Ohio State's meaningful, memorable win vs. Michigan makes a statement

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Before we get to what The Game meant from 30,000 feet, let’s check it out from ground zero. Curtis Samuel scored, leaping into the air as he crossed the goal line. He was mobbed by his teammates. And then they were mobbed by — well, it seemed like everybody.

The playing surface at the Horseshoe melted into a mosh pit, the Buckeyes and their fans lingering for a long time together, trapped but loving it, illustrating this truth: Some scenes are bigger than the big picture.

What did Ohio State 30, Michigan 27 in double overtime mean?

“I couldn’t wish for a better moment,” said Samuel, the junior h-back.

With the obvious exception of Michigan and its fans, probably no one could. Which is why the Buckeyes celebrated with abandon with several thousand of their closest friends.

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“That’s something I’ll never, ever forget,” said Ohio State linebacker Joe Burger, a fifth-year senior from Cincinnati. “I felt trapped, but that’s the great part about college football. I don’t even know who I was hugging, who I was high-fiving, but I hope they remember that. We’ll certainly remember that for the rest of our lives.”

That goes for the other side of the scoreboard, too, where once the Wolverines fought their way off the field, we got a rant: Jim Harbaugh vs. the officiating crew, the coach incensed over several “outrageous calls,” including the spot on J. T. Barrett’s fourth-down run just before Samuels’ touchdown.

“Yeah, I’m bitter,” Harbaugh said — and regardless of what anyone thinks about the strength of his argument, it’s understandable after coming out on the losing end of what Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer described as “an instant classic between two great teams.”

Got all that? OK, now let’s go to the rest of it.

Michigan's Jim Harbaugh furious with officiating in loss to Ohio State

With the victory, Ohio State finished the regular season 11-1, and then the Buckeyes no doubt kept one eye on doings in State College, Penn., where Penn State pulled away from Michigan State –— and thus won the Big Ten East. Despite its lofty No. 2 ranking in the current College Football Playoff Top 25, Ohio State will have to wait a week to see what the selection committee thinks of a team that didn’t win its conference, or its division.

“I think we’re one of the top four teams in the country, personally,” Barrett said. “But it’s up to the committee to do their thing. Hopefully everything comes out in our favor.”

The Wolverines, who went into the day ranked No. 4, didn’t do much to disprove the committee’s evaluation.

“Along with Alabama, we are arguably one of the best teams in the country,” Michigan junior quarterback Wilton Speight said, but he added, correctly: “I think the shot at the Playoff is slim to none now.”

After that, Speight said something else — “It stinks that that will be our last shot to play these guys” — which only opens up a juicy if-only. It won’t happen because both teams stumbled earlier in the season, but wouldn’t a rematch be fun?

It might even be what should happen, even as it won’t.

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At 10-2, Michigan is out barring spectacular chaos, and there’s probably not nearly enough time left for that. But Speight might not be wrong. Both teams might be among the “four best teams,” which is the selection committee’s stated goal in filling out the bracket.

While Michigan is out, it’s hard to see how the selection committee could deny the Buckeyes, even though they didn’t win their own division. But would they get in instead of either a Big Ten champion Penn State or Wisconsin? Or would the committee put two Big Ten teams in, thus denying the champions from two other Power Five conferences?

Either way, it would be easily the most controversial decision the selection committee has had to make in three seasons.

If you wanted to make the case against Ohio State, it would be that Michigan’s defensive line dominated the Buckeyes for most of the game, stifling the running game, sacking Barrett eight times. For about 45 minutes, Michigan looked for all the world like the better team and generally sucked the buzz out of a record crowd of 110,045 at the old stadium. It was the second consecutive game Ohio State’s offense had struggled — though this wasn’t anything like that escape last week at Michigan State. Michigan clearly has one of the nation’s best defenses; the level of competition was much higher.

But the Buckeyes’ defense was pretty good, too. Harbaugh can rant about the officiating as loudly as he wants — surely a hefty fine is on the way from the Big Ten, and very soon — but Michigan’s fans will bemoan three critical turnovers committed by quarterback Wilton Speight. A pick-six, a fumble at the goal line going in and another interception led directly to two Ohio State touchdowns and denied Michigan a TD. Eliminate even one of those mistakes, and it never gets to overtime; take away two, and the Wolverines win going away — but the Buckeyes had plenty to do with creating those, too.

And in the final moments, when it appeared the Wolverines grew fatigued, Ohio State’s talented playmakers reemerged, first to force overtime, and then to win it. Two plays before that winning touchdown, trailing 27-24, Samuel had taken a swing pass in the backfield on third-and-9 at the 24. He was bottled up on the right side, so he cut back left, and then darted right again. A collision with a blocker sent him back the other way. The whole thing looked like a disaster waiting to happen.

“I was worried we were going to be knocked out of field-goal range and lose the game,” said Meyer, and the fear was more than valid considering normally reliable senior kicker Tyler Durbin had already missed twice. “But things happen.”

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Said Samuel: “A bunch of stuff (was) going on. I’m running back and forth, so I just got to keep on going, keep on moving.”

Samuel eventually got 8 yards; disaster averted. Then, from the 15, Meyer had Barrett run it rather than send Durbin out to try for the tie. The quarterback barely got there. Maybe. If Harbaugh was sure Barrett didn’t get the first down, well, Barrett said he wasn’t, either.

“I’m glad we got it,” Barrett said. “The (replay) review said it was good.”

After the first down, Samuel got the ball again. He raced untouched for the win, cementing a stellar body of work and setting up the selection committee’s dilemma.

But that’s for later. On Saturday, it was enough to stay for a while in the smaller moment.

When Meyer finally arrived for his postgame interview, he deflected several questions by describing the final play. He didn’t appear all that interested in discussing either the Buckeyes’ Playoff resume or the meaning of the win against a rival. But he really didn’t need to say anything. Another scene from the end of the game was already worth a thousand clichés.

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When Samuel scored, Meyer fell to the ground and lay there for a moment, face down in the fake grass — which only meant he almost got trampled as the mad celebration began.

What happened there?

“I don’t know,” Meyer said. “Curtis scored going to the left.”

Someone asked: Do you remember anything from after the game?

“Yeah,” Meyer said. “Curtis scored.”

He paused, then continued.

“I remember that Neil Diamond song (Sweet Caroline, which poured from the loudspeakers after the game ended). That was great.

“Weird life, man.”

And a surreal scene, too.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE GAME