The Ohio State-Michigan Preview

This is the last time I am imploring you the readers of this blog to watch Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan game on Saturday. For some reason though, I don't think I have to.

This Saturday will be one of those rare instances in sports when a sports best rivalry takes its greatest stage. You would have to go back the Red Sox-Yankees ALCS of 2003 and 2004 to find stakes so perfect for two rivals to be playing for.

I fully expect about five minutes after kickoff for me to think "wow, they're actually playing the game now" a true sign of a big game to me. Once the ball is kicked off and the blogs are done being written here's a look at what could happen.

I don't expect either team to run the football well, although Michigan could have an easier time than Ohio State so much so it might be part of their game plan in an attempt to keep Troy Smith off the field. If they can run at Laurinaitis (whose an overrated tackler) and the linebackers they could keep the score in the teens or twenties and have a very good chance in the end.

The Buckeyes may have trouble protecting Troy Smith as Lamar Woodley is a monster and will be lined up against a LT coming back from an ankle injury. I expect Tressel to gameplan some bootlegs for Smith and Troy was a scrambling passer when he entered Ohio State. I'm sure he can channel some creativity and make plays.

While I give Michigan more of a chance than the rest of the country and this game WILL be close. You have to go with the undefeated Quarterback and 4-1 Head Coach until they prove you wrong.

Ohio State 27, Michigan 21

Go Bucks!

O-H!

I-O!

Is This Ohio State-Michigan I???

While it hasn’t taken away from the hype surrounding this Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game in Columbus. Many college football pundits and prognosticators are speculating that the two teams may meet again in the BCS National Championship Game on January 8 in Glendale, Arizona. While this does go against everything the bowls are supposed to be and would present a real moral dilemma if each team won one of the games, here is the scenario that would have to play out.

1) The game would have to fall under the 6 ½ point spread. If Ohio State wins, the winning score would have to come in the last two minutes of the game or in overtime. If Michigan wins, it would have to be as a result of a bad official call or replay review similar to this September’s Oklahoma-Oregon game. The argument would have to be made that the January 8 game would be an “extension” of the November 18 game and the losing team would have to prove to be the second best team in the country in defeat. (possibility 8 out of 10)

2) Later that night, Cal would have to upset Southern Cal in Los Angeles. Entirely possible as the best athletes on the field will be playing for Cal in that game. Although USC is almost unbeatable at home. (possibility 5 out of 10)

3) The following week LSU must beat Arkansas in Little Rock. While Arkansas has that “Team of Destiny” feel to them, LSU’s defense should have what it takes to contain Darren McFadden and force Casey Dick to make plays. This is a “leap game” for Arkansas. (possibility 6 out of 10)

4) Only imperative if Michigan wins and Ohio State is the one-loss team, USC would have to, coming off a loss to Cal, beat Notre Dame at home. No one has any idea how good Notre Dame really is as they have played almost as weak of a schedule as Boise State and lost handily to Michigan at home. We know there are good players on offense but can their defense beat USC in Los Angeles? (possibility 7 out of 10)

5) Rutgers must lose to West Virginia in Morgantown. If Pat White and Steve Slaton get the Mountaineers up early, I have a hard time seeing Rutgers able to come back with no passing offense. Winning this game might be a little much to ask for from the “woodchoppers” (possibility 8 out of 10)

6) Florida would have to lose the SEC Championship Game to Arkansas. For the Razorbacks to be anything but “Gator Bait” they would have to pull off the only true upset out of the six scenarios (possibility 3 out of 10).

These six events would lead to every team but the Ohio State/Michigan loser in a top four conference having at least two losses. Boise State being the nation’s only other undefeated team and each of the Rutgers/Louisville/West Virginia triumvirate along with possibly Wake Forest having one loss. It would be hard to keep the loser of Saturday’s game out of the BCS National Championship under this scenario. I think even the Broncos would be content with a Fiesta Bowl berth and the three Big East teams can’t say they didn’t have their chance.

