Michigan–Ohio State Football Rivalry
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50 free Michigan–Ohio State Football Rivalry trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Michigan against Ohio State is the game both fan bases circle before the season starts. The two programs have met more than 120 times since 1897, and the result has decided conference titles, wrecked unbeaten seasons and ended coaching careers. Fans on both sides simply call it The Game. This quiz covers the whole story: the border quarrel that came before football, the years when Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler made the rivalry a national event, the famous upsets and disputed calls, the Heisman winners who made their names in it, and the songs, bands and campus traditions that surround it. Recent meetings get their own questions too. It is written for Wolverines and Buckeyes who want to test each other before kickoff, for tailgate and watch-party hosts who need a ready-made game, and for any college football fan who enjoys a great rivalry. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which future US president played for Michigan against Ohio State from 1932 to 1934?
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford played center on Michigan teams that won national titles in 1932 and 1933. Woody Hayes later gave him a signed football listing the scores of his three Ohio State games.
Q 02After Michigan planted a flag at midfield in Ohio Stadium in 2024, what did police use on brawling players?
Pepper spray
Pepper spray hit several players as officers from both states broke up the fight. The Big Ten fined each school $100,000 the next day.
Q 03What miniature gold charm has every Ohio State player received after a win over Michigan since 1934?
A pair of pants
A pair of pants, in gold, recalls a 1934 Ohio State coach's remark that Michigan players dress one leg at a time like anyone else. His teams then shut Michigan out four years running.
Q 04According to legend, Woody Hayes would rather push his car to the Ohio line than buy what in Michigan?
Gasoline
Gasoline, in the story, was something Hayes refused to buy even on an empty tank, so Michigan would never get a nickel of his money. He also said "that state up north" to avoid its name.
Q 05Which Michigan quarterback threw the winning touchdown pass against Ohio State in 1999?
Tom Brady
Tom Brady hit Marquise Walker with five minutes left for a 24–17 win. It evened his record against Ohio State, after a loss as Michigan's starter the year before.
Q 06Which Ohio city was at the center of an 1835 border 'war' with Michigan, long before the football rivalry?
Toledo
Toledo and the strip of land around it went to Ohio after rival militias did little more than taunt each other. Michigan entered the Union with the Upper Peninsula instead.
Q 07Which Michigan receiver struck the Heisman pose after a punt-return touchdown against Ohio State in 1991?
Desmond Howard
Desmond Howard, a Cleveland native, planned something special as a shout-out to people back in Ohio. He wanted to do a backflip but, by his own account, chickened out and posed instead.
Q 08In dreadful weather in 1950, Michigan beat Ohio State 9–3 without gaining a single what?
First down
A first down never came for Michigan, which also missed all nine of its passes. Its points came from two blocked punts: one for a safety, one recovered for a touchdown.
Q 09Michigan Stadium, the largest stadium in the United States, hosts Ohio State under which nickname?
The Big House
The Big House drew the series' first crowd of more than 100,000 in 1957. Broadcaster Keith Jackson is credited with popularizing the nickname.
Q 10Woody Hayes's Ohio State career ended in 1978 after he punched a player from which school in the Gator Bowl?
Clemson
Clemson's Charlie Bauman had just intercepted a pass and been run out of bounds at the Ohio State sideline when Hayes struck him. Hayes was fired the next morning.
Q 11Which Michigan cornerback's punt-return touchdown against Ohio State in 1997 helped him win the Heisman?
Charles Woodson
Charles Woodson also intercepted a pass in the end zone and caught a 37-yard pass in the 20–14 win. He became the first primarily defensive player to take the trophy.
Q 12Which Ohio State quarterback threw four touchdown passes in the 42–39 win over Michigan in 2006?
Troy Smith
Troy Smith's 316 passing yards all but clinched his Heisman Trophy. He was the first Ohio State quarterback to start three straight wins over Michigan.
Q 13Which Michigan quarterback guaranteed a 1986 win over Ohio State, delivered, and later returned as head coach?
Jim Harbaugh
Q 21What name do fans give the clashes between Woody Hayes's Ohio State and Bo Schembechler's Michigan?
The Ten Year War
The Ten Year War ended with Schembechler ahead 5–4–1. The two teams shared the Big Ten title six times in that span, and Schembechler had once worked on Hayes's staff.
Q 22Which new Ohio State coach promised fans in 2001 that they would be proud 'in 310 days' at Michigan?
