College Football Rewind: 5 most important games from 2006 season

1. (1) Ohio State 42, (2) Michigan 39

What I type here can’t really do any justice to how hyped this game was. This is one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports, both teams were undefeated and ranked Nos. 1 and 2 respectively, and legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler had died the day before the game.

The Big Ten Championship was on the line, as was a spot in the national championship, and the hype was through the roof.

The actual game however, did not quite live up to the hype, if you ask me. Ohio State only trailed 7-0 in the first quarter, but really controlled the game the rest of the way.

Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith had his defining game as a Buckeye and threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns and that performance propelled him to winning the Heisman Trophy.

This game had major implications because this would be the closest that Michigan has been to a national championship appearance since and they have mostly been mired in mediocrity. This would be the first of back to back title game appearances for the Buckeyes. This game had wide-ranging implications and was the most important game of the 2006 college football season.