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The stats aren’t going to tell the whole story, thus, as they say in rivalry games — throw out the record books.
Ohio State has been consistent across the board since Week One. Michigan, however, didn’t start really coming on on both sides of the ball until its loss at Penn State on the penultimate Saturday of October. Since then, Ohio State has continued to roll, but so has Michigan.
Still, the stats are the stats overall, and here’s where the two teams stack up against each other given their 11 game resumes.
michigan on offense, OHIO STATE on defense
| Michigan offense | Rnk. | Avg. | Ohio State defense | Rnk. | Avg. |
| Pass offense | 50th | 247.5 yds | Pass defense | 1st | 126.2 yds |
| Rush offense | 76th | 155.09 yds | Rush defense | 5th | 91.18 yds |
| Yards per play | 66th | 5.86 yds | Yards per play allowed | 1st | 3.82 yds |
| Scoring offense | 34th | 33.5 pts | Scoring defense | 1st | 10.4 pts |
| Total offense | 69th | 402.6 yds | Total defense | 1st | 217.4 yds |
| 3rd down conversions | 61st | 40.56% | 3rd down conversions allowed | 6th | 28.05% |
| Long passing plays | 54th | 105 plays total | Long passing plays allowed | 2nd | 53 plays total |
| Long rushing plays | 76th | 53 plays total | Long rushing plays allowed | 14th | 37 plays total |
| Turnovers lost | 67th | 16 | Turnovers attained | 7th | 23 |
| Sacks allowed | 53rd | 1.82/gm | Sacks | 1st | 4.36/gm |
| TFL allowed | 14th | 4.36/gm | TFL | 2nd | 9.27/gm |
Ohio State on offense, michigan on defense
| Ohio State offense | Rnk. | Avg. | Michigan defense | Rnk. | Avg. |
| Pass offense | 49th | 248.3 yds | Pass defense | 4th | 161.1 yds |
| Rush offense | 4th | 282.09 yds | Rush defense | 13th | 105.91 yds |
| Yards per play | 8th | 7.04 yds | Yards per play allowed | 3rd | 4.11 yds |
| Scoring offense | 1st | 49.4 pts | Scoring defense | 10th | 16.2 pts |
| Total offense | 6th | 530.4 yds | Total defense | 4th | 267 yds |
| 3rd down conversions | 1st | 58.09% | 3rd down conversions allowed | 11th | 29.3% |
| Long passing plays | 36th | 115 plays total | Long passing plays allowed | 5th | 68 plays total |
| Long rushing plays | 4th | 96 plays total | Long rushing plays allowed | 4th | 27 plays total |
| Turnovers lost | 21st | 12 | Turnovers attained | 25th | 19 |
| Sacks allowed | 82nd | 2.27/gm | Sacks | 12th | 3.18/gm |
| TFL allowed | 55th | 5.55/gm | TFL | 54th | 6.18/gm |
special teams/other
| Michigan | Rank | Avg. | Ohio State | Rank | Avg. |
| Opponent kick returns | 105th | 23.17 yds | Kick returns | 489th | 21.77 yds |
| Kick returns | 10th | 25.72 yds | Opponent kick returns | 18th | 17.94 yds |
| Punting | 25th | 44.26 yds | Punt returns | 58th | 8.32 yds |
| Punt returns | 63rd | 8.03 yds | Punting | 41st | 43.14 yds |
| Field Goals | 97th | 64.7% | Field Goals | 43rd | 80% |
| Penalties | 40th | 50 yds/gm | Opponent penalties | 88th | 49 yds/gm |
| Opponent penalties | 9th | 69 yds/gm | Penalties | 61st | 53.4 yds/gm |
| Time of possession | 74th | 29:35.45/gm | Time of possession | 32nd | 31:12:27/gm |
CONCLUSIONS
Like we said, Michigan has played much better in recent weeks, especially on offense. In the month of November, the Wolverines have the No. 22 passing offense, 108th rushing offense (but a lot of that is due to the pass — in the month of October, when the run game got going, Michigan had the No. 31 rush offense), No. 15 scoring offense and No. 55 total offense. In November, it is No. 40th in yards-per-play with 6.55.
The bad news? Ohio State has been either about as good — or more likely — better in all those categories this month.
The Wolverines offense overall, despite meandering for the first month-plus of the season, isn’t statistically much worse than last year’s outfit. And had it not been for games like Army, Wisconsin and Iowa early in the season, it would look a whole lot better.
When it comes to strength of schedule, Michigan and Ohio State are neck and neck — fourth and fifth, respectively. But, the Wolverines have played their toughest opponents on the road, in losses to Wisconsin and Penn State. They did get Notre Dame and Iowa at home.
According to latest AP Top 25 rankings, OSU has yet to play a currently ranked team on the road, but does have wins over No. 12 Penn State, No. 13 Wisconsin and No. 18 Cincinnati at home. Michigan has played four currently ranked teams, with the two losses away from Michigan Stadium and wins over the two teams they faced at home.
Going back to last year, Ohio State’s passing offense is much worse, but the rushing offense is significantly better. Michigan’s pass defense is slightly worse, but the rush defense is slightly better.
But it’s Ohio State’s defense that stars, with numbers that are similar to Michigan’s a year ago, if not better across the board.
Here’s what Ohio State has given up on the year, defensively (bold denotes high):
| Opponent | Pass Yds | Rush Yds | Total Yds | YPP | Pts |
| Florida Atlantic | 206 | 22 | 228 | 3.12 | 21 |
| Cincinnati | 166 | 107 | 273 | 4.79 | 0 |
| Indiana | 215 | 42 | 257 | 3.84 | 10 |
| Miami (OH) | 60 | 70 | 130 | 2.06 | 5 |
| @ Nebraska | 47 | 184 | 231 | 4.13 | 7 |
| Michigan State | 218 | 67 | 285 | 4.38 | 10 |
| @ Northwestern | 42 | 157 | 199 | 2.93 | 3 |
| Wisconsin | 108 | 83 | 191 | 3.75 | 7 |
| Maryland | 77 | 62 | 139 | 2.84 | 14 |
| @ Rutgers | 121 | 110 | 231 | 3.5 | 21 |
| Penn State | 128 | 99 | 227 | 3.49 | 17 |
It’s somewhat ironic that Michigan State has been the team with the most overall offensive success. It’s not a lot put on the Buckeyes in that regard, but if Michigan can somehow combine Lewerke’s numbers with Nebraska’s rushing numbers — and assuredly, the read-option, which hasn’t been utilized much since the Notre Dame game, will be in heavy use to keep Ohio State guessing up front.
It’s also somewhat difficult to predict what type of game this could be. Everything points to a defensive battle, but Michigan has recently shown it can score in droves — which is the Buckeyes’ forte.
Certainly, if you look strictly at the numbers, nearly everything is in Ohio State’s favor. But, games are played for a reason, and OSU has yet to have a road test as big as this one. Will that make a difference? We’ll know Saturday at noon EST.
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