Here we go with the Nov. 20 edition of the Daily Battle Cry:

Setting The Scene

On Saturday, Ohio State and Michigan will meet in the 106^th edition of The Game – the greatest rivalry in all of college sports.

OK, there has been lots of talk this week that a rivalry really isn’t a rivalry when one side dominates it. Don’t buy into that talk.

There were some compelling arguments. Our friend Bruce Hooley from 97.1 The Fan shared his view in a column from FoxSports.com, linked here. He noted how Ohio State has feasted on a bad Big Ten for most of this decade. That could be.

Hooley notes how the much-maligned John Cooper worked in a much different environment. In that column, he talks about how since Jim Tressel took over as the OSU coach in 2001 that the Big Ten other than Ohio State is 1-7 in BCS bowl games. (That lone win was by Penn State over Florida State – in overtime, no less – in the 2006 Orange Bowl.)

Meanwhile, Big Ten teams other than OSU were a combined 9-5 in BCS-caliber bowls during the Cooper regime (1988-2000). That is kind of an eye opening stat.

USA Today’s Christine Brennan, a proud alum of the University of Michigan, wrote a column this week talking about how the rivalry has lost some of its luster. That column, linked here, exhorts her alma mater to get off the mat and make it a little more interesting.

I have to admit this really did not have the look and feel of a “normal” Michigan week. It was extremely low key. (I know, I think Tressel really likes it better that way.)

Plus, Ohio State has just come off two had-to-have games in a row with the wins at Penn State and the emotional home finale against Rose Bowl. That game had the Rose Bowl berth on the line. The Buckeyes will go into Michigan Stadium tomorrow morning with that already in their hip pocket. The Wolverines, struggling at 5-6, need a win to become bowl-eligible.

Yes, these two teams have met so many times down through the years with the Big Ten championship on the line. In many of the recent battles, the winner would be the conference champion. On several instances, either a Rose Bowl berth or, more recently, a spot in the national championship game was also at stake. That isn’t the case this year, however .

Michigan’s record does not matter, and that’s beyond the annual idea that you can “Throw out the records.” (By the way, since The Game was moved to the end of the regular season in 1935, Michigan’s 1951 team was the only one to come into this match-up with a losing record only to defeat a team with a winning mark.)

This is still – and will be for the foreseeable future -- the biggest rivalry in the Big Ten, all of college football and all of college athletics. We always cite the 1999 poll by ESPN.com that called Ohio State-Michigan as the greatest rivalry in all of sportsfor the 20th century.

It was just three years ago when we saw one of the greatest chapters in this rivalry written before our very eyes as No. 1 Ohio State outlasted No. 2 Michigan 42-39 to win the Big Ten and advance to the national title game. That edition of The Game drew a television audience estimated at nearly 22 million people – the largest regular season college football broadcast in 13 years.

No, this game does not carry that same cache. But, as I have said, Michigan’s record does not matter.

Regardless of the records, you can rest assured that you will be witnessing history just past noon Saturday when this game kicks off. Let me share some of the same sentiments I always share when these two tradition-laden powers square off.

There is something about the late fall that is just kind of special, I guess. These teams on all levels of football work so hard all year long to get to this point, where they are playing for conference titles and the ultimate prize – be it a state championship for high school teams, the national title at the college level or the Super Bowl for those in the NFL.

This game is about two states that come to a standstill for four hours on a chilly, gray Saturday. It’s about families coming together – sometimes from thousands of miles apart – to enjoy a tradition they have shared for generation after generation.

That’s what it’s all about. Family and tradition. Next week or next year, two other teams will play some end-of-the-world game for all of the hoohah and a spot in the BCS title game. That’s fine and good for them. We will still have the greatest spectacle in all of college athletics, the Ohio State-Michigan game.

Of course, this series is also about heartbreak. It’s about highly ranked teams that saw their Rose Bowl or Big Ten title (or even national title) dreams die after a poor afternoon on the gridiron.

You can always draw parallels to all of the times in recent years that Michigan denied OSU something tangible. In 1990, it was aBig Ten title and the Rose Bowl. In 1993, it was the Rose Bowl and a possible national title. In 1995, it was the Big Ten title, the Rose Bowl and a possible national title. In 1996, it was a possible national title. In 1997, it was the Big Ten title and the Rose Bowl. In 2000, it was the Big Ten title. And in 2003, it was an outright Big Ten title and a shot at the national championship at the Sugar Bowl.

Let’s tally it up: Since 1990, UM has denied Ohio State five Big Ten titles, four Rose Bowls and a Sugar Bowl and four legitimate chances at a national championship. That’s a lot of heartbreak.

But in recent years, Ohio State has turned the tide in this rivalry. The Buckeyes have won seven of the last eight games in the series. They denied UM a Big Ten title in 2001 and did likewise in 2005 and 2006. On Saturday, they can do their part to keep Michigan home for the holidays.

When we talked to the players earlier this week, you could sense they were not complacent. Rather, they were bracing for what they know will be another tough challenge.

“It’s going to be one of the hardest hitting games you will be a part of,” said tight end Jake Ballard. “We dislike each other, but also at the same time you have the utmost respect for the guy across from you.”

The Buckeyes can wrap up an outright Big Ten championship with a win. That is one of Tressel’s enduring goals every year. Ballard was asked the difference between a shared title and an outright crown.

