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Sports

The Sheer Insanity That Led to Ohio State's Barn Burner Victory Over Michigan

Look out for "30-27" tattoos the next time you're in Columbus. They'll be in smeared ink—even the tattoo artist will have been drunk.

Could this game have had any higher stakes? We're talking No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan going head-to-head during rivalry week, and it came down to double overtime. It was a classic in the making even before kickoff, but now, it'll be etched into legends and shitty tattoos that will last an eternity.

Let's start in the first overtime, when Ohio State is up seven points on Michigan's 4th and goal stand—Michigan literally didn't have the option to go for the field goal.

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Michigan's starting QB Wilton Speight sat back comfortably, deep in the pocket, and found Amara Darboh streaking along the end of the end zone. Darboh tucked down for the low pass to save the ball just a few inches from the ground in a beautiful display of coordination.

You would think that the momentum would ultimately have been the game-saving play for Michigan—a new life for the Wolverines. But Ohio State had something yet to say in the second round.

Michigan ended up settling for a field goal after being stopped around the 20 yard line with a handful of yards left, so Ohio State had the mantle set: they wanted a touchdown. So at 4th and 1, Urban Meyer's guys went on a run with the ball, only for J.T. Barrett to get wrapped up like a pretzel, seemingly just on the line.

The referee man hung out on the monitor enough for ABC to play the replay like 45 times, with no particularly elucidating angle, and came up confirming the ruling on the field: first down. And it was a good call, as the rules state that the ball must be considered to have gone as far as the fullest extension of the ball with defensive contact.

Seemingly the momentum was fully swung, and Ohio State had only to waltz this one on through a broken Michigan defense to seal the game at home:

Look out for those tattoos the next time you're around Columbus. They'll read "30-27" in smeared ink—even the tattoo artist will have been drunk.