Ohio State traveled to Tallahassee for their matchup in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Tuesday night and came away with a 58-44 victory over the Florida State Seminoles.

The Buckeyes (6-0) didn’t have the greatest shooting night, but they continued their great play defensively by suffocating an already porous Florida State offense. Ohio State held the Seminoles to a season low 44 points, making everything hard to come by as Florida State only connected on 17 of their 48 shot attempts (35%). The Buckeyes also forced 22 turnovers (14 in the second half) to grind out a tough victory over a solid ACC opponent.

Freshman forward Jared Sullinger said this about the Buckeyes pregame mentality, “We knew defense was going to win the game.”

Sullinger scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds against a strong Florida State interior. The Seminoles boast great size in three of their players with Chris Singleton (6-9), Xavier Gibson (6-11) and Bernard James (6-10). Those three players for Florida State combined for 10 blocks during the game, making points in the paint a near impossibility for the Buckeyes. It was the toughest test for Ohio State’s offense so far this season, and whether they passed it or not, the Buckeyes still notched a 14 point victory.

Ohio State only scored 58 points (a season low), but Florida State is one of the best defensive teams in the country. The Seminoles are holding their opponents to just 33% shooting, third best in the NCAA. Ohio State had a hard time getting good looks at the basket because the Seminoles play a very active zone defense.

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Ho-hum: another year, another easy victory over Michigan. Ohio State made it an incredible seven in a row over the Wolverines on Saturday and did it in routine fashion, steamrolling their one-time archrivals 37-7 at the Horseshoe. The longest winning streak ever by the Buckeyes over Michigan just keeps getting longer and there’s no end in sight- at least not while the beleaguered Rich Rodriguez is still in charge of the Wolverine program.

With the big win Ohio State wraps up the regular season with an 11-1 record, the record sixth season in a row the Buckeyes have won double-digit games. Jim Tressel’s team also finished with a share of the Big Ten Championship for the sixth straight season. It won’t be enough for an automatic bid to the BCS- that will go to Wisconsin- but the Buckeyes are almost certain to get an at-large bid for their sixth BCS bowl in succession.

It’s been quite a run for the Buckeyes. For the Wolverines, finally bowl-bound but hardly healthy under Rich Rod, it’s been quite a run as well- for all the wrong reasons. Questions abound for the Maize & Blue, which after three years of the new regime still can’t play defense, can’t kick and can’t compete in a Big Ten it once ruled with impunity. The men wearing those familiar striped helmets are but a pale imitation of the bully boys that threw their weight around under Bo Schembechler and his successors.

Maize and Blow: You can’t win a game in the first quarter, the saying goes- but you can lose it. Michigan may have lost Saturday’s game in the opening fifteen minutes. The Wolverines racked up 101 yards of offense on their first two drives and twice drove deep into Ohio State territory. But both forays came up empty as Michigan missed on a fourth-down attempt from the 28 and lost a Denard Robinson fumble from the Buckeye nine. Considering the fumble came at the end of a play that would have made it a makeable fourth-and-one, the Wolverines could have been leading 10-0.

Instead it was still 0-0. Ohio State opened the scoring on its first possession after the fumble, driving 74 yards to a Devin Barclay field goal that made it 3-0 at the start of the second period. The rout was on from there.

His Kingdom for Hayward Epstein: Rich Rodriguez went for it on that initial fourth down because, with his awful kicking game, a field goal from 45 yards was about as much of an option as Judaism in Saudi Arabia. Wolverine kickers are a combined 4-of-13 and haven’t made an attempt of forty yards or more all season.

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This is The Rivalry. This is The Game.

It's the State Up North. It's Woody and Bo. It's more than football. It's 200 years of antipathy built up between two neighboring states that once fought over the squatting rights to Toledo.

To suggest that it's anything less would be to reject your roots. Blasphemy in its most brazen form. The records aren't supposed to matter. The recent history of the series isn't supposed to matter. What matters is this November, this Saturday, somebody is going to win The Game. And you hope its your side.

That's how it's supposed to be. That's how it was. But even those who believe in the sanctity of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry with the fervor of a faith-healed tent revivalist have to start wondering where the spice went.

The Buckeyes' 37-7 pummeling of Michigan on Saturday was anticipated. It wasn't supposed to be a game. Ohio State is a top 10 football program one loss in Wisconsin removed from national title contention. Michigan's program has devolved into a one-trick pony, reliant almost solely on whatever magic carpet sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson is capable of weaving.

The win was Ohio State's seventh straight against Michigan, their longest streak in the series, which dates to 1897. Buckeye supporters are quick to point out that it's a lopsided stretch of payback for all the years that the Wolverines swung John Cooper from a noose on the town square.

In Jim Tressel's first six years on the job, when he was matching wits with Lloyd Carr and coming out on top all but one year, it was indeed a reversal of fortune, with Carr playing the role that Cooper had played prior to 2000.

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Ohio State overpowered the Michigan Wolverines 37-7 Saturday at Ohio Stadium, and claimed a share of the Big Ten title for the sixth straight year. The Buckeyes sent off another class of seniors unbeaten against the Wolverines as Jim Tressel improved his record to 9-1 against Michigan with his seventh consecutive win in the series.

The OSU defense came up big when it counted, holding the Wolverines without a point on their two long first quarter drives, while the Buckeyes were struggling to get going on offense. Michigan turned the ball over on downs, and again on a Denard Robinson fumble, allowing the Buckeyes to build a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

When Michigan scored a touchdown to draw within three at 10-7, the Buckeyes answered immediately on Jordan Hall's 85-yard kickoff return TD, and the defense would let it get no closer from that point on. OSU cornerback Travis Howard had an interception and a fumble recovery as the Buckeyes won the turnover battle 3-1.

Terrelle Pryor threw touchdown passes to Dane Sanzenbacher and DeVier Posy, and Dan Herron rushed for 175 yards and a touchdown, as the Buckeyes scored all their points in the middle two quarters and coasted home on the strength of a defense that allowed just one sustained Michigan drive in the second half.

Robinson, the mercurial Wolverine quarterback, rushed for 105 yards on 18 carries and completed 8 of 18 passes for 87 yards, but he suffered dislocated fingers on his non-throwing hand on a  hit by Adam Bellamy, and after trying to play through it, went to the sidelines for good in the 3rd quarter.

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