TOLEDO, Ohio — If you were out and about on Saturday, you probably noticed the wave of Buckeye and Wolverine fans filling up the bars in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan during the biggest college football rivalry game of the year.
WTOL 11 talked to fans on both sides of the border battle at local bars Jed's, The Distillery and E.T.'s Bar, each of which had a large turnout.
Each one said this year's game was one of the most anticipated in years.
"OSU, Michigan rivalry is year-round. It's not a fall-football thing. It's a year-round football thing. It's summer, winter, forever. It's forever," said Aaron, a Michigan fan.
His brother Rod is an Ohio State fan who said the Buckeyes needed to focus on scoring in order to stop their rivals from winning again.
"We got to put the ball in the end-zone, we can't just set up those field goals. We got to have some touchdowns," said Rod.
Other OSU fans like Mary said they were pretty confident before the game as she said they had a strong team both on and off the field.
"We have a better coach, we have a better running back, we are just the better team," she said.
Aaron seemed to know what needed to be done on Michigan's side in order to remain undefeated however.
"We got to win our battles in the trenches because we need to get pressure on their quarterback," he said.
Phil Sr. and his son Phil Jr. came out to support the Wolverines. Phil Sr. was pretty confident his team had what it takes to win.
"We got a great running game, and we got a great defense, so hopefully we can hold them off till the third and fourth quarter," said Phil.
It turns out Phil was right. Michigan was able to hold off Ohio State's offense on their way to a 45-23 victory. U of M fans like Beth said they were excited to see it happen again.
"I feel very confident about my team, I'm excited, I'm glad we won two years in a row," she said.
However, Beth's friend and courageous Buckeye fan, Ron couldn't say the same.
"Two years in a row, that's not good," he said.
While OSU and Michigan fans don't agree on much, there was one thing almost everyone saw eye to eye on... both teams deserve a spot in the college football playoffs.
"As much as I dislike Michigan, I'd like to see 2 Big Tens in the National Championship," said Mary.
Aaron agreed and would like to see the conference go far too.
"They don't want to see two big ten teams in the playoffs, and we think that should happen," he said.
Saturday's win marks Michigan's first win over OSU in Columbus since 2000.
Michigan will now go on to the Big 10 Championship to play Purdue on Saturday, December 3 at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium.