Ohio State at Michigan: Five things NFL scouts will be watching in 'The Game'

By Rob Rang
FOX Sports NFL Draft Analyst

Just like any passionate college football fan, NFL scouts know that rivalry games matter more than most.

With all due respect to the many fervent rivalries throughout the college landscape, perhaps none has the panache and profile of the Ohio State-Michigan matchup, a contest simply known as "The Game."

The intense hatred brewed between the Buckeyes and Wolverines over the years is only magnified this season, with both teams 10-1 and fighting for not only a Big Ten championship but also a playoff berth.

With so much on the line, it would be easy to simply take the old adage from the late, great Raiders owner Al Davis ("just win, baby") and apply it here. For many, nothing matters in this contest except the final score.

But that is not the case for NFL scouts, whose Thanksgiving dinner might serve as only an appetizer for the biggest bounty of the weekend.

Here then is a list of the five things NFL scouts will be watching closely in the 117th edition of the most storied rivalry in college football, scheduled to kick off at noon ET in Ann Arbor and found right here on FOX and the FOX Sports App.

1. Who wins in the trenches?

There will be plenty of focus on the so-called skill-position players in a game that features an over-under of 64.5 points, but make no mistake, this game will be won or lost at the line of scrimmage. That also happens to be where the best NFL prospect in this game — Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson — will be drawing the attention of scouts.

The 6-foot-5, 270-pound Hutchinson is the top-rated senior in the country, incorporating a blend of size, burst, power and technically refined hand play that would make a 10-year NFL veteran proud. He was thought to be considering entering the draft after his junior season until he suffered a fractured leg last November.

This season, Hutchinson has been dominant, recording 47 tackles with career highs in tackles for loss (11.5) and sacks (nine), despite being the focus of every opponent’s blocking scheme.

Hutchinson is terrific, but the Michigan defensive line is far from a one-man wrecking crew.

If such an award existed in college football, junior edge rusher David Ojabo would qualify as the country’s breakout defender of the year. After recording just one tackle in six games as a reserve and special-teamer in 2020, the 6-foot-5, 250-pound Ojabo has exploded this season, overtaking Hutchinson as the Wolverines' fiercest pass-rusher with 10 sacks and another 10 stops behind the line of scrimmage among his 30 overall tackles.

Born in Nigeria, Ojabo won the New Jersey 100-meter dash championship with a time of 10.93 seconds and didn’t begin playing organized football until his junior year of high school. He is exactly the type of ascending talent that makes NFL scouts drool.

The Wolverines' dynamic duo will face its toughest matchup of the season, however, against the Buckeyes' burly offensive line, led by Nicholas Petit-Frere (6-foot-5, 315 pounds) and the even larger Dawand Jones (6-foot-8, 360 pounds), two juniors with first-round aspirations of their own.

Of the two, Petit-Frere is more experienced and aided by the fact that the left guard alongside him, senior Thayer Munford, can help on the variety of twists and stunts Hutchinson and the Wolverines are likely to incorporate. Petit-Frere has played well in his first season at left tackle, shutting down a bevy of the Big Ten’s best pass-rushers so far this season, though Penn State’s Arnold Ebiketie had his moments. 

Jones is light on his feet for such a big man and has the arm length and strength in his hands to snatch and latch, but Ojabo’s burst and bend make the heavyweight bout at the line of scrimmage worthy of the price of admission.

2. Can the Wolverines’ secondary handle OSU’s aerial assault?

Given that the Buckeyes tied defending national champion Alabama with 10 players drafted into the NFL last spring, it is amazing how much talent still resides in just their receiver room. Indeed, senior Chris Olave, junior Garrett Wilson and sophomore Jaxon Smith-Njigba might all be earning first-round selections soon.

In a fitting final game at Ohio Stadium, the silky-smooth Olave overtook Buckeyes legend David Boston as the program’s all-time leader in touchdown receptions, hauling in the 34th and 35th scores of his distinguished career. 

Olave has the footwork and grace of a ballerina, but his spindly, 6-foot-1, 182-pound frame makes him quite slight. That plays into the hands of Michigan’s hard-hitting secondary, especially safeties Daxton Hill and Brad Hawkins, who must eliminate Ohio State’s quick-strike ability if the Wolverines are to keep up with the nation’s leading offense, which is averaging a staggering 47.2 points per game.

Of course, one cannot hit what one can’t catch. Michigan’s most experienced cornerback, Vincent Gray (6-foot-2, 192 pounds), has the size and strength to bottle up receivers in the short to intermediate zones but lacks elite change-of-direction fluidity and immediate acceleration.

His counterpart, DJ Turner, is an ascending talent playing his best football right now — he's recorded at least one pass breakup in each of the past four games, with a pick-six last week against Maryland — but the showdown with Ohio State will be just his sixth career start.

