CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · General Reference

1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game

College football game

Cross-disciplinary reference desk with index cards, atlas, dictionary and catalogue
General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ4575661 ↗
Source-derived summary

The 1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game was one of the most controversial games in NCAA history. Both teams were undefeated that season, with Ohio State ranked first and Michigan fourth, and the game was crucial for the Big Ten Conference championship and a potential Rose Bowl appearance. Played in heavy rain, with strong defensive play, Ohio State led 10–0 at halftime. Michigan made a comeback in the second half and managed to tie the game at 10–10, despite missed field goal attempts in the final minutes.

Controversy arose after the game, as Michigan believed they were the better team and deserved to go to the Rose Bowl. However, in a vote carried out by Big Ten athletic directors, Ohio State was chosen. This led to anger and accusations of bias.

Context

In this game, both teams were undefeated, with Ohio State ranked first, and Michigan ranked fourth. A conference championship, Rose Bowl appearance, and anticipated national championship were on the line in this crucial game, part of the highly contested stretch of the rivalry known as The Ten Year War.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game” as college football game. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Ohio, State and Michigan.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1973—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Ohio, State and Michigan providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game”, the useful work is to connect “college football game” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4575661. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1973.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow 1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game primary sources, 1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game archive and Ohio research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “1973 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.