I see Florida and possibly USC winning out however leading to Florida getting to Glendale to play Saturday’s winner and being a ten point underdog but a very interesting matchup nonetheless.

Where are Their Priorities???

A Canton, OH couple is auctioning off their Ohio State-Michigan Tickets on eBay to help defray the costs of an adoption they've been planning.

I'm sure someone in Columbus, would just give them their kid for tickets.

Ohio State-Michigan Coverage

I can tell you most of what you need to know about the Ohio State-Michigan Rivalry but Wikipedia, as always can do it better.

Get your O-H, I-O from the Columbus' Dispatch's Buckeyes Extra section to find out why Michigan's Central Ohio players are traitors and why it's not a good idea to street park anywhere near Ohio Stadium.

The Ann Arbor News' UM Live admits Jim Tressel owns Lloyd Carr and looks as to why.

The Second Annual The Ohio State Weekend Blog

note: When Blogger lets me upload pictures, the illustrated version of this blog will be up for all to see

It’s hard to be a reader of this blog and not know about my affection for college football. However, you may be surprised to find out this was not always the case. If anything, I regret how I failed to appreciate the “Donovan McNabb era" at Syracuse when it was happening before my eyes as a student season ticket holder. Watch 100 yard touchdown passes from McNabb to Marvin Harrison or Kevin Johnson like I’d see it every year. I along with every Syracuse fan appreciates those days more than ever.

My obsession with college football has escalated since my brother enrolled at The Ohio State University. While my college experience was joined by maybe 50,000 (nowadays less than 40,000) people in an uninspired warehouse with a bubble roof stretching our creative rooting minds by chanting "Let's Go Orange!" fifty times, my brother went to school and today lives in one of the best college football towns in the country.

It's not really fair to compare Syracuse and Ohio State as far as football fandom. One is a private school filled with students mostly not from the local area and in fact, can't wait to leave whenever they get a chance. The other is a state university made of predominantly in-state students who have been raised to go to their state university their entire lives. Almost every one of the 100,000+ Season Ticket Holders (there is never a public sale of one-game tickets at Ohio State) has been a Buckeye fan since birth.

Fair or not, I always appreciate Columbus and The Ohio State University whenever I go, make the trip plans as soon as possible (even if missing out on JetBlue's new rates in the process) and am downright giddy the days before I leave. I also get to see my younger brother, who I love and am very proud of and is a gracious enabler of my college football addiction.

Get into Columbus safely around 10:30am, my brother has to work and his girlfriend AnnMarie is away for the weekend, meaning that the majority of day will be spent with her dog Bentley. I've never had a dog or non swimming pet of any kind, thanks to my family's allergies to pet hair and apartment lease restrictions, so Bentley is the next best thing. Friendly and well-trained, and willing to do whatever to entertain you as long as you have something to feed him with and of course I spoiled him rotten.

We watch a few episodes of "The Office" on my DVR and apparently Bentley and I agree on the substandard episodes this season as he runs back to his cage at the first sight of Phyllis. Afterwards I find myself watching a White House Press Briefing led by Tony "F*** You Press Corps" Snow. One hilarious moment was when a female journalist for some web news service with short spikey hair asks Snow to define President Bush's position on Civil Unions. The look on Snow's face can be deciphered by nothing other than "of course YOU'RE asking this question". I cracked up, I want Tony Snow to be permanent White House Press Spokesman regardless of the next administration's party.

After a nap, Daren comes home and it was time for dinner. Another thing about Columbus I enjoy is that it is seemingly the mecca for every 12 unit or less restaurant chain in the country. Last year I got to make my own plate at Mongolian Barbeque and almost put enough cayenne pepper on my shrimp, crawfish and pasta to kill a man. This year we went to a place called Quaker Steak and Lube, a NASCAR themed bistro known for its 25+ flavors of wings. The geniuses in their marketing department list the SHU (Seville Heat Units) of every flavor of wing on their menu and rank them from highest to lowest to appeal to the self-challenging, such as myself. I originally go with an order of regular hot wings (30,000 SHU) thinking that must be pretty hot. Realizing I've had hotter wings at a Ruby Tuesday I kick things up a notch and try the "Buckeye BBQ" Wings (100,000 SHU, 3rd highest). While these made my eyes water and sweat a little, I am tempted to try the Atomic Wings (250,000 SHU) Quaker Steak's hottest wing, even though my brother says they taste like acid reflex and I would have to sign a waiver, relinquishing Quaker Steak of responsibility for what happens to me.

