WATCH: Michigan football players plant flag at Ohio State's midfield after beating Buckeyes

Michigan celebrated big-time after a statement win at Ohio State

Michigan has turned the tables on Ohio State in The Game the last two years, coming off a dominating 45-23 victory over the Buckeyes on Saturday.

After winning this game just four times in the last 21 attempts, Michigan now owns a two-game win streak, scoring over 40 points in each of those outings.

Sensing a seismic shift in one of college football's biggest rivalry games, players on the Michigan side aren't afraid to let their rivals know it.

After the win at Ohio Stadium, several Wolverine players went to midfield and planted their Michigan flag in the middle of the block O at the 50-yard line and posed for pictures, all while Ohio State fans looked on from the stands.

Michigan players planted their flag at midfield at the Shoe.

(🎥: @jordanstrack) pic.twitter.com/p01dl3S1Yx

— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) November 26, 2022

That wasn't the first time a visiting team made the gesture: back in 2017, Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield famously planted the Oklahoma flag at midfield in Columbus after OU knocked off the Buckeyes in a 31-16 victory.

But this one means more, both as an insult to Ohio State fans in what has already been a bitter, hard-fought rivalry, and to a Michigan program on the rebound.

Getting a win in this game has always been the major stumbling block for both Ohio State and Michigan historically to earn a berth in a quality bowl game and often get into the national championship picture.

And now for the second-straight year, it appears that Michigan will use this game to earn passage into the College Football Playoff.

With the win, Michigan clinched the East Division and will play in the Big Ten Championship Game, and is widely favored to claim the conference championship again and earn the likely No. 2 seed in the national semifinal.

Whereas for Ohio State, this marks the second-straight season that its playoff hopes have been wiped out by its biggest rival, and now with an increasingly large contingent of fans taking a more critical look at Ryan Day's tenure up to now.

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