It could be heard on talk radio, where Cleveland's most controversial sports host -- Mike Trivisonno -- proclaimed over 50,000-watt WTAM/1100 AM, "The Buckeyes got their butts kicked. Michigan simply has a better football team."

"Black and blue," The front page Columbus Dispatch headline read. "Heartbroken and Blue," read Cleveland's Plain Dealer front sports headline. "Malaise and Blue," was The News-Herald proclamation to the eastern suburbs and the Sunday Akron Beacon Journal called it "A Crushing defeat" on its front page.

It made for more than a few long faces at 5 p.m. Mass at Willoughby Hills' Immaculate Conception Church, among folks awaiting entry to the local movie theatres, pizza joints and malls.

But Michigan's ascendancy to No. 3 nationally was sealed early in its Big House as the largest recorded N.C.A.A. college football crowd -- 112,180 -- roared its approval, save about 10-11 percent which trekked up highway 23 and assorted cowpaths and highways from all corners of Ohio.

"Michigan won this game at the line of scrimmage," Trivisonno told his somber audience. "Pure and simple as that."

That became apparent just a few millimoments after the driven Wolverines pushed the Buckeyes farther and farther back in an early-game punting match. From there, Michigan's offensive line took charge and three consecutive possessions produced a 21-0 lead from which the No. 7 Bucks (10-2 overall, 6-2 Big Ten) couldn't recover.

The cross-country chatter -- the "Luckeyes" image based on defending N.C.A.A. champion O.S.U.'s ability to tightrope to most of its 24 victories in the Buckeyes previous 25 games. Eighteen of these had come by a touchdown or less and three others saw O.S.U. trailing at halftime.

"A lot of people across the country are going to be saying, 'I told you so,' Buckeyes tight end Ben Hartsock told The Dispatch's sports editor, Ray Stein, afterward. "We'll have to deal with that. We had a chance to silence our doubters and we were not able to do it."

Michigan fans will never be cross-referenced with Buckeyes boosters where intensity is concerned. But the Maize and Blue clad U-M backers had little difficulty turning Michigan Stadium into a traditional home field advantage.

"Michigan teams simply don't lose three straight to Ohio State," former Wolverines coach Glenn "Bo" Schembechler had declared during the week. And so it was.

In the space of 16 minutes and 54 seconds' playing time, the deserving Big Ten champion Wolverines (10-2, 7-1), who will play in the Rose Bowl -- the No. 2 Bowl Championship Series matchup, racked up a staggering 253 yards' offense, a perfect blend of running and passing that rocked the proud Buckeyes into a woozy state.

"They're a great offense and they did a great job executing," Buckeyes defensive tackle Tim Anderson told The Dispatch's O.S.U. beat reporter Tim May. "That's the way the cookie crumbles."

It certainly was the way the Bucks' defense crumbled. An epic cement grinder that simply forced most opponents to alter their offensive game plans, O.S.U.'s 'D' had allowed a national-best 50.5 rushing yards a game.

By the middle of the second quarter, Michigan's bowling ball tailback, Chris Perry had 57 by himself en route to 154 yards, two touchdowns -- only the second R.B. to hit the 100 mark vs. the Buckeyes this year.

"I think the difference in the game was, whereas last year, they moved the ball in the first half and came out of it with three field goals and it was 9-7 at the half," O.S.U. defensive coordinator Mark D'Antonio told May, "this year, we didn't play well enough in the red zone."

The Wolverines reached deep into the trick file to cap the opening 18-play, 89-yard drive drive, inserting traditional wide receiver Steve Breaston at quarterback on a third-and-goal situation. Amazingly, the Buckeyes defense did not adjust! And never mind that Breaston was a high school quarterback in Western Pennsylvania.

It was an early crossroad, because if the Bucks had been able to force a fourth-down situation and maybe hold the Wolverines to a field goal...ahhh, this was a Maize and Blue downhill 18-wheeler and what-ifs were at a premium.

Down 7-0, the Bucks continued to fail to gain significant yardage against a strong Michigan defense, led by head swarmist Jeremy LeSueur, and Michigan simply outslugged O.S.U. repeatedly in the trenches.

