Inside an Ohio State-Michigan rivalry classic: How Buckeyes dodged a monumental 2013 upset
Tyvis Powell is an Ohio kid. Born in Cleveland, Powell went to Bedford High School. He had an understanding of what the Ohio State – Michigan rivalry was before he even committed to Ohio State as a three-star recruit in the 2012 class.
But actually playing in the rivalry is a different beast.
He watched from the sideline in 2012 when Ohio State won in Columbus 26-21. In 2013, he was on the field as a redshirt freshman as Ohio State went to Ann Arbor undefeated in Urban Meyer’s second season and ranked No. 3, fighting for a spot in the final BCS National Championship Game.
Michigan wasn’t doing well under Brady Hoke. The Wolverines were 7-4 after starting the year 5-0. The Buckeyes were favored by more than two touchdowns. Powell, like many, thought Ohio State was going to walk into Ann Arbor, blow out Michigan and move on to the Big Ten title game with ease.
Instead, the Buckeyes and Wolverines delivered a classic game that ended with Powell intercepting a Devin Gardner two-point attempt to give Ohio State one of the most dramatic wins in the history of the rivalry.
“I thought, ‘They’re not about to be good, we should go in there and blow them out,’” Powell said. “That was the first time I was like you have to be ready to do whatever to win these games.”
As Ohio State and Michigan prepare for their 119th matchup on Saturday — one of the most anticipated in the rivalry’s history — Nov. 30 will mark 10 years since Powell sent Ohio State home a winner in Ann Arbor. Nationally, the result was swiftly overshadowed by what happened later that day when Auburn knocked Alabama out of the national title race thanks to the Kick Six, but it was a thrilling rivalry game in its own right, kickstarting a memorable day of college football .
This is the story of Ohio State 42, Michigan 41.
‘You have to expect anything in a rivalry game’
It didn’t take long for things to get chippy. Before the game started, the teams opened their locker room doors and began yelling back and forth at each other. It set the tone for a physical matchup on the field.
Jake Butt, Michigan tight end: I remember being aware of, “Hey, I have to play my role and stay in my place and not overstep boundaries.” I also knew I was from Columbus, Ohio, and this was a big one. I was right there when everybody started barking. That was my first experience as the man in the arena, and I was like, “OK, this is real. They don’t mess with us, we don’t mess with them. So let’s make it happen.”
Al Borges, Michigan offensive coordinator: What else is new? I’ve been in the two biggest rivalries in the sport, coaching in Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan, and I’m constantly asked which is more nasty. I don’t know that there’s any discernible difference, but there is more on the field and in the tunnel, chirping and fighting in the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry. ... It’s more on the field. The players just hate each other when they play.
Powell: I was like, look, they’re trying to be tough guys. I was like, “You’re not good, I don’t know why you’re talking tough. It’s cute that you’re putting these antics on like you’re about that life, but we’re about to smoke y’all.” And I was proven wrong.
The tension in the game was palpable well before kickoff. Ohio State was a heavy favorite, but right away it became obvious Michigan was going to put up a fight. Ohio State punted on its first drive, and Michigan threw a throwback screen to Jeremy Gallon on the third play of its first drive. Gallon took the pass 84 yards down to the 2-yard line. Michigan got on the board first on a Devin Gardner option run.
Powell: When that thing went 80 yards, I said, “This is about to be one of those types of games.” Everybody always says you have to expect anything in a rivalry game. When they did that, I was like, we have to figure something out. I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie, but it made us lock in even more.
Borges: We went in with the idea that we were going to empty the drawer. I was pulling plays out that I hadn’t run since the ’80s. It was an all-or-nothing proposition. That’s how we approach the game every year: We always saved plays for Ohio State. But this was extreme.
Drew Esler, Ohio State fan attending The Game for the first time (now vice president of Ohio State NIL collective The 1870 Society): I felt a little sick to my stomach because everybody was talking about how we were just going to walk all over them. I was a little apprehensive, I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy, but you could feel the tension on the ride up. And we took our seats that day and saw the Jeremy Gallon screen pass. When that happened, I turned to my buddy and I said, “This is going to be a close, high-scoring game.”
Ohio State had one of the best offenses in the country, finishing third in scoring and fifth in yards per play. Led by quarterback Braxton Miller, Ohio State answered with a 53-yard passing touchdown to Devin Smith and a 53-yard quarterback draw by Miller. But Michigan went blow-for-blow and led 21-14 with 14:26 left in the second quarter.
That’s when all of the tension reached its peak. Michigan kicked off to Dontre Wilson. After he was tackled, he was surrounded by Michigan players and a fight broke out. Wilson, Ohio State right guard Marcus Hall and Michigan linebacker Royce Jenkins-Stone were ejected. Hall infamously flipped off the crowd on his way to the locker room.
