ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If you’re to take any time watching or listening to Ohio State media or even head coach Ryan Day, you’d think that the Buckeyes have continued to dominate Michigan football, and that it’s OSU that’s not only on a winning streak against the Wolverines, but that it should be an easy win for the scarlet and gray. The national media has tended to concur, with many positing that this will be the year that Ohio State not only breaks the four-game losing streak, but also covers the 10.5-point spread.
We’ve heard this before. For the past four years, actually. And there has been only one of the past four where Michigan was even given a chance.
Even so, this is where Michigan wants to be. Outside perceptions don’t matter. Records don’t matter (just check out last year). The team with the better plan, execution, and desire has tended to win The Game. And team captain Max Bredeson wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Yeah, this game is like its own game. It’s like its own little season,” Bredeson said. “It’s like whatever it is coming into it, it’s its own thing, its own animal. So, you never have to look in the past of what’s happened. It’s all about what we’ve got right now, and it’s all about the ball’s kicked off.”
The past four years, Michigan has out-toughed, out-physicaled, battered and bruised the Buckeyes, who have usually wanted to finesse their way to a win. Last year, however, head coach Ryan Day inexplicably tried to play Michigan’s game, and the then 6-5 Wolverines were happy to oblige.
Regardless, Bredeson says he likes it when the team is counted out, because it’s just another motivator. However, it’s just another point in a long list of motivators, even though he admits The Game is a motivator in and of itself.
“Yeah, there is something,” Bredeson said. “You like to grab onto that. It’s good motivation. It’s its own thing, but this game means so much about the right things. It’s The Game. So, anytime you step in it, you’ve got the right mindset on it. We’re just going to continue doing that and take what we can from the underdog, but always ready to just play the game for the Block M.”
Michigan and Ohio State will kick off at 12:14 p.m. EST at The Big House, with The Game set to be broadcast on Fox.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan’s Max Bredeson welcomes doubt as fuel before Ohio State
Reporting by Isaiah Hole, Wolverines Wire / Wolverines Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
