The Game

Go, Buckeyes!

Beat Michigan!

Regular readers of this blog know that this Buckeye fan always regarded 2007 as a rebuilding season for the Ohio State football team.

I also pointed out a few weeks ago that the last four games of the regular season would be major tests for the Buckeyes.

Many focused on the team's away games against Penn State, held three weeks ago in Happy Valley, and tomorrow's game against Michigan, ignoring the "Oreo filling" of the four week stretch, Wisconsin and Illinois, both formidable teams.

Ron Zook's Illini played a masterful game last week, particularly as they gobbled up yardage and time in the fourth quarter, knocking Ohio State out of first place in the BCS standings with a 28 to 21 win.

A Buckeye victory over Michigan at the Big House tomorrow is far from a given as the Buckeyes and Wolverines enact the 2007 installment of what I regard as the greatest rivalry in sports. All three of Michigan's losses this year have been to very good teams: Appalachian State, a football power among smaller schools; Oregon; and Wisconsin. Michigan Stadium provides the second-best home team advantage in college football, after Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

The Buckeyes, who dropped to seventh place in the BCS standings after last Saturday's loss, still have a remote--extremely remote--chance of playing in the national championship game. But more immediately, they're playing for the Big Ten title and a little respect after Illinois seemed to vindicate the skeptics' assessments of Ohio State.

And, the unappreciated fact is that, in spite of what the naysayers will tell you, the Big Ten isn't down this year, it's stronger AND the troubles some of its better teams had with non-conference teams stem from the greater parity that exists in college football generally. The result is more exciting games and seeming "upsets."

But make no mistake about it, Ohio State, the 2007 season's great overachiever, and Michigan, the season's notorious underachiever, are both great teams, filled with nationally recruited players all hungry to prove themselves on the biggest stage in sports.

Once again, we can expect the OSU-Michigan game to be a war.

Check out:
How important is this game?
Everything's Coming Up Roses?
Will Lloyd Dot the I...in "win" or "Ohio'?
The always-interesting Tim May
Boeckman is focused