Michigan football star: Ohio State was all flash, no game in 2022

A season ago, all Wolverine fans rejoiced as their team walked away from Columbus with a win for the first time in over two decades. In 2022, Michigan football and Ohio State headed into ‘The Game’ with 11-0 records and ranked in the top-3; the Buckeyes were favored to win by quite a bit, though all said and done, it was Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines that emerged victorious. Recently, Michigan football star Will Johnson recalled how Ohio State tried to intimidate the Wolverines before the game, but could not back it up on the football field.

Michigan football star Will Johnson comments on Ohio State’s attempt at intimidation during ‘The Game’ in 2022

Just as we saw in 2021, the Michigan football team laid a monumental beat down on the Ohio State Buckeyes en route to a Big Ten title and College Football Playoff berth. In fact, the Wolverines won by more points in 2022 (45-23) than in 2021 (42-27). According to Michigan football star Will Johnson — a true freshman cornerback at the time — the Buckeyes attempted to get in the Wolverines’ heads before the game. Clearly, it did not work.

“I think just the atmosphere and before the game — they walked out with the fancy clothes, staring at us and doing all that kind of stuff,” Johnson told The Michigan Insider’s Sam Webb. “They did all the extra things before the game. But at the end of the day, after the game, we were the ones celebrating on their field. The atmosphere there, it was all red. Not a lot of Michigan people.”

The Buckeyes are all talk, no game

During Ryan Day’s tenure, we have seen this repeatedly: the Ohio State Buckeyes are all talk and no game. Throughout the 2022 offseason — despite being bested by the Wolverines in 2021 — Michigan football fans were subjected to all kinds of taunting from Buckeye fans. In fact, most analysts chalked the Wolverines’ impressive 15-point win as being a “fluke” in 2021 and claimed that with Ohio State’s talented roster, Michigan football would not take a second-straight win.

The storylines are a bit different this offseason, seeing as the Jim Harbaugh-led Michigan football team is now 2-0 against Ohio State this decade with two-straight Big Ten titles and more. For the Wolverines, no talk is needed; Michigan does what it needs to do and moves on to the next task.

This fall, look for Harbaugh’s team to be more focused than ever as the Wolverines attempt to get over the final hump and win a national title for the first time since 1997.

Thank you for reading Blue by Ninety. For more Michigan Athletics content from Blue by Ninety, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. For feedback, questions, concerns, or to apply for a writing position, please email our Managing Editor at [email protected]. Also, be sure to check out our shop and our podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms. It is because of your support that we have become one of the fastest-growing and most influential Michigan media outlets there is!