The Ten Year War was a series of college football games, played from 1969 to 1978, in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry that pitted coach Woody Hayes of the Ohio State Buckeyes against coach Bo Schembechler of the Michigan Wolverines. In most contests, the Big Ten conference championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl were at stake, and in some cases, a possible national championship.
Background The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and Ohio State University in Columbus are separated by just , and had enjoyed a rivalry in football that began in 1897 and had been renewed annually since Michigan rejoined the Big Ten in 1918.
Wayne Woodrow (Woody) Hayes was a former tackle at Denison University, before he worked as a high school coach and enlisted in the Navy. After World War II ended, he was chosen as head coach at his alma mater, where he won two division titles and won 19 straight games before he took over the Miami of Ohio program in 1949, won a Mid-American Conference title, and became head coach at Ohio State in 1951.
While at Oxford, Hayes coached a tackle by the name of Glenn Edward (Bo) Schembechler. Schembechler would graduate from Miami in 1951 and serve as a graduate assistant to Hayes at Ohio State the following year.Schembechler, Glenn and Mitch Albom. Bo. Warner Books. 1989. After stints in the Army and serving as an assistant coach at Presbyterian College,Schembechler & Albom. p. 22. Bowling GreenSchembechler & Albom. p. 26. and Northwestern,Schembechler & Albom. p. 28. Schembechler was hired by Hayes to be an assistant in Columbus, where he remained as an offensive line coach until he became head coach at Miami of Ohio in 1963.Schembechler and Albom. p. 43.
While Hayes accumulated five Big Ten titles at Ohio State and won Rose Bowls (and national championships) in 1954, 1957, and 1968, Schembechler coached six winning seasons at Miami, winning back-to-back Mid-American Conference titles in 1965 and 1966, and finishing as runner-up three more times.
Between 1951 and 1968 under Hayes, the Buckeyes won 12 of 18 contests against Michigan, including a 1957 victory in Michigan Stadium, the first game in the series attended by over 100,000 fans. In 1958, Ohio State had a 20–14 lead towards the end of the game. On the final play, Michigan fullback Gene Sisinyak ran the ball from the one-yard line for what might have been a game-winning touchdown, but Ohio State defensive tackle Dick Schafrath hit Sisinyak, forcing a fumble. In the 1968 game, Ohio State won 50–14, outscoring its foe 29–0 in the second half and attempting an unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt on its final touchdown. When asked why he went for two points with an already insurmountable 50–14 lead, Hayes said, "Because I couldn't go for three." The victory gave top-ranked Ohio State the Big Ten title for the first time in seven years en route to an AP national championship.
After the 1968 season, Schembechler was hired to coach at Michigan, a once-proud program that had fallen on hard times. Going into the 1969 season, the Buckeyes had narrowed the series margin to 37–24–4.Pennington, Joel. The Ten Year War: Ten Classic Games Between Bo and Woody. Ulyssian Publications. 2005. Thus, the stage was set for the first of a decade of clashes between coach and player.
The games
1969: Michigan 24, Ohio State 12
Ohio State's 1969 team was dubbed by the media as the "greatest college football team of all time", with a handful of proven All-Big Ten players and All-Americans. They were returning national champions, Hayes’ third title as head coach. No team had come within four touchdowns of, or scored more than 21 points on Ohio State all season.Schembechler & Albom. p. 63. The Wolverines were 7–2 and ranked #12, having lost to Missouri and cross-state rival Michigan State. Going into the contest, the Buckeyes were favored by 17 points.
A then-record Michigan Stadium crowd of 103,588 watched Ohio State score first, but Michigan would respond with a touchdown of its own. The extra point would put the Wolverines up 7–6, and the Buckeyes were behind for the first time in 1969. Ohio State would take the lead again as the second quarter began with a touchdown. Hayes went for the two-point conversion and missed, for a 12–7 score. Michigan responded again with a 67-yard scoring drive to put them ahead 14–12, but the key play came on their next possession. Barry Pierson returned an Ohio State punt 60 yards to the Buckeye 3-yard-line. Quarterback Don Moorhead would score two plays later on the keeper to extend Michigan's lead to 21–12. Michigan would kick a field goal and go into the locker room with a 24–12 lead.Schembechler and Albom. p. 67.
In the third quarter, the Ohio State offense was uncharacteristically sloppy, with two passes picked off by Pierson. But the Buckeye defense was able to keep Michigan to one first down after each turnover. The fourth quarter began with Hayes pulling quarterback Rex Kern and going to his backup, Ron Maciejowski, who would throw yet another interception to U-M's Pierson. The Ohio State offense would end up committing seven turnovers in the second half, six of them interceptions.Schembechler & Albom. p. 68.
Ohio State had gone to the Rose Bowl the year before and was barred from going again, due to the Big Ten's "no repeat" rule. Schembechler suffered a heart attack the night before the Rose Bowl, which Michigan lost, 10–3, to USC, and finished at No. 9.Schembechler & Albom. p. 220. Ohio State finished at #4.Pennington. p. 33.
