INDIANAPOLIS — It would take an army of psychologists to unpack the relationship between Michigan and Ohio State and the way those two rivals have taken up permanent residence in each other’s minds.
There’s nothing one side can do that doesn’t affect the other in some way. One celebrates, the other schemes. One gets validation, the other gets motivation. One soars, the other seethes.
This offseason was another chapter in the psychological drama. While Michigan was riding parade floats and celebrating a national championship, Ohio State was raking in NIL donations and landing some of the top players in the transfer portal. After three consecutive losses to Michigan, it’s obvious where Ohio State’s motivation is coming from. But what about Michigan’s?
That was the big question Thursday as Michigan took the stage at Big Ten media days. The preseason consensus has Ohio State as the Big Ten favorite and the Wolverines as the third- or fourth-place team. That seems about right: Michigan lost 10 starters on offense and six on defense while the Buckeyes retained seven seniors through NIL deals and landed instant-impact transfers in safety Caleb Downs and running back Quinshon Judkins.
The Buckeyes are desperate. Michigan is not. The idea that the Wolverines can afford to coast in the wake of a national championship is anathema for Sherrone Moore, Michigan’s first-year head coach.
“There’s no honeymoon year,” Moore said. “We’re ready to attack. There’s no time off. There’s no, ‘Let’s take a step back.’ That’s not our goal. We know what we want to do, and we know how to attack it. I’m hungrier than ever.”
The Wolverines want to win again in 2025, but for Ohio State, it’s more like a primal need. Moore is just getting started at Michigan. Ohio State coach Ryan Day, who spoke Tuesday, probably won’t be back here next season if the Buckeyes lose to Michigan in November. In that sense, he’s in exactly the same position Jim Harbaugh was in three years ago.
That was the year Harbaugh came to Indianapolis and told a story about climbing a mountain with his family. That final push to the summit became a metaphor for a coach who lost his first five games against Ohio State and needed a turnaround season to save his job.
“We’re going to do it or die trying,” he said.
Michigan put everything into beating Ohio State and turned the rivalry on its head. Throughout the Wolverines’ three-year run of dominance, there was always something else to chase: an undefeated regular season, the first CFP victory, the program’s first national championship in 25 years. Now that every single box has been checked, Michigan has to figure out what comes next.
“We’re always hunting,” Moore said. “Regardless of (whether) people are coming after us, we’re coming after them. We’re not in the mentality of sitting back and waiting to see what goes on. We’re going to attack our process.”
There are two potential paths for Michigan post-Harbaugh and post-national championship. The Wolverines could settle in as a top-four team in the new Big Ten and be a program that contends for conference championships but doesn’t dominate the league the way it did the past three seasons. Or Michigan could go the route of Georgia, Alabama or mid-2010s Clemson, the teams that have won multiple national championships since the inception of the College Football Playoff.
Michigan didn’t exactly sprint into the offseason like a team getting ready to win back-to-back titles. The Wolverines lost most of their coaching staff and many of their best players. There was no immediate splash in recruiting or NIL, though Michigan’s class has since climbed into the top 15.
Meanwhile, Ohio State was building a monster. The only thing better than a happy donor is a motivated donor, and the Buckeyes had plenty of those. Michigan wasn’t going to replicate that urgency in the days and weeks after winning a national championship.
Can the Wolverines replicate it now? That’s the big unknown as preseason camp approaches. The Wolverines insist they’re not satisfied or complacent. They speak frequently about living up to the standard they’ve set and maintaining their championship culture. It’s one thing to say that now, and it will be another to show it on the field.
No one would begrudge Michigan for taking a small step back. The Wolverines have a new head coach, a new quarterback, a new offensive line and a tough schedule that includes Texas, USC, Oregon and Ohio State. A loss or two would be understandable, maybe even expected.
Saying that at Michigan is like saying Zingerman’s is overrated. It’s tantamount to blasphemy.
“We’re not going to shy away from the goal of trying to win it all every year,” Moore said. “When you’re at Michigan, that should be your goal.”
Michigan found its secret sauce the past three years, which some will claim had something to do with a former staff member who is about to get his own Netflix documentary. Connor Stalions aside, Harbaugh instilled his own maniacal intensity into the players he coached and made Michigan one of the toughest teams in college football. If Moore can do the same, the Wolverines should be just fine.
Moore performed well in his first appearance at Big Ten media days. He was concise and to the point, in contrast to the rambling open statements from other coaches. There was no DeShaun Foster freeze-up or controversial quote that went viral. The reality is, Moore wasn’t the coach with the brightest spotlight shining on him. That distinction belongs to the coach on the other side of the rivalry.
Michigan got its ultimate prize. Now the Buckeyes will try to get theirs.
