So we have been tracking this for awhile, but we have to give credit to Land Grant Holy Land for jumping on it first. And despite some whispers, this has gone a bit under the radar for such a historic possibility.
So here it is. If Ohio State beats Michigan on Saturday (yes, we know the game must be played), it will surpass the Wolverine program in all-time winning percentage. Let that sink in for just a moment because that will be the first time that’s happened in the 150 years of college football.
It’s even more significant for bragging rights. Despite being owned by Ohio State over the last couple of decades, the trump card was always slammed down on the proverbial bragging table that “yeah, but Michigan is the all-time winningest program in all of college football.”
Well, maybe not so much anymore. In fact, while the Wolverines can still boast about having more wins than any program, it has quietly already fallen behind Boise State as the leader in all-time in winning percentage earlier this year (so feel free to call bull on those claims going forward). A loss to the Buckeyes would move Michigan to No. 3 all-time.
According to Winsipedia, as it stands today, Michigan has a .73025 winning percentage, with Ohio State just behind at .72962. Boise State is a little further ahead in the top spot at .73132. If you really want to nitpick, the NCAA doesn’t recognize Boise in its all-time winning percentage because a team must have been a participant in the top division of college football for 25 years. Boise has only been in the current FBS for 23 years, so take that for what it’s worth.
To add a little something extra to The Game next Saturday.
With a victory, Ohio State will pass TTUN in all-time program winning percentage.
TTUN (962-344-36) .730
Ohio State (922-325-53) .730#GoBucks #BeatTTUN
— Matt Twombly (@MattTwombly1) November 25, 2019
Here’s how it breaks down. Currently, Ohio State has played a total of 1,300 college football games on record. Of that, it has won 922 two of those. If you factor in 1/2 a win for the 53 ties, that brings the total to 948.5. With a win, that would move to 949.5 out of 1,301 games. Do the math and that’s a new winning percentage of .72982.
With a loss, Michigan would stay at 980 total wins factoring in ties, against a total of 1,343 games. That moves things down a tick to .72970. Cha-ching! It’s not much, but it is a larger number technically speaking.
As a side note, Ohio State could pass Boise State if it were to lose two of its last three games, inclusive of a bowl game, but that’s not likely to happen. However, if OSU goes on to win the national title, well … we’ll wait on that one. Either way, the Buckeyes have a shot at a pretty significant and historical victory on Saturday.