Ex-players agree: OSU has the edge

Coach Jim Tressel is 7-1 against the Wolverines and has won four straight in college football’s biggest rivalry.

By JOHN KOVACH

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Who will win the 106th edition of college football’s biggest rivalry?

Will it be the high-riding Ohio State Buckeyes (9-2), who come into the Wolverines’ lair with a four-game winning streak and a Rose Bowl berth already wrapped up?

Or can the downtrodden Wolverines (5-6), mired in a four-game losing streak under second-year coach Rich Rodriguez, somehow manage to ambush the unsuspecting and perhaps over-confident Buckeyes?

The answer: Ohio State enters the game as a big favorite, but because of the intensity of the matchup between rival players, anything can happen and Michigan has the potential to spring an upset, agreed six former players who participated in the annual classic between the Big Ten Conference rivals.

Pete Johnson, Craig Cassidy and Mike Tomczak, all from Ohio State; and John Wangler, Don Moorhead and Jarrod Bunch from Michigan, provided their observations as guests at the annual Ohio State-Michigan Kickoff Dinner Wednesday night at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Hall.

Johnson, a running back who scored all three OSU touchdowns in a 21-14 win over Michigan in 1975 and whose 58 career touchdowns still are a school record, predicted the Buckeyes will win, “but it will not be an easy win.”

“Michigan will play better Saturday than they did all year,” he said. “But OSU won’t have a bad game. [Buckeyes coach Jim] Tressel won’t make any mistakes in this game.”

Tressel has won five straight against Michigan, including last year’s 42-7 romp.

The Wolverines, meanwhile, are 1-7 against Tressel during his tenure.

Tomczak, who played quarterback for OSU from 1982-84 and led the Buckeyes to two Big Ten titles before going on to a 16-year NFL career, said Ohio State has a better defense.

“Tressel will have the upper hand,” he said.

Cassidy, the son of Howard “Hopalong” Cassidy who filled in for Tom Matte, also picked OSU to win “because of its excellent defense.

“It’s always a defensive battle from what I remember and a low-scoring game,” said Craig, noting that the Buckeyes were 3-0-1 against Michigan during his years as an OSU player from 1973-75.

Meanwhile, the three former Michigan players offered more hope for the Wolverines.

“On paper, OSU is better but a game is not played on paper,” said Wangler, who quarterbacked the 1980 Michigan team to a 10-2 record, Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth. “But it will take [Michigan’s] best game of the season against their toughest opponent.

“I believe that the intensity of the game is different than any other game, and that it could result in an unbelievable performance that can change the outcome of the game.”

Moorhead, who quarterbacked Michigan to an upset win over Ohio State in 1969 in one of the best-known games of the series, observed that, “History shows that favorites don’t always win games. Plus, Michigan is playing at home before a national TV audience, and a lot of pride is at stake. “

But Bunch. a native of Ashtabula who played running back for Michigan and was an NFL first-round draft pick in 1991, concedes Michigan is the underdog.

“Ohio State has too many advantages right now. They are too powerful for Michigan to handle,” said Bunch, who has been an actor since 1995 and currently is involved in two films, “Dozers,” which already is out, and “Once Fallen,” which is due out.

Ed Reese, CEO of the sponsoring Creekside Fitness and Health Center, said the event was a 350-ticket sellout, and all proceeds will go to the St. Christine Gymnasium Building Fund for the fourth straight year.

kovach@vindy.com