance of retaining their national title or will settle for a New Year's Day bowl-most likely the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Olentangy Offerings

1) This was the dominant performance that Buckeye fans have waited for all season and in the second half brought the type of bully ball that could have beaten Michigan State.
Easy to say and "if" can be the saddest word in any language,but it would have been interesting to see if this effort would have been enough...

2) Want another person to blame other than last week's victims for not returning to the final 4?
Michigan punter Blake O'Neal,who had he gotten rid of that punt he muffed against the Spartans,would have given Michigan the win.
Give that win to the Wolverines,take it away from the Spartans and look at the rest of the results and it's Ohio State in Indianapolis next Saturday.
I was laughing as hard as anyone on that day,but it did cost the Buckeyes.

3) An interesting note is how muted Jim Harbaugh was as the game went on.
The guy that was smashing buckeyes on gravesites wasn't quite so outspoken when his team was getting pounded.
Other than the Harbaugh whine on his team getting called clearly for roughing the punter,the king of the khakis had to watch his team get pummelled...

4) The best player on the field was Joey Bosa,who is one of those special players that dominates even when the numbers don't say so.
Bosa finished with an interception,a forced fumble and a sack that looked like it ended the career of Michigan quarterback Jake Rudock.
I know the Browns need a QB badly in next year's draft and I'm really high on Memphis passer Paxton Lynch,but they could go far worse than tabbing Bosa.

5) I have this sinking feeling that I'm going to be watching Bosa shrug in Baltimore for a long time-Bleech.
I think the chances are unlikely that Bosa comes back,but the chance grows if his younger brother and Buckeye commitment Nick is coming along in his recovery from an injury to play next season.
Playing with your brother is a special experience and it's possible,if not likely that situation might keep Bosa in Columbus.

6) Other than the late first drive that saw Michigan score their only touchdown,the defense was lights out.
The first quarter stiffening when Michigan looked to make the first score of the game six rather than the eventual three was huge and set the tone for the more physical team...

7) Ohio State didn't throw the football a lot (15 times),but they did take shots down the field that they didn't do against Michigan State and between that,some option and some misdirection plays,Ohio State was able to use the threat of being more than Ezekiel Elliott to ....

8) Give Michigan more Ezekiel Elliott.
Elliott's 214 on 30 gave the nation's second ranked defense a small taste of physical football.
For Michigan's talk of not having "Harbaugh guys",they still have plenty of four star recruits over there and plenty of talent,so this was imposing your will on a darn good defense...

9) I thought the move of Ed Warriner to the press box with Tim Beck to help with play calling smacked of gimmickry before the game,but it clearly paid dividends.
As noted above,the play calling was tremendous and its often easy to say that when the players perform well,but the Warriner/Beck paring seemed one step ahead of the yellow and blue,so it must have had some positive effects...

10) Urban Meyer is now the second Ohio State coach in school history to win his first four games against the Wolverines.
I'll take that number every time over a nutcracker in khakis every time!

11) The win gives Ohio State the edge in the all-time series against the Wolverines in Big 10 play,Michigan will always have an edge after winning 13 of the first 15 games in the series....

12) Finally,I'll wrap up with this-Short of either North Carolina (vs Clemson) or Florida (vs Alabama) pulling huge upsets,the Buckeyes will not be in the playoffs.
That's disappointing,but can you really be disappointed in 11-1?
Sure,it was rocky at times and often seemed like they were underachieving,but 11-1 is nothing to scoff at.....