ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan football dominated Ohio State in the second half Saturday in Columbus to polish off a perfect 12-0 regular season.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes both came into the matchup 11-0 and ranked among the top three teams in the College Football Playoff rankings. Then, a year after breaking its losing streak against Ohio State and winning the Big Ten title, Michigan went on the road and got its first win in Columbus since 2000.
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Michigan hung around in the first half despite being outplayed on both sides of the ball. Cornelius Johnson caught a 69-yard touchdown and a 75-yard touchdown on back-to-back offensive plays to give the Wolverines a brief 17-13 lead before Ohio State took a 20-17 advantage into the break.
J.J. McCarthy threw a third long touchdown pass to open the second half, hitting Colston Loveland from 45 yards out to take a 24-20 lead.
Michigan would never look back, scoring three touchdowns in the fourth quarter while surrendering just a single field goal. In the end, the Wolverines ran out the clock with a 45-23 victory.
McCarthy finished the game with 263 passing yards, 27 rushing yards, and four total touchdowns. Johnson 160 yards and a pair of scores on four catches.
Donovan Edwards filled in for the injured Blake Corum and rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries. He iced the game with 75- and 85-yards touchdowns in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
Corum, a Heisman Trophy candidate who injured his knee last week against Illinois, carried the ball twice for six yards in the first quarter before limping to the sideline. He didn’t return to the game.
Michigan will now head to Indianapolis to face Purdue in the Big Ten Championship Game, where it beat Iowa 42-3 a year ago.
The Buckeyes will have to wait and see how the rest of the games with playoff implications play out to see if they can punch their ticket.