Get home and the St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series because the American League team's pitchers couldn't throw to First Base! Great, I can go to bed now.

Once again, I have arrived in time for my brother's friends Annual Chili Cookoff! Ten chilis are entered into this year's competition with the names "Better than Last Year", "K-Mac", "Chili Buck", "It's Swicy",. First place went to "It's Swicy" which used pulled pork as it's meat. I did not vote for this one as using pulled pork when other's used ground beef just isn't fair. Pulled Pork is like the HGH of chili recipes. The real winner of course is my stomach. The REAL loser...my ass!

Weather for Saturday's game...WINDY! Very Very WINDY!! So windy that when my brother and I found out we were in the very last row of the mid-deck we were happy because that meant we had a wall to protect us. However the wind has found the back of our necks reminding us that it is almost November and this is still the North half of the country.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are the week's doormat for the Buckeyes. The only issue even close to being in doubt is whether or not Troy Smith will have a good enough game to help his Heisman candidacy and have a play. In fact judging from my conversations with the Buckeye faithful they don't have much doubt about any games on their schedule...including this Saturday (MUCH more on this later).

One of the things I love about college football are the hokey traditions that come with every game no matter how big or small, or how good or bad the team is. Clemson could be 0-12 but they will still touch the same rock coming down the same aisleway through the crowd that every Clemson team has since Frank Howard. Fight songs and crowd chants are such fixtures to the college football commonplace that the differences between games ten years ago and games today are almost unrecognizable at first glance. At Ohio State, the Marching Band (appropriately named "The Best Damn Band In the Land") marches to formation of the word "Ohio" in cursive on the field in a ritual called "Script Ohio". It's one of those traditions that can't sound anything close to as cool as it is in a blog. This Saturday, Jack Nicklaus a former student (not graduate) of The Ohio State University was selected as only the fifth non-band member to end "Script Ohio" by dotting the i. At the time the word "Ohio" was done and The Golden Bear came out, I admit I got dust in my eyes. A tradition, so cool it moves you, Script Ohio.

44-0 Ohio State over lowly Minnesota. For Troy Smith pedestrian stats but a nice juke move rushing touchdown that could play on his highlight reel when he's in New York City being given the Heisman Trophy. Just another step on the road to November 18.

One note about the Ohio State Fan Experience that's been different than past years. At just about every television timeout, an announcement came on the big screen. Each time it was a different well known Buckeye (Jim Tressel, Archie Griffin, Women's Basketball star Sherri Hightower) urging fans to be the "Best Fans in the Land" to cheer on the Buckeyes but not AGAINST their opponents. If there was one of these Public Service Announcements, there were at least ten, to the point that when they were coming on a collective moan came over the crowd. I've never confused Ohio State Football with Iranian soccer. This seems like an overmade point about sportsmanship to a fanbase that is from what I can tell pretty well behaved.

Then after seeing a few t-shirts and hearing a really bad made up rap song called "Michigan Who", it hits me. While the football team and coaches can preach about the "one game at a time" approach, the entire city of Columbus and state of Ohio has looked past Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern. The Campus bookstores are ready for the marketing blitz and apparently the University is ready for the fan uprising and has taken steps to absolve itself from the responsibilty for it with it's "Best Fans in the Land" campaign. For Saturday, November 18 is Armageddon in Columbus. No day after it is even worth looking forward to. And I can tell you by my conversations with the people in Columbus. There is no thought of the Buckeyes losing this game worth thinking about. For the right to beat an undefeated Michigan team on route to a National Championship is the moment the people of Columbus and The Ohio State University have been waiting for for some time.

And that time will be Saturday at 3:30