1970: Ohio State 20, Michigan 9
Revenge was the buzzword for Ohio State in 1970, with Hayes reportedly beginning preparations as the team traveled back to Columbus following the 1969 upset. Hayes even had a rug made proclaiming the 1969 result, and placed it in the Buckeye locker room, so his players would have to walk on it whenever they went to practice. Going into the Michigan game, the Buckeyes were ranked #5 and undefeated, despite a sometimes-inconsistent offense. The Wolverines, who would not be going to a bowl game due to the Big Ten's Rose Bowl-or-bust and no-repeat rules, also went through the 1970 season without losing, ranked #4.Pennington. p. 39.
Ohio State recovered a fumble on Michigan's initial kickoff return, but could only muster a 28-yard field goal by Fred Schram for an early 3–0 lead. The two rivals traded punts throughout the quarter and Michigan had Ohio State pinned on their own 1-yard line after one punt. Near the end of the quarter, Rex Kern threw an interception to Jim Betts, but the Wolverines were also forced to settle for a field goal from Dana Coin to tie it up. In the second quarter, a penalty on a Michigan punt gave the Buckeyes good field position, and they would march the ball down the field in a drive that climaxed with Kern's 25-yard scoring pass to Bruce Jankowski to make it 10–3 OSU. Michigan fumbled on their next possession, but Ohio State was unable to score as time ran out on the half.Pennington. p. 45.
The Wolverines would start moving the ball on their first possession of the second half, and Don Moorhead would toss a 13-yard scoring pass to Paul Staroba, but a blocked extra-point try kept the Buckeyes ahead 10–9. Ohio State could not get a first down until near the end of the third quarter, but their ground game began working again and they drove into Wolverine territory. But they settled for another Fred Schram field goal to extend Ohio State's lead to 13–9. Michigan, with a new sense of urgency, tried to switch to an air attack, but they paid the price when Moorhead threw an interception to Stan White, who returned the ball to the Michigan 9. Three plays later, Kern connected with Leo Hayden to extend the Ohio State lead to 20–9 and send the Ohio Stadium crowd into hysterics. The Wolverines started deep in their own end, but couldn't score again, and the Buckeyes ran out the clock, setting the stage for a wild celebration that went well into the Columbus night, including the delivery of a goal post to the lawn of the Ohio Statehouse.Pennington. p. 51.
The Buckeyes finished the game with 329 total yards to Michigan's 155. The win propelled Ohio State to #2 in the polls, but they lost the Associated Press national championship with a 27–17 loss to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. The AP title instead went to Nebraska, which defeated LSU in the Orange Bowl. (The coaches voting in the United Press International poll did not conduct a post-bowl poll and awarded its championship to Texas, which lost to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl, costing the Longhorns the AP championship).Pennington. p. 52.
1971: Michigan 10, Ohio State 7
Schembechler had continued Michigan's offensive domination of the Big Ten going into the 1971 game with Ohio State. They went through the season 10–0 and ranked #3, and they would head to Pasadena regardless of the result of "The Game". Out of all their opponents, only Purdue had been able to stay within a touchdown. Three of their victories were shutouts. The Wolverines also led the nation in scoring defense, allowing just over six points a game.Pennington. p. 56.
For Woody Hayes, 1971 was the most difficult rebuilding year of his tenure, having lost 17 previous starters to graduation or the NFL. Injuries, which some blamed on the new artificial turf at Ohio Stadium, depleted the squad further. Ohio State had already lost to Colorado, Michigan State and Northwestern and was out of contention for the conference championship (the Buckeyes were already ineligible for the Rose Bowl berth due to the no-repeat rule, which would be repealed following the 1971 season). The Buckeyes were going into Ann Arbor with the notion of playing for pride.
Michigan Stadium was once again jammed with a record crowd of roughly 104,000 as the home team started the game slowly. Quarterback Tom Slade was knocked out on the opening drive and replaced with backup Larry Cipa. On the Buckeyes’ first possession, Tom Campana returned a punt to the Michigan 28, but the scarlet-and-gray fumbled the ball away at the 17. Both teams exchanged possessions well into the second quarter. Slade returned and spearheaded a Michigan drive to the Ohio State 15, where Dana Coin kicked a 32-yard field goal to put UM on top first, 3–0. The maize-and-blue fumbled in the Buckeye red zone on their next possession and halftime came with the score still 3–0.Pennington. p. 60.
Defense continued to dominate play in the second half. Neither team was able to score until late in the third quarter, when Campana caught a punt at the OSU 15 and returned it all the way to put the unranked Buckeyes on top 7–3. Time soon became an issue for Michigan as the fourth quarter got underway, and with the stinging defensive tone of the game, Ohio State was poised to get a huge upset. The Wolverines got a crucial first down on a fourth-and-one with 2:45 left. Two plays later, Billy Taylor took a pitch from Cipa and took it 21 yards for a touchdown, which electrified the crowd and put the Wolverines back in the lead 10–7. The Buckeyes then tried a fervent drive to get into field-goal territory. Ohio State quarterback Don Lamka threw the ball on a third-and–16 toward receiver Dick Wakefield, but Michigan's Thom Darden jumped over Wakefield for an interception, effectively killing Ohio State's hope for at least a tie.