Ohio State Football: Grading the Week 13 Loss at Michigan

The streak is over.

But it certainly didn't end quietly, as this year's installment of the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry was among the best games in recent memory, ending with a Michigan 40-34 win.

Regardless of who you rooted for, this game was very entertaining although Buckeye fans had to be frustrated by all sorts of things.

The defense looked terrible again, and what was worse is that the play-calling on offense was actually good. Which begs the question: where was that all season long?

This is the time to look back over a wild shootout in the Big House and give our final report card for the regular season, and possibly the entire year, if OSU is banned from postseason play this year.

Quarterback: A-

Although Braxton Miller is the first Ohio State quarterback to lose to Michigan since Craig Krenzel in 2003, Miller did save his best game of the year for the season finale.

Miller threw over 200 yards for the first time in his career and accounted for all but 37 yards of Ohio State's total offense, along with three touchdowns.

His first drive was very strong, including finally connecting on the long ball to Corey Brown for the opening touchdown which definitely set the tone for the tempo of the game.

Miller also ran well, showing that he will be a force to be reckoned with not just in the rivalry for the next few seasons, but in college football as a whole.

Urban Meyer must be pretty excited about what he's about to get his hands on, at least if he does officially become Ohio State's next head coach.

Running Backs: C-

Ohio State's running game had been a thorn in Michigan's side in each of Michigan's last six losses (not including vacated 2010 game) to the Buckeyes.

This time around, Dan Herron was stuffed all day, rushing for only 37 yards on 15 carries. By comparisons, there have been previous Michigan games where he has rushed for more than 37 yards on just one play.

He just had a rough day, and it was very uncharacteristic to see out of the senior who looked rejuvenated after his suspension.

Jordan Hall looked like the receiving back we were all promised at the start of the season.

This begs the theme of the offense: why was all of this only done Saturday?

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B+

With Miller airing the football out much more, his wide receivers had their best game of the season.

Corey Brown made up for his terrible drop against Penn State with the huge touchdown on the opening drive of the game.

DeVier Posey also had 58 yards receiving and Miller's second TD, a 43-yard reception late in the first half.

Jake Stoneburner had a big catch that set up Ohio State's final touchdown on a Dan Herron four-yard TD run.

After not being able to get open against a lot of teams, the Buckeyes' wideouts were able to find all kinds of holes against a porous Michigan secondary.

Offensive Line: C

To his credit, Mike Brewster did not have a bad snap all day, so there was a positive from the day.

The line gave Miller time to throw the football pretty well, but they failed to open running lanes for Dan Herron.

It's stunning to think that after 11 years, the same school that produced Orlando Pace has not had a great track record of delivering quality offensive linemen into the NFL.

At least regardless of who becomes the new OSU head coach, longtime OL coach Jim Bollman won't be back in Columbus.

Defensive Line: C-

John Simon did make some nice plays on the afternoon for Ohio State, but the front four could have really been so, so much better.

They were never able to get much pressure on Denard Robinson in passing situations, and that allowed him to look much better throwing than in any other game against the Buckeyes.

The lack of consistent talent in the back seven kept play on the perimeter most times, and other times, the front line got blown off their blocks when Fitzgerald Toussaint got the football.

Not having Nathan Williams most of the season really hurt this group because it took away their best pass-rusher, and they need to spend the next few months trying to find one.

Linebackers: F

When your best linebacker is a true freshman, that's obviously hampered by a leg injury that means the linebackers are just not very good.

Such is the case with Ohio State, as their linebackers have not been very good all season.

Andrew Sweat missed the game with a dislocated elbow, and as a senior, will not get another crack at the Wolverines.

Etienne Sabino might have to be moved to defensive end as he just does not look good at MLB.

Ryan Shazier tried as hard as he could but was ineffective after hurting his leg after forcing a Denard Robinson fumble.

This group needs some very serious overhauling and adjusting going into next season because it was the LB position that really, really killed this normally great OSU defense.

Defensive Backs: C

Ohio State's defensive backs were okay, but not all that special.

They only forced three Denard Robinson incompletions and allowed three touchdown passes when Robinson hadn't thrown one against OSU in his career.

Bradley Roby had a couple of nice stops, but the loss of Orhian Johnson several times was noticeable as Michigan's passing game picked on his backup—Zach Domicone.

C.J. Barnett was the leader in tackles with 12 as he helped out well in run support.

Special Teams: B+

The Buckeye special teams unit did have a good day overall.

Ben Buchanan was as pinpoint as a punter could get, pinning Michigan twice inside their 20-yard line, which helped to force some defensive stops.

Drew Basil also added a pair of field goals to keep Ohio State in the game.

OSU's kick return game was solid, and Basil did bang a few kicks out of the end zone to keep Michigan from returning many kicks.

Coaching: Offensive A-/Defensive F

The Jim Bollman era went out with a bang as the oft-criticized offensive coordinator called his most creative game plan of the season, allowing Braxton Miller to throw for over 200 yards and run for 100 for the first time in his career.

But that kind of creativity begs the question of why they hadn't been doing that all season.

Until that game, the play-calling had been enormously bland and predictable.

Ohio State wasn't very predictable Saturday, but they could've been much better this year if they called plays the entire season like they did on Saturday.

Defensively, Jim Heacock's defense finished its de-evolution to the soft-zone game that killed the Buckeyes in 2006 and 2007 when they lost consecutive BCS national championship games.

Their lack of pressure on Robinson allowed him to pick apart OSU's secondary all day long.

They strayed so far from the game plan of the past two seasons, and it cost them a chance to extend their streak over Michigan past the 3,000-day mark.

Intangibles: B+

Michigan needed to win this game for all kinds of reasons, and for that, they deserve a ton of credit for playing how they did.

The rivalry is back whether Buckeye fans like it or not.

But the Buckeye players played very hard, sending their coaches out with a bang and trying to leave a good impression on whoever comes walking through that door, most likely Urban Meyer.

After the game, lots of different Ohio State players including Zach Boren took to Twitter and were upset about Michigan's post-game celebration where they threw the football into the air like a grenade, and they all fell down on the field.

In a rivalry with as many controversial moments as Woody going for two and Desmond's Heisman pose, Buckeye fans should believe that one moment will be enough to fuel them for Brady Hoke's first trip to the Horseshoe next November.

However, you need to give credit where credit is due, and Hoke's Wolverines played very well and earned the win they so desperately sought.

And the year of horrors for Buckeye fans is finally over. Now, the return to the top can begin again.

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