Big Ten Game of the Week: Ohio State at Michigan

At the beginning of the season, there was a lot of talk of how this Ohio State Michigan match up could be being played again in just a few weeks to determine who was going to be heading to Pasadena.  Ohio State held up its end of the bargain, ranking #3 in the BCS and currently sitting at 11-0.  Michigan though has stumbled its way to a 3-4 conference record, and currently sitting second to last in the Legends division.

Ohio State holds a clear advantage on both sides of the ball averaging nearly twice as many yards per drive and allowing a tackle for loss on less than half the plays.

The other place the difference on offense shows up is in the running games.  Carlos Hyde and Braxton Miller have combined to carry the ball 254 times for an average of 7.1 yards per carry.  That pair has 18 touchdowns on the ground, and the team overall has 36.  Fitzgerald Toussaint and Devin Gardner have run 334 times, for just 3.3 yards per carry (just barely over 1000 overall).  They have been able to finish more drives than Miller and Hyde, scoring 21 touchdowns.  This running difference has lead to the difference in the team's three and out rates, where Ohio State has done it on just 14 total drives, whereas Michigan does it on 23% of their dives.

Defensively the teams are slightly closer statistically speaking, even though Michigan does allow more success in the redzone.  Both teams are fairly adept at forcing turnovers, Michigan with 19 and Ohio State with 20.  The Buckeyes have defended more passes (49-31), lead by Bradley Roby who has 12 defended and 3 interceptions this season.  However, Michigan has forced a lower completion percentage by opposing passers, allowing just 55.2% of them to be completed.  

Rivalry games always have a way of allowing funny things to happen, but Michigan is going to need a lot of magic and luck to stop the Buckeyes from winning this game and vying for a National Championship appearance.