Sunday had it all, didn't it? I mean, the stakes just kept getting bigger and bigger, and this

started all the way at the beginning of the season, because off the top, when you see Michigan

and Ohio State on the schedule, it just hits differently no matter the records, no matter the

context, especially when that's the only regular season matchup on the slate. Then, as the season progresses, you consider what would be

on the line in that game within the Big Ten. And coming into Sunday, you knew that a Michigan

victory and the Wolverines would keep a little distance in the hunt for a championship, a loss,

and then it's basically a four, maybe even a five team pile up with two weeks left to play.

Oh, and then once you get to the week of the game, you learn that in the previous 184 meetings,

there had never been a top five matchup. This one would be Michigan at number three and Ohio

State at number four. That's quite the backdrop in and of itself just before

the ball is tipped. And then the stakes were raised by the game itself. Why? Because it was just so

good. Neither team led by double figures. Both teams shot lights out. Every punch seemingly

had a counter punch almost immediately. And on the Michigan side,

every Wolverine who played in that game made a play or two or 50 that contributed to the win.

Those kinds of games take on a life of their own because even as you're enjoying watching it,

you know that you so desperately

want your team to win. The thought of having to talk about that fun of a game, that big of a

matchup is a loss. It's just a little overwhelming. But if you win, it becomes a memory,

not just any win over the buck guys, not just any road win in a

heated conference race, not just any NCAA-en-resumet-boosting win, even not just any top-five

victory for your program. When all of that comes together in a way that it did on Sunday,

it exceeds almost any other type of win.

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