ANN ARBOR — If you’re Jim Tressel, the student manager writes the wrong play number on thedry-erase board, flashes it to the players on the field, and your team scores a touchdown.

If you’re Rich Rodriguez, the quarterback you brought in to run the spread option throws four interceptions and fumbles in his own end zone to hand the opponent a score. Meanwhile, the quarterback for the other side, who you tried like heck to recruit, runs the spread option to perfection, nets 74 yards on the ground, and guides his team to 251 rushing yards.

Woody Hayes supposedly said it first: Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad. Tressel repeats that in his sleep. Rodriguez may be getting the drift.

Tressel and his Ohio State Buckeyes beat Michigan yesterday for the sixth straight time and wrapped up an outright Big Ten title. The final score was 21-10, and here is how OSU scored those three touchdowns:

• On Michigan’s first possession, quarterback Tate Forcier was trying to escape from his own end zone and was handling the ball so haphazardly that it dropped from his hand and Buckeye defensive end Cameron Heyward fell on it for a touchdown.

• OSU was at the Michigan 29 midway through the second quarter when Tressel called for one play and the manager called for another. He realized his mistake and changed it pretty quickly, which led to some confusion on the field. Some blockers went one way for one play, while running back Brandon Saine went the other way for the other play. Saine, of course, scored untouched running the manager’s original counter play.

“I don’t remember the play we wanted, but it probably wouldn’t have worked,” Tressel said,smiling.

• Late in the third quarter, after Michigan had closed to 14-10, OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor drove his team close to 80 yards with one perfect zone read after another in the spread option. On third-and-goal from the UM 12, though, the coaches called for a little swing pass to Boom Herron. But Michigan’s defense showed blitz from the direction the pass was to travel, plus the play clock was getting tight.

So Tressel darted well onto the field trying to signal for a timeout. The sideline official didn’t see him, the referee didn’t see him, and OSU’s players didn’t see him. It turned into sort of a goofy screen pass, one with no blockers, but Herron still took it to the end zone.

“I saw the blitz coming, and I thought, ‘Man, this isn’t going to work.’ But I waited for the blitz and just lofted it way high over those guys, and Boom made a great catch,” Pryor said. “Well, I’m guessing he did. I mean, I didn’t see it.”

So, there are the three Buckeye touchdowns in a 21-10 win. Sometimes you’re good, sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re both.

“Some crazy stuff,” Pryor said. “The one where the [manager] wrote down the wrong play was all messed up. We were supposed to have somebody in motion and that never happened, and I’m thinking, ‘What the heck?’ But it ended up working. Maybe he’ll be the new offensive coordinator.”

The Buckeyes pretty much let Pryor be his own coordinator on the final scoring drive and the option game was truly impressive as Pryor, Saine, and Herron all chewed up big chunks of yardage.

Tressel said OSU was unable to run it so often — Pryor guessed as many as 25 plays yesterday — on other occasions this season because rarely was his quarterback, Herron, and much of the offensive line healthy.

“Turnovers and rushing yards are always going to be the story of this game,” Tressel said. “We just kept coming today in both regards. Now, we have to get better throwing the ball to have a chance on Jan. 1.

“Part of it is we have to throw more, I realize that. Conservative? Seldom have we been accused of being conservative.”

Everybody, Tressel included, had a good laugh at that line.

But conservatism ruled the day and Buckeye fans who sometimes rue Tressel’s tactics have no complaints with a win over the Wolverines.

“We made a lot of plays today that had Michigan beating Michigan,” Rodriguez said.

He was right.

So was Tressel.

You can’t hope to beat your rival, especially when there is such an abnormal disparity in talent, while giving the ball away five times. And you can’t hope to win in the Big Ten if you can’t stop the run.

It’s why OSU, once again, is at the top looking down at the rest. And it’s why the Wolverines, as hard as this may be for UM fans to swallow, find themselves at the bottom looking up.

Contact Blade sports columnistDave Hackenberg at:dhack@theblade.comor 419-724-6398.