"The Game" might have more than just a titles hopes at stake

This Saturday afternoon, the college football world will tune in to see one of the top rivalries in all of the sport: Michigan vs. Ohio State.

And this rivalry has been a historic one that's featured great upsets, legendary performances and coaches with "larger-than-life" presence on each teams sidelines.

As it stands, this Saturday's game will be the 119th installment of the series. Michigan currently leads it 60-51-6.

Historically, Michigan has never trailed in the series. They've usually maintained a double-digit lead. The largest margin the Wolverines enjoyed was during the John Cooper era, where the series overall ballooned to 56-35-6.

Then came along Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer and those two combined to narrow the gap to 58-50-6, the closest it's gotten since the early days of the rivalry.

Over the years, "The Game" — as it's called by fans of the two schools — went from a fierce rivalry of the two best programs in the Big Ten Conference, to a deep hatred and win at all costs match up.

I'm sure it's hard for many Buckeye and Wolverine fans to believe that the rivalry was not view the same way it is today. I think back to the 1987 game, when coach Earle Bruce was fired the week prior to playing Michigan. The Buckeyes came out inspired to play of their coach and upset Michigan.

After the game, Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler told Bruce, "I always mind losing to Ohio State but I didn't mind so much today."

Schembechler's comment would probably get him ran out on a rail in today's climate, but back then the stake's were not to the degree that they are today.

And speaking of high stakes, the 2023 edition of this game might be bigger for one person in particular.

Ryan Day's career and reputation might be on the line on Saturday. His Buckeyes have been beaten convincingly two-straight times by the Wolverines, and will be facing a Michigan team who will led by an interim coach.

Jim Harbaugh will not be on the sidelines for this critical game, as he's serving the final game of his three-game suspension after the Big Ten determined Michigan violated the conference's sportsmanship rule of stealing signs of opposing teams from in-person scouting.

Harbaugh and the university intended to fight the ruling in court, seeking a protective order. But after meeting with conference officials later this week, the two sides came to an agreement to close the investigation if Harbaugh served the suspension.

It's almost the worst kept secret in this signal stealing scandal that Ohio State had a huge hand in this investigation happening and there's an extremely high chance that Day was involved from the beginning to go after Harbaugh and the Wolverine football program.

And let me preface this whole thing by saying that Michigan indeed looks to be guilty of sign stealing by doing in-person scouting, which is not allowed at the college level.

But the punishment should have been a simple one. Either fine them, stick them on probation, request disciplinary actions with the parties involved or a combination of those scenarios.

The problem is the Big Ten really didn't do any of those. In fact, their investigation was not very good to say the least.

So as a result, Michigan has dug its heels in and are going to refuse to back down from the actions of the conference and some of its coaches.

Higher ups in Michigan's administration have even floated the idea of leaving the Big Ten and search for a new home. Rumors in X (formerly Twitter) have the university showing interest in talking to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore sent his own message during the Penn State game, having the Wolverines run the ball on all 30 offensive plays of the second half – 32 times in if you go all the way back to the second quarter – as Michigan dominated the Nittany Lions in State College.

So it's safe to say that Harbaugh and his team are going to be coming with vengeance on Saturday afternoon. And if the Buckeyes don't come out and match that intensity from the get-go, Michigan is going to bury them to a thunderous applause by a crowd of maize and blue.

Then you take into account that Michigan is battling some injury issues on the offensive line — which is their strength — and one can believe the Buckeyes have chance to sneak out of Ann Arbor with a big win and their national title hopes intact.

So for Day, this is possibly the most important game of his coaching career. In fact, you might say it could be his defining moment.

From a general perspective, a win would calm down a fanbase that does not accept losing to the team up north and would also legitimize the argument that Michigan gained an advantage from the signal stealing.

But a loss, would only reaffirm that Harbaugh and Michigan are just that good and possibly begin to the warm up the seat of the head coach in Columbus.