Slang term for the Michigan Wolverines college football team used by fans and members of the Ohio State Buckeyes college football team.

First encountered by informant while watching College Gameday for one of the yearly Ohio State-Michigan football games.

One of the many indicators of the sustained antipathy that exists between Michigan and Ohio State fans, the phrase “That Team Up North” was coined by Woody Hayes – Ohio State’s famed football coach from 1951 through 1978 – at an uncertain point in his tenure. Hayes coined it because he so detested Michigan that he refused to say their name. Nearly forty years after Hayes’s death, the Ohio State fanbase – one of college football’s largest – still uses “That Team Up North” in everyday parlance for the exact same reason.