The combination could help the pro-ready Wilson feast on Saturday. The OSU junior isn’t the same caliber of athlete that Olave is, but frankly, he’s a better football player. Wilson sets up defenders with savvy route running and makes difficult grabs look easy with his body control and sticky hands, though there are some concentration drops on tape as well.

The youngster, Smith-Njigba, is the perfect complement to Ohio State’s upperclassmen. Although he lacks the suddenness of his flashier teammates, the well-built sophomore (6-foot, 198 pounds) is fearless and physical out of the slot.

3. Is a young Buckeyes defense "Tuf" enough to stop Michigan’s running game?

Among the aforementioned 2021 draft class out of Ohio State was a starting linebacker corps that saw Pete Werner (New Orleans Saints), Baron Browning (Denver Broncos) and Tuf Borland (Minnesota Vikings) all move on to the pros.

While it is certainly true that a blue-blood program such as Ohio State does not rebuild — it reloads — the current crew at linebacker is pretty green. The starting trio of Cody Simon, Teradja Mitchell and Tommy Eichenberg entered the season with zero career starts among them.

If Michigan’s large and physical offensive line can get past a talented but inconsistent Buckeyes’ front — easier said than done — there could be opportunities for bulldozing senior running back Hassan Haskins to break tackles and perhaps prove yet again that he has more elusiveness and creativity in the open field than his critics suggest.

Like virtually all Jim Harbaugh-coached teams, this year’s Wolverines squad is based on running the football, scoring more than twice as many touchdowns on the ground (29) as starting quarterback Cade McNamara has tossed through the air (14).

This matchup, in fact, is perhaps the most critical of the game. Should the Wolverines fail to establish the ground game, it could be the Buckeyes running away from them on the scoreboard, similar to what Ohio State did a week ago in bottling up one-time Heisman Trophy favorite Kenneth Walker and embarrassing Michigan State 56-7.

4. Can the young Buckeyes handle the moment?

Not yet eligible for the NFL, Ohio State’s freshmen sensations, C.J. Stroud and TreVeyon Henderson, aren't on the scouts' immediate radar, but no one would blame them for dreaming about the future, given how well the young quarterback and running back have played this season.

Already a more polished passer than his predecessor, Justin Fields, Stroud has a sparkling 36-5 touchdown-to-interception ratio so far this season. Both his completion percentage (71.1%) and yards-per-attempt (10.0) are better than any of the three seasons that Fields, the 11th overall pick of last spring’s NFL Draft, accomplished at Ohio State and Georgia.

While Stroud has shredded opposing secondaries at a Heisman-worthy clip, Superman has looked a little more like Clark Kent on the road, throwing two interceptions in the Buckeyes’ surprisingly close 26-17 victory at Nebraska and another in his starting debut in a 45-31 victory at Minnesota in the season opener.

Ohio State’s only other two games on the road so far this season were at Rutgers and Indiana. The Buckeyes' four road opponents currently sport a combined record of 17-27.

Scouts can already see that Stroud possesses NFL-caliber size, arm strength and accuracy. His poise will be tested in the Big House — which is precisely why the Buckeyes would be wise to feature the dynamic Henderson, who is averaging an eye-popping 7.9 yards per carry and has 17 TDs with just one fumble.

5. Could Ryan Day or Jim Harbaugh be lured back to the NFL?

"The Game" won't bring only NFL scouts to Ann Arbor. There will be plenty of general managers attending as well, with the evaluation extending to the sidelines.

Prior to taking over for now-Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Ryan Day served as the quarterback coach for the Philadelphia Eagles (2015) and San Francisco 49ers (2016). His leadership and ability to generate explosive offenses (despite a revolving door of talent in Columbus) have him firmly on the radar of NFL teams looking to land the latest coaching star from the collegiate ranks.

Day is signed through the 2026 season at Ohio State and is well-compensated, earning $6.5 million this season, with a raise to $7.6 million scheduled for 2022.

For an NFL team to lure Day from the Buckeyes, it would have to fork over millions in a buyout, but given the revenue generated by the excitement around such a splashy hire, don’t think an aggressive GM (and owner with deep pockets) isn’t already considering it.

Harbaugh, who served as head coach of the 49ers before returning to his alma mater, also recently signed an extension and is under contract to coach at Michigan through the 2025 season.

His buyout is surprisingly low ($2 million), however, and Harbaugh agreed to take a pay cut in 2021 from his previous deal, earning "just" $4 million in base salary this season, albeit with up to another $3.475 million in bonuses.

From a college football fan’s perspective, here's hoping Day and Harbaugh remain at Ohio State and Michigan, respectively. The rivalry between their two storied programs remains one of the most iconic in all of sports.

But on a holiday weekend featuring plenty of gluttony, it is easy to understand why the NFL talent evaluators in attendance could be looking at both coaches as possible second and third helpings.

One of the most recognized names in the industry, Rob Rang has been covering the NFL Draft for more than 20 years, with work at FOX, Sports Illustrated, CBSSports.com, USA Today, Yahoo, NFL.com and NFLDraftScout.com, among others.