In an interesting turn of events, a Michigan football player is now making the case that Ohio State’s national championship win last year wasn’t legitimate.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore asserted that Ohio State’s national championship win wasn’t a real win because the Buckeyes couldn’t beat the Wolverines in the regular season. He said that while he’s willing to congratulate them, he feels that this year will be “different.”
“You know it’s not a real win if y’all ain’t beat us. I’m gonna congratulate them on their win, but this year, it’s gonna be different,” Moore said.
Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore on Ohio State's national championship: "You know it's not a real win if y'all ain't beat us. I'm gonna congratulate them on their win, but this year, it's gonna be different."
— Andy Anders (@AndyAnders55) July 24, 2025
Ohio State fans were immediately dismissive of Moore’s remark, pointing out that the logic doesn’t hold up under any scrutiny:
“In what other sport is a championship invalidated by one regular season loss?” one user wondered.
“So beating 4 top 5 teams and 6 top 10 teams is not a real national championship because they didn’t beat their unranked 8-5 team. Imagine the Falcons saying this to the Eagles,” wrote another.
“That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read…” a third wrote.
“It’s not a win but you’ll congratulate us on our win? Which one is it bozo?”
“Is he saying Ohio State is gonna beat Michigan this year?”
“It was very real. I saw it…”
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Ohio State’s stunning loss to Michigan in the regular season was one of the biggest upsets in the history of The Game. The Buckeyes were heavy favorites but lost 13-10, missing out on the Big Ten Championship Game for the fourth year in a row as a result.
But Ohio State managed to make it into the College Football Playoff as an at-large bid and once they were there they promptly turned up the juice, dominating Tennessee, Big Ten champion Oregon, SEC runner-up Texas and finally Notre Dame to claim their first national title in 10 years.
Granted, if you would have polled every Ohio State fan whether they would prefer to win a national title or beat Michigan, there’s a good chance that a large percentage would take The Game over the trophy.
Maybe this year the Buckeyes can do both.
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