This brutal INT was the exclamation point on Michigan’s latest gut-punch loss to Ohio State

Michigan lost to Ohio State on Saturday for the 13th time in 14 years and the sixth year in a row. The final score in Ann Arbor was 31-20.

The play that ended Michigan’s best hope was an egregious late interception from the right arm of quarterback John O’Korn.

It appeared that O’Korn misread a receiver’s route when he airmailed a pass that was easily picked by the Buckeyes’ Jordan Fuller. Joel Klatt explained it well on Fox’s game broadcast: The receiver stopped short on an option route, while O’Korn expected him to run a post pattern to the deep part of the field. Well, he didn’t.

The Buckeyes led by four at that point and added a touchdown to formally end it.

The teams played a classic game in 2016, when Ohio State won in overtime after the most controversial fourth-down spot in recent memory. Michigan came out on the short end of another critical spot this year, when O’Korn was ruled down shy of the first-down marker on a third-quarter run.

This game one was really good, too. Michigan had a 14-0 lead three seconds into the second quarter, which nobody would’ve mistaken for insurmountable but still looked pretty good for the home team. The Buckeyes battled back after that, and then again after Michigan pulled back ahead with a Karan Higdon touchdown in the third.

Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett left with an apparent right knee injury, also in the third. Redshirt freshman Dwayne Haskins Jr. replaced him and looked poised in doing it. Haskins made a few key throws and rode OSU’s running game to victory.

Jim Harbaugh moved to 0-3 against Ohio State. The Buckeyes remain in the Playoff race ahead of next weekend’s Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin.