While Michigan football is awaiting a Big Ten-Pac-12 showdown of its own, fans of the maize and blue can delight in a little bit of schadenfreude from the early slate.
The Wolverines don’t kick off until 8 p.m. EDT against Washington, but the Fox Big Noon Kickoff featured rival Ohio State hosting Oregon, and the Buckeyes were double-digit favorites against the Ducks. However, similar issues from Week 1 persisted for OSU, as the run defense continued to be porous while the offense under quarterback C.J. Stroud wasn’t nearly as electric as advertised — at least not until the fourth quarter.
Stroud had a decent game himself, having thrown the most ever for an OSU freshman with 484 yards on 35-for-54 passing but threw a costly interception on a late fourth-quarter drive to tie the game. The Buckeyes couldn’t get much of a run game going themselves until late in the game. Though Ohio State continued to put up a fight, cutting it to one score late, OSU ended up falling at home, 35-28.
It’s head coach Ryan Day’s first regular season loss at the helm of the scarlet and grey. Of course, given that Michigan and Ohio State don’t meet until the Saturday after Thanksgiving, OSU has plenty of time to fix what ails it before The Game on Nov. 27.
Oregon managed 269 yards rushing in the game to go along with 236 yards passing. Running back CJ Verdell rushed 20 times for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns while adding 3 catches for 34 yards and another TD through the air.
Naturally, Michigan football fans will delight in taking pleasure in Ohio State’s pain, while simultaneously hoping it’s not a cautionary tale of what could happen against what’s supposed to be an overmatched Pac-12 foe.
Here are some of the reactions to Michigan’s rival losing on Saturday.
List
Prediction roundup: What the media is saying about Michigan football vs. Washington
MGoBlog’s Seth Fisher
One way they could make college football better is draft Joe Moorhead and have him coordinate against Ohio State every week.
— Seth M. Fisher (@Misopogon) September 11, 2021
CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd
Symbolism bleeds at Ohio Stadium. Tight end Moliki Matavao scored @oregonfootball TD. Wearing No 8, same as Mariota who engineered the Pac-12's best win seven years ago until maybe today.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) September 11, 2021
CBS Sports’ Tom Fornelli
Kerry Coombs is the new Don Brown.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) September 11, 2021
Big Ten Ben (Ben Stevens)
CJ Stroud walking into the defensive meeting room next week. pic.twitter.com/yiXkPEEmUF
— Ben Stevens (@BenScottStevens) September 11, 2021
Barstool Michigan
https://twitter.com/barstooluofm/status/1436769082251124737?s=21 https://twitter.com/barstooluofm/status/1436778236348968961?s=21
Michigan basketball’s Terrance Williams
Oregon offense very tuff
— T Will #️⃣5️⃣ (@_flyyt) September 11, 2021
Every Day Should Be Saturday
— BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) September 11, 2021
College Football News’ Pete Fiutak
Ohhhhhhhh, CJ … NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO #OREvsOSU
— Pete Fiutak (@PeteFiutak) September 11, 2021
ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg
Update: Didn't go well. https://t.co/FwmObZ8uRr
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) September 11, 2021
Reddit College Football
https://twitter.com/redditcfb/status/1436778297170358272?s=21 https://twitter.com/redditcfb/status/1436779690702766081?s=21
Former Michigan HOTY Garrett Moores
You honestly just hate to see it. Second week of the season, and OSU already taking an L
— Garrett Moores (@gmoores11) September 11, 2021
Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel
That's the capper to this Moorhead Masterpiece. Brown finds tight end DJ Johnson wide open after going in motion. Some guts, all the glory for Oregon.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 11, 2021
Former Ohio State QB Cardale Jones
I don’t wanna hear that (expletive deleted), he gets paid to stop the offense! Figure it out instead of rotating 47 players and having 69 checks and adjustments! https://twitter.com/1tyvis/status/1436761199631380484?s=21
The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel
Oregon’s MVP today in green. pic.twitter.com/ADdGMkRKGU
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) September 11, 2021
USA TODAY Sports’ Dan Wolken
That'll be the end of the game. Great job by Oregon on all fronts, especially their defense late. I still will not trust them to get through the season without coughing up a couple of fur balls until I see it.
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 11, 2021
Scott Bell
Looks like Michigan is going to have to carry the flag for the conference and try to win a big game against a Pac-12 school in front of a national audience. Some teams just don’t have what it takes to win on the big stage.
— Scott Bell (@sbell021) September 11, 2021
Alejandro Zuniga
Ohio State has died of dysentery.
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) September 11, 2021
Rivals’ Mike Farrell
The #buckeyes look weak in so many areas wow
— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) September 11, 2021
Cameron Magruder
Ohio State fans, do you want to talk about it?
— Cameron Magruder (@ScooterMagruder) September 11, 2021
Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman
What a win for Oregon and the Pac-12 to go into Columbus and beat the Buckeyes–and do it without Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe and three other defensive starters. Amazing. Joe Moorhead and Anthony Brown Jr had a great day.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 11, 2021
Kirk Herbstreit
Wow!
What a game in Columbus. @oregonfootball deserves ALL the credit. Came 2450 miles and were really well prepared. Mario, Joe Moorhead and staff had em ready. Players played w/ a chip. And QB Anthony Brown was OUTSTANDING with his decision making.
Congrats Ducks!— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) September 11, 2021
1
1