The Ohio State class of 2025 will never experience a Buckeyes win over their hated rivals up north, and Rich Eisen feels bad about that.
On Sunday’s episode of NFL GameDay Morning, the Michigan graduate mourned the end of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry. At least as he sees it.
Today, I grieve for those who root for the Scarlet and Gray: pic.twitter.com/yVRcRetmA3
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) December 1, 2024
“You know, I’m not going to be airing any grievances. I’m just going to grieve for people who need the help,” Eisen began. “I grieve for those who root for the scarlet and the gray. I grieve for you folks who were there in Columbus, in the Horseshoe. Four in a row. Didn’t see it coming. Certainly, this past year when Michigan had all the house money and all you had was the NIL money, 12 million that you thought was going to be spent to make sure this didn’t happen again and it did.
“And I also grieve for the rivalry. Because how is it a rivalry when one team wins…four in a row,” Eisen said as he counted on his fingers for dramatic effect. “So I would like it if Ohio State got better, got better in this game and caught up to whatever Michigan is cooking up. I grieve. I grieve for you. I grieve for this rivalry. And I’m also going to do what Michigan’s done four straight times. Going to take a knee. Going to take a knee, and I’m going to say, ‘Victory.’ For that sort of rivalry days when there was one. It’s not one anymore, is there?”
You got to give Eisen credit here, that’s about as petty a monologue as he could’ve possibly written. It was perfectly delivered, and struck the perfect tone for what exactly the Wolverines’ victory over the Buckeyes was. The fact that he didn’t even mention Ohio State’s eight-straight wins against Michigan from 2012-2019 makes the entire shtick even better.
For all intents and purposes, Michigan’s season ended yesterday. Sure, they’ll play in some meaningless bowl game, but that certainly wasn’t the preseason goal for the defending national champs. Beating your rival while they have high aspirations and you’re in a down season is possibly the very best time to beat them. The fact that it was the fourth Michigan win in a row is just gravy.
This is what rivalry games are all about. Michigan fans have earned the next year of smack talk. The Buckeyes will have to wait another year to try and turn this game back into a rivalry.
