ANN ARBOR, Mich. — After what looked like an impressive start on the offensive side of the ball, Michigan’s defense was a sieve against Ohio State, allowing 313 yards passing and an astounding 264 yards rushing, en route to another Buckeyes blowout victory, 56-27.

Michigan quarterback Shea Patterson had his third-straight 300-yard game through the air, but with 250 of that in the first-half, it was a rough game in the second for the maize and blue.

Chalk a lot of it up to Ohio State being the superior team. But Michigan also had a lot of self-inflicted wounds, including a staggering amount of drops made by the wide receivers before the game got out of hand.

So why do the Buckeyes continue to dominate the Wolverines like this? Is it a talent gap that’s making the difference?

Perhaps, but that’s not how OSU quarterback Justin Fields sees it.

After the game, he feels like Ohio State flat out just cares more than Michigan does, thus, it perpetually rolls in The Game, each one getting seemingly more lopsided than the last.

“I just think that we take it more seriously than they do, I think,” Fields said. “We prepare for it all year. Like (Director of Football Mickey Marotti) said, we’re preparing for them next year right now.

“I think it just means more at Ohio State. That’s pretty much the bigger reason we have more success than they do.”

That’s not necessarily how Jim Harbaugh sees it.

“I thought our team was well-prepared, I thought they were playing good football, I thought it was a football fight,” Harbaugh said. “It got away from us today. Give them credit for playing well.

“Yeah — we really want to win the game — yes.”

Now the maize and blue have to lick their wounds for another year, as The Game won’t repeat until 2020 in the regular season finale in Columbus.