"We didn't make sure tackles like we usually do," cornerback Dustin Fox told the Beacon Journal's Marla Ridenour. "Normally, we only miss one or two tackles per game. We missed a lot today."

Fox missed a particularly big one on Michigan's ensuing drive.

When Braylon Edwards escaped Fox at the O.S.U. 40 en route to what would become a 64-yard touchdown pass from John Navarre that gave the Wolverines a 14-0 lead, the Buckeyes knew it was uh-ohhh time.

A second Edwards T.D. -- a 23-yarder from Navarre, who silenced his critics with a 21-for-32 effort for 278 yards and the two Edwards scores -- built a giddy 21-0 lead and nearly killed the Bucks' morale.

The Wolverines, still stinging from two successive losses to their most historic rival, were in full-aggression mode by now.

"We took the fight to them," Perry told Stein after scoring on second-half T.D. runs of 30 and 15 yards. "We just came out and played our offense, simple as that."

There is nothing simple about running the football against Ohio State, which should offer an insight into the magnitude of U-M's accomplishments.

Navarre, who had been savaged by some local media, felt a clear-cut sense of retribution as well. "We were not going to go out and let anybody dictate what we were going to do," he told Stein. "We wanted them to have to decide who they were going to stop."

For a short while in the third quarter, the Bucks made the right guesses. A late first half 8-yard T.D. pass from Craig Krenzel to Santonio Holmes, who sat out the first series because of his alleged part in a late-night campus incident, got the Bucks within 21-7, but Michigan bounced back with yet another power display, including Perry's slamfest through three tackles en route to a 30-yard score and a 28-7 lead.

"Coach (Tressel) always says nothing good happens after 10 at night," a contrite Holmes told The Plain Dealer's Bill Livingston. "I was in the wrong place at the wrong time..."

But on the field, at least, Holmes seemed to be everywhere at once, flitting through Michigan's talented secondary for a massive eight-catch, 121-yard, two-touchdown day.

He caught a 13-yarder from Krenzel, who would be sidelined on the next series with a recurring left shoulder bruise. With 6:55 left in the third quarter, at 28-14, Ohio State's whole sideline awakened. For one brief, shining moment, the numerous Scarlet and Gray supporters in the record crowd were free to ask were the "Luckeyes" back?

When Scott McMullen replaced Krenzel after the Bucks defense forced a rare punt, he guided O.S.U. on a 10-play, 93 yard drive as Holmes and Michael Jenkins came up with major receptions and Lydell Ross smashed in from the three and suddenly it was 28-21 with 13:53 to play.

When Chris Gamble intercepted Navarre, the Bucks seemed primed to complete the comeback, but thus challenged, Michigan made its defensive statement.

Correction-on-the-fly...coach Lloyd Carr made it.

"I told them you want to win the Big Ten and you've got the lead in the fourth quarter," Carr told Stein. "Seven points should be enough in the fourth quarter."

When McMullen couldn't move the Bucks after Gamble's pick, coach Jim Tressel returned to Krenzel, a move that fired up the talk shows and post-game media sessions.

"I thought I was going to be in there the rest of the way," McMullen told the O.S.U. radio network's Jim Karsatos, a former Buckeye Q.B. himself. "He (Krenzel) was going into the trainer's room but he came back out and the staff put him back in."

Krenzel got the go-ahead from the medics and Tressel didn't hesitate. "I wanted to be out on the field," Krenzel said to The Dispatch's Aaron Portzline. "I wanted to help my team win."

But the happy ending proved totally elusive. And Tressel was left to wrestle with his decision with the media. "I didn't pretend to know who would be more effective," he told Portzline. "This guy has been a warrior for us and our doctors said he could go."

But the Bucks were out of ammo now and Michigan -- again -- had derailed another O.S.U. shot at a national title, the fifth time the Wolverines had done that.

So O.S.U., which fell to No. 7 from its previous fourth spot, will be left to watch the B.C.S. post-season picture settle in the next week. Most likely guess? Orlando. YOU name the bowl. The corporate names come and go.