Ohio State football: Debunking THE EXCUSE

The Ohio State football team has dominated the rivalry with TTUN. Don’t buy any excuses any TTUN fans try to give you though.

You’d think they’d have thought of something sooner. Their favorite college football team has beaten its biggest rival only twice in the last nineteen tries. Considering the reasoning they’re using it would lead you to believe Michigan fans would have thought of THE EXCUSE much sooner. THE EXCUSE as to why Ohio State has dominated their beloved Wolverines. THE EXCUSE as to why Ohio State is one of college football’s elites and their beloved Wolverines are not.

In delivering THE EXCUSE to the unenlightened, a Michigan fan will look down their nose, smile condescendingly, and say,

"You see, Michigan is an academic school. Football is not a priority. The University of Michigan is much more concerned with high academic standards than winning football games."

They’ll nod knowingly at each other as they straighten their Revenge Tour shirt. They’ll feel safe in the knowledge they have enlightened another of the uninformed by telling them THE EXCUSE. The implication is Michigan is recruiting only scholar-athletes, while the Ohio State football program will take any knuckle-dragger with football talent who can find his way to The Horseshoe.

THE EXCUSE is just that, an excuse. If Michigan cared more about academics than football, they would not be paying Jimmy Harbaugh millions of dollars to lead their program. 107,000 Wolverine fans are not filling The Big Outhouse each home game to watch their favorite college football team take a math quiz.

The school and its fans care as much about winning today as they did in the ’90s when they controlled the series against the Buckeyes. They were no less of an academic school then than they are now. THE EXCUSE is just a warm, fuzzy blanket they can wrap themselves in to ease the frustration of losing to their biggest rival year after year.

Here is something that will probably shock those relying on THE EXCUSE. Football players at Michigan and Ohio State must maintain the exact same minimum grade point average to stay eligible. A 2.0 GPA is required by both schools to maintain eligibility. That is the NCAA and Big Ten standard.

Michigan does not require anything more of its players than any other school. Before anyone brings up admission standards, I don’t want to hear it. Michigan has had its share of top-five and top-ten recruiting classes. They certainly haven’t had problems bringing in players.

I’m sure much to the chagrin of those relying on THE EXCUSE, Ryan Day’s team is doing just fine in the classroom. The recently completed spring semester marked the fourth consecutive where the team had an average GPA of at least 3.00.

The Buckeyes had a grade point average of 3.206 for the fall 2020 semester and 61 players named as an OSU Scholar-Athlete for having a GPA of at least 3.00 for the 2020-21 school year. 44 of those 61 are scholarship players and are led by Harry Miller’s 4.00 in Mechanical Engineering.

My intent is not to disparage the University of Michigan as a school. It is a very fine academic institution. I’d be lying if I said it was not. But, THE EXCUSE being used by their fans simply does not hold water. It’s simply that, THE EXCUSE.