Michigan at Ohio State

Saturday, November 20, 1948

No. 1 Michigan beat No. 18 Ohio State 13–⁠3. It was their 45th meeting; after it, Michigan led the series 30–⁠12–⁠3 as played.

Away1Michigan9–⁠0 in 1948
13
Home18Ohio State6–⁠3 in 1948
3

FinalHigh 62°F, low 41°F, 0.12 in. of rainAttendance 82,754

In the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story: Penn State Upset.; G. W. Beats Hoyos For First Time

    Evening star, District of Columbia, November 21, 1948, page 1 (results column)

    Read the text

    Penn State Upset.; G. W. Beats Hoyos For First Time George Washington University and once-mighty Pittsburgh rose to new heights yesterday in scoring surprising football upsets while the majority of bowl-bound teams over the Nation continued on their way G. w. defeated Georgetown, 13 to 7, in a hard-fought game at Grit fifth Stadium. 1t was George Wash ington’s first victory over George town in 18 games over period of So years. Pittsburgh rose up to defeat Penn State, z to 0. 1t was Penn States first defeat in 18 games. Michigan, although outplayed, clinched the Big Nine title by defeating Ohio State, 13 to 3. North western virtually won trip to the Rose Bowl by downing Illinois, 20 to 7. California defeated Stanford, 2 to 6, and Oregon downed Oregon State, 10 to 0, to continue as West Coast candidates. Maryland’s hopes for a bid to one of the other bowl games we’re dashed when the Terps were defeated “a to 0 by Vanderbilt at Nashville. “Details OF all games In ssports pagesJ

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The text is the machine reading of the page, mistakes and all.

On the newsreel

  • MICHIGAN STOPS OHIO STATEThe Wolverines fight off a determined Buckeye team, absorb an early 3-0 deficit and then go on to score twice through the air, to close the books on a second straight unbeaten season, 13-3Universal Newsreel, November 22, 1948. Catalog record at the National Archives

Universal Newsreel, National Archives (catalog record). Story titles and words as Universal’s release sheet gives them; the films themselves may still be under copyright, so we link to the record rather than show them.

Before kickoff

Our ratings going in

Our ratings (scores only)

Michigan 69% to win. Elo’s favorite won.

Officially, Michigan leads 62–⁠52–⁠6; as played, 62–⁠53–⁠6 in 121 meetings, counting the 76 since this game.

Recent meetings
2025Ohio State 27, Michigan 9
2024Michigan 13, Ohio State 10
2023Michigan 30, Ohio State 24
2022Michigan 45, Ohio State 23
2021Michigan 42, Ohio State 27
2019Ohio State 56, Michigan 27

Around this game