Esler: Most Ohio State fans know we’re pretty lucky Braxton didn’t get thrown out of that game. He went onto the field and threw somebody’s helmet off. I was in the family section and all the parents were about to jump over the wall and go onto the field. That’s how much vitriol was in the air at that time. You could tell the tunnel incident took the field afterward.
Powell: I was on the sideline the entire time and the rule is you can’t leave the sideline, so I felt helpless watching it. I was like, “Y’all better help this dude out.” ... For me, I was like this is crazy. This is really one of those types of games. After that happened, it was a totally different feeling because they’re on some other stuff. They’re trying to fight our players and we’re trying to win a game. The game became much more intense. You started to block harder and run your feet through tackles harder. ... I do remember Braxton being on the field. He grabbed somebody by the helmet, but I think he just got away with one.
Ari Wasserman, Ohio State beat writer (and current college football writer for The Athletic): It was one of those things you just don’t do that. You’re not supposed to be on the field. It was one of those deals, it was a rivalry game and you hope the ref gives people some grace because emotions are high. That brawl specifically was just in a moment in time when we thought Ohio State was going to go in there and have a pretty easy day, and it was a sign that it wasn’t going to be an easy day.
‘They were playing with house money’
Ohio State controlled most of the second and third quarters, rallying to take a 35-21 lead. But the teams went back and forth in the fourth quarter.
Trailing by seven points with just over five minutes to play, Michigan was back inside the 5-yard line. At this point in the game, the Wolverines’ red zone play calls were limited because they couldn’t utilize the legs of Gardner, who broke his foot during the game. Borges called another throwback screen. This time it was to Butt, who was told to act like he slipped on the play, get up and run across the field.
Borges: I hadn’t run that since in the ’80s when I was at Portland State and I stole it from the San Diego Chargers when Kellen Winslow ran the play. I don’t remember the last time I called that play. We threw three or four throwback screens that were really effective.
Butt: It felt like the ball was there for an eternity. I knew I was going to get my feet hit out from underneath me. It was one of those that was like I just have to catch this and once I did the touchdown was just like, “Hell yeah.” We tied it up 35-35 in the fourth and I was like, this is big. I had the thought, “We are going to upset them and I will be able to say I helped the team win.”
Joshua Perry, Ohio State linebacker: That game we saw a lot of things that showed what their mentality was. They had trick plays, gadget plays, shifts and motions we hadn’t seen before. ... It was very creative. I don’t say this to be disrespectful, but it felt like desperation for some of the gotta-have-it play calling.
From then on, it was pure chaos. Ohio State got the ball back and scored in six plays on a Carlos Hyde 1-yard touchdown run. Back came an Ohio State defense that felt it needed the stop not just to win, but to pay back the offense for a big game. Michigan took the field with two minutes left with confidence. At this point. the idea of a two-point conversion hadn’t come up. They just had to score.
Butt: We knew we’d score to have a chance.
Perry: This could be it, we can end the game here. That was the story of that year for us. We didn’t always get what we needed or it didn’t happen the way we wanted it to. There were just enough plays.
Wasserman: From what I recall it wasn’t the best defense. ... The fact that Michigan was able to score like that, I don’t remember thinking that Ohio State just won the game. There have been so many moments in Ohio State history where there’s a touchdown at the end of the game and you feel like that’s the dagger. I don’t think that was the tenor of the stadium at all.
On third-and-8 with 46 seconds left, Michigan went back to a throwback screen and nearly scored. Fitzgerald Toussaint took the pass 29 yards down to the Ohio State 2-yard line. Two plays later, Gardner turned to his 6-foot-4 receiver Devin Funchess, who boxed out Bradley Roby for the high-ball touchdown. The question became is Michigan going to kick and go to overtime or go for two. People were torn on what Hoke was going to do.
Powell: Obviously they didn’t care if they won or lost, they were playing with house money.
Perry: Them going for two wasn’t a shock. If I was coaching that team or if that was us on the other end, I would’ve said go for two too.
Wasserman: I was actually really surprised. When you are at home and playing well, you want to extend the game. You also have to put yourself in the shoes of Michigan and the coaching staff. Ohio State had been dominating that rivalry for so long, you had a chance to end the game. You put yourself into a position to win the rivalry game. We analyze two-point conversions so much now. Are you the better team? Are you home or away? All the things that go into it, but you have to remember Michigan was a four-loss team going into that. ... I don’t think it was a terrible call.
Borges: No. No. The home team would usually tie and go to overtime. I never asked Brady about this after the fact, but the defense was struggling, they were running the ball all over us. I think he made a calculated decision to say let’s not put them out there anymore and see if we can finish this thing right now. He asked the team and they said, “Yeah.” But what are they going to say, no? It was a calculated decision.
Michigan had to adjust its call due to Gardner’s foot. The original play had two options. The Wolverines motioned a receiver across the formation and depending on the look the plan was to throw to one side or run a quarterback option to the other. Because of Gardner’s injury, Borges just went with the pass.
