Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry

The Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry, referred to as The Game by some fans and sports commentators, is an American college football rivalry game that is played annually between the Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State Buckeyes. As of 2024, Michigan has the most wins and Ohio State has the second most wins of any program in NCAA Division I football history. The rivalry has gathered profound national interest as many of the games determined the Big Ten Conference title and the resulting Rose Bowl Game matchups, as well as the outcome of the NCAA Division I college football championship. In 2000, the game was ranked by ESPN as the greatest North American sports rivalry ever. The rivalry is listed in Rivals!: The Ten Greatest American Sports Rivalries of the 20th Century, published by Wiley. Encyclopædia Britannica includes the rivalry as one of the ten great sports rivalries in history.

The teams first met in 1897 and have played annually all but once since 1918. The only break in over a century came in 2020 due to a COVID-19 outbreak on Michigan's football team during the COVID-19 pandemic. The game has been played at the end of the regular season since 1935 (except for 1942, 1986, 1998, and 2020). Since 1918, the game's site has alternated between Ann Arbor, Michigan (in odd-numbered years) and Columbus, Ohio (in even-numbered years), and has been played in Ohio Stadium since 1922 and Michigan Stadium since 1927. The Ten Year War from 1969 to 1978, which matched up legendary coaches Woody Hayes from Ohio State and Bo Schembechler from Michigan, was a peak period for both teams and saw seven matchups where both were ranked in the AP top 10, although neither finished atop the polls during this era. Through 2010, Ohio State and Michigan have decided the Big Ten Conference championship between themselves on 22 different occasions, and affected the determination of the conference title an additional 27 times. During the Big Ten's East-West divisional format from 2014 to 2023, The Game affected the Big Ten East title six times.

For many years, the game aired on ABC, usually in the 12:00 p.m. Eastern time slot. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, ESPN College GameDay would originate that weekend from the game site. Beginning with the 2017 season, the game airs on Fox as a result of that network acquiring the Big Ten's tier-1 rights in the most recent broadcasting contract, and GameDay competitor Big Noon Kickoff originates from the game site. From 2021 to 2023, ESPN and Fox's pre-game shows both originated at the same time from the game site. It is often the most viewed college football game of the regular season.