Jim Tressel
Jim Tressel kept his word with a 26–20 win, Ohio State's first at Michigan in 14 years. Nicknamed "The Vest" for his sweater vests, he lost to Michigan only once.
Q 23Which Ohio State coach was fired after the 2000 season with a 2–10–1 record against Michigan?
John Cooper
Jim Harbaugh backed up his promise with a 26–24 win. As Michigan's coach he lost his first five games against Ohio State before breaking through in 2021.
Q 14Which coach never lost to Michigan, going 7–0 against the Wolverines from 2012 to 2018?
Urban Meyer
Urban Meyer signed off with a 62–39 rout, the most points ever scored on Michigan in regulation. He had first worked at Ohio State as a graduate assistant in the 1980s.
Q 15Which Ohio State running back, who faced Michigan four times in the 1970s, is the only two-time Heisman winner?
Archie Griffin
Archie Griffin won the trophy in 1974 and 1975. Michigan held him to 46 yards in 1975, ending his record run of 31 straight 100-yard games.
Q 16In Ohio State's Script Ohio formation, a veteran player of which instrument struts out to dot the i?
Sousaphone
Sousaphone players took over the honor after a player of a much smaller brass horn dotted the first i in 1936. Michigan's band had formed a cursive Ohio four years earlier, at a 1932 game between the schools.
Q 17Which color pairing does Michigan wear against the scarlet and gray of Ohio State?
Maize and blue
Maize and blue were painted onto Michigan's winged helmet when the design arrived in 1938. Ohio State's scarlet and gray were picked by a committee of three students.
Q 18Which mascot crossed out the M in a Michigan Stadium end zone during the 2025 game against Ohio State?
Brutus Buckeye
Brutus Buckeye then wrote "Ohio" in cursive beside it before the grounds crew erased his work. The mascot dates from 1965, when his name was picked in a campus-wide contest.
Q 19Since 1935, Michigan and Ohio State have almost always met in which part of the regular season?
The final week
The final week has been the game's home with only a handful of exceptions. Fans' emails helped keep it there when the Big Ten split into divisions in 2011.
Q 20What nickname is given to the 1950 Michigan–Ohio State game, when foul weather forced 45 punts?
Snow Bowl
Snow Bowl weather was so bad that Ohio State was offered the chance to cancel and take the Big Ten title by default. It chose to play, lost, and its coach resigned amid the criticism.
John Cooper never won at Michigan, and three of his unbeaten teams were upset by the Wolverines. Michigan students held a mock celebration on 2/10/01, the date that matched his record.
Q 24Which coach lost four straight games to Michigan from 2021 to 2024, then won that season's national title?
Ryan Day
Ryan Day's Ohio State lost 13–10 as a 20.5-point favorite in 2024, the biggest upset in series history, then won the College Football Playoff. He beat Michigan again in 2025.
Q 25Which Michigan running back rushed for 313 yards in a 1995 upset of unbeaten Ohio State?
Tim Biakabutuka
Tim Biakabutuka ran wild after Ohio State receiver Terry Glenn said there was nothing special about Michigan. The 31–23 result spoiled a perfect season for that year's Heisman winner, Eddie George.
Q 26Which team was picked over Michigan to face Ohio State in the BCS title game after the 2006 season?
Florida
Florida edged Michigan in the closing BCS standings, ending talk of a rematch, and then beat Ohio State 41–14. Michigan lost its own bowl game to USC.
Q 27Which Ohio State quarterback's disputed fourth-down spot in the 2016 game is still argued over by Michigan fans?
J. T. Barrett
J. T. Barrett was tackled almost exactly at the line to gain; had he been ruled short, Michigan would have won on the spot. He finished 4–0 against Michigan as a starter.
Q 28For decades the Michigan–Ohio State winner often earned the Big Ten's place in which New Year's Day game?
The Rose Bowl
The Rose Bowl took the Big Ten champion for decades, and Michigan and Ohio State settled that title between themselves 22 times through 2010.
Q 29After a 10–10 tie in 1973, whose secret vote gave Ohio State, not Michigan, the Big Ten's bowl berth?
Athletic directors
Athletic directors of the other Big Ten schools cast the ballots, and Bo Schembechler said Michigan had been robbed. Both teams had come into the game unbeaten.
Q 30Which Michigan running back scored five touchdowns in the 2021 win that ended eight straight losses to Ohio State?
Hassan Haskins
Hassan Haskins set a record for any running back in the rivalry in the 42–27 win. It sent Michigan to the Big Ten Championship Game for the first time.