Borges: I wanted to run the option call, but it would’ve been a stupid call and everybody in America would’ve seen that this kid couldn’t even run.
When Michigan lined up, Ohio State called a timeout after seeing the formation. Michigan didn’t change its plan.
Powell: I got to the sideline to get some water and (Kerry) Combs comes running over to me and says, “Tyvis, you know what play is coming. We went over this in practice.” He said. “You know what is coming, you have to make this play.” I remembered what play we were talking about.
Butt: What was tough is we lined up in the formation, they called timeout and we lined up in the same formation. I was like that’s a little bit tough because a good team can look at that and talk through it.
The play happened like Ohio State expected. Drew Dileo went in motion and Powell, who was initially supposed to blitz, signaled to Perry to switch assignments. Gardner took the snap and Powell made the play.
Powell: The whole key to the play is that I have to let No. 2 go. By rule, I’m supposed to take him, but if I take him Doran (Grant) is going to get boxed out on the play. I remembered I had to let the guy go and go look up Dileo. I had to look him up because he was going to run into the end zone, turn around and box (Grant) out and catch the ball. He did that and I jumped it. I looked, saw the ball was there and I was like, “Oh my God,” this is really happening. I caught the ball and that was it.
Perry: I tell Tyvis all the time that he should thank me, because I ran the wrong blitz path. It’s supposed to be an up and under on the outside on the defense’s left. Joey Bosa is to my inside, I’m supposed to take a few steps up the field, Joey Bosa is supposed to keep going and I was supposed to go under. If I did that I hit Devin and the game is over. I’m an idiot so I didn’t do that, so Devin has time and a lane to throw the football. (Powell) was more on his P’s and Q’s because he was exactly where he needed to be.
Borges: They got a little pressure on it, he had to throw it early and the rest is history. If I had a healthy quarterback, we ran it how it was designed, checked into an option on the short side of the field and our odds are, the way they defended it, with a guy outside our tight end, he would’ve cut underneath. I don’t know if it would’ve scored or not, but it was a much better option.
Wasserman: The way Tyvis picked that ball off, you have to remember that Tyvis might not have gotten an offer if Urban had gotten the head coaching job when he was recruited. If you look at the early days of Ohio State’s success, a lot of it was predicated on guys like Tyvis who is from Cleveland and were three-stars who Urban wouldn’t have recruited. He would’ve gone after bigger names from California, Texas or Florida and that would’ve been left in the dust. It turns out that this kid from Cleveland made a huge play. It was the impetus for him to be the main focal point into next year and winning the national championship.
When Powell came down with the ball a celebration broke out on the Ohio State sideline, but the Buckeyes still had to recover the onside kick.
Esler: I was sick to my stomach. I was more worried about that than the two-point conversion because I had already written it off.
Powell: Josh kept hugging me and I just remember Braxton punched the floor. It was an unbelievable moment. It was such a hype moment that I forgot I was on the hands team. They were kicking an onside kick.
Ohio State recovered the kick and it was heartbreak for Michigan. The Wolverines stumbled to 7-6 with a loss in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Borges was fired after the bowl game, which Gardner did not play in because of his broken foot.
Butt: It was a punch to the gut, like suffocating. ... Like damn, this one went right through our hands.
Borges: That play was the make or break, maybe not, maybe I would’ve got fired anyway. But we had rolled up over 600 yards and played as well as we had all year, but the last impression was of this two-point conversion. The optics at that juncture were not real good. All the great things are forgotten, but that’s the job. I’m not complaining, it is what it is. I talked to Devin about it, I should’ve asked him if he thought he could run one more. He would’ve said yes, but that would’ve been a yes with his heart and not his brain.
As for Ohio State, it got on the bus heading back to Columbus still celebrating the win. But it went to another level when Auburn beat Alabama on the infamous Kick Six. That win meant Ohio State moved up to No. 2 in the BCS and was one win away from playing for the national championship.
Powell: When we saw Auburn take it to the house, we went insane on the bus. Oh my god. We were so excited. We were like all we have to do is win the next game and we’re in the championship. It was a celebration, we went crazy.
Wasserman: I don’t know if this is the reason, they lost the Big Ten championship the next week, but winning that game the way they did, it probably took every ounce of energy and passion out of that roster and staff in order to get up the next week.
Perry: We’re going down the interstate and our buses are about to tip over because we’re all celebrating the Kick Six. Then of course we didn’t win the title game in ’13, but there was a lot. That play was the domino. Get a win in Ann Arbor, huge. Then the Iron Bowl and we were like everything was right in front of us.
Seven days after a chaotic high, Ohio State experienced a shocking low when it was upset 34-24 by Michigan State in the Big Ten title game. The national championship would have to wait a year.
(Top photo: David Dermer / Diamond Images / )
