Joel Klatt is quite familiar with The Game. He may have never played in it, but having called Michigan football vs. Ohio State the past several years as the color commentator for Fox, Klatt has seen the Wolverines lose, and he’s also seen the past four wins, as unlikely as some of those may have been.
The Buckeyes are 10.5-point favorites as of Sunday evening, but last year at this time in the week, OSU was nearly a 21-point favorite. And yet, Michigan beat the eventual national champions — the last loss that the scarlet and gray have had.
On the latest episode of The Joel Klatt Show, Klatt gave something of a primer for The Game, noting that the pressure is on one side here, and it’s not the underdog.
“Just a quick note about each of these teams: for Ohio State, they don’t have one player that has beaten Michigan. And for Michigan, they don’t have a single player that has lost to Ohio State,” Klatt said. “And so as we start to build towards this game, you have to understand that the pressure on Ohio State is immense. And in the Michigan locker room, all they’re going to be talking about all week is give us a chance in the second half. All we’ve got to do is be close. That’s all they’re going to be thinking about.
“That’s all they’ve been thinking about for — back to 2021, when we went in for meetings before that game, Aidan Hutchinson said that specifically to me. He said, ‘Joel, I just want a chance. I just want it to be a one-possession game in the fourth quarter. That’s all I want.’ And they ended up winning. And then subsequently that’s all Jim Harbaugh would talk about in the subsequent years. ‘Hey, we just want to be close. We just want to be close. We just want to be close in the second half.’ And that’s exactly where this Michigan team is going to be.
“And then on the other side, for Ohio State, they’re going to be saying to themselves, focus on us, focus on us, focus on us. Those are the two messages for those teams for this massive game. I love this game.”
Klatt will again be on the call on Saturday, with kickoff set for 12:14 p.m. EST at The Big House.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Joel Klatt shares key insight on both teams as The Game approaches now
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