“Obviously, partial means you’re sharing it with somebody,” Ballard said. “Outright means it’s yours and doesn’t belong to anybody else. That’s a huge deal around here.”

Team photos of OSU’s outright conference championship teams adorn a hallway in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center.

“In the main hallway, we have pictures on the left of the national championship teams and pictures on the right of the outright Big Ten champions,” Ballard said. “The last time we’ve won it was in 2007.”

Safety Anderson Russell said the Buckeyes aren’t taking anything for granted. He was asked if there would be more buzz if, say, Michigan was 8-3 instead of 5-6.

“I’m sure the media would be more all-over the game, but at the end of the day it’s still a football game and we’ve got the outright Big Ten championship riding on it, and that’s something that’s always been a goal for us at Ohio State and we want to accomplish that goal,” he said.

“I definitely look at the outright rings as being on a higher pedestal because you went through the conference and dominated the whole year and left no doubt about who the best team in the conference was that year, so that’s something you want to do too.”

Safety Kurt Coleman added, “Going into the season you want to win it outright and after the loss to Purdue it was kind of like, ‘We have to win out to maybe get a share.’ Now what we’ve done is put ourselves in a position to win it outright and I think it would be a loss for us if we did not come through with this last victory – especially against Michigan. For all the things that is has, this game embodies a lot of things that we want do. We want to win. We want to beat Michigan. And we want to be outright Big Ten champs.”

Ohio State has been through two tough games already this month. But defensive tackle Doug Worthington said the Buckeyes will be ready on Saturday.

“That shows the character of our team,” he said. “You guys will see on Saturday that there will be no let up. If anything, it’ll be a more intense opening drive because we know how important this game is.

“It’s something we want very bad, and it’s been in the back of minds the whole year, being able to beat them six tiems in a row. Being able to give our family another pair of Gold Pants is huge and being able to go out this year the right way.

“I dont think I can have a good Thanksgiving without winning this game.”

Want any more proof? Listen to Ballard talk about how he has waited for a moment like this his whole life.

“It’s like a fantasy,” Ballard said. “It’s like a dream come true. I remember growing up and watching those games from the time I was in the second or third grade and just wishing I could get a chance to play against Michigan or play in that game. I watched Andy Katzenmoyer and all of the other Buckeye greats. It’s like a dream come true.

“If I wasn’t going to go to Ohio State, I was going to go to Michigan. I was going to be a part of anyway. I made the right choice in coming here. Just being a part of the greatest rivalry in college sports, it’s not something that very many people get to be a part of and it’s something I will always remember.”

Scouting Michigan

As always with the big games, we take a look at the opponent. We have a player-by-player look at Michigan as well as some overall thoughts on each side of the ball. Here goes:

Michigan Offense

71 Mark Ortmann, LT – Senior (6-7, 284) is a second-year starter. He is pretty good at sustaining blocks.

52 Stephen Schilling, LG – Junior (6-5, 304) has made more starts (35) than any other UM player.

60 David Moosman, C – Senior (6-5, 293) has been a starter at guard, but he moved to center after a season-ending knee injury to David Molk. He has made 22 career starts.

65 Patrick Omameh, RG – Redshirt freshman (6-4, 276) has replaced Moosman at guard and is in his first year as a starter.

79 Perry Dorrestein, RT – Junior (6-7, 306) is a first-year starter.

86 Kevin Koger, TE – Soph (6-4, 249) is a good pass catching tight end (16 catches, two TDs), has made 12 career starts.

9 Martavious Odoms, WR – Soph (5-9, 172) is explosive and deadly on screens and swing passes. Good in the open field. Has been hobbled by injuries. Has 22 catches this year.

23 Carlos Brown and 2 Vincent Smith, TB – Brown (6-0, 210) figures to start in place of the injured Brandon Minor. He has good patience and runs hard. He does a good job picking holes. Smith (5-6, 168) is a scat back who is effective on swing passes and as the change-up back.

13 Greg Mathews, WR – Senior (6-3, 206) is a nice intermediate threat. He is their go-to guy when the chips are down. He has 23 catches.

12 Roy Roundtree, WR – Redshirt freshman (6-0, 170) is a good target. He has emerged nicely this year with a team-high 23 catches.

21 Junior Hemmingway, WR – Soph (6-1, 220) is a nice possession receiver.

5 Tate Forcier and 16 Denard Robinson, QB – Forcier (6-1, 188) and Robinson (6-0, 185) have stepped in and had some success as true freshmen. Forcier is very slippery. He can break contain and excels in the spread option offense. He has a quick delivery and has put some juice into the attack. He has thrown for 12 TDs against just six interceptions. Robinson basically operates as the Wildcat quarterback. He has run the ball 90 percent of the time he’s in the game.

Offensive Tendencies – Remember how bad Michigan was offensively last year? Well, those memories – as pleasant as they were – are in the past.

Michigan has had a decent year offensively, leading the Big Ten at over 31 points per game. It is an explosive offense, although with the youth at quarterback consistency has been an issue. Michigan has run the ball effectively out of the spread as well, although not having Minor (shoulder) is a crushing blow.

OSU must get pressure on Forcier and make him make mistakes. My guess is that the UM staff saw the Purdue film. They have an athlete at QB who is capable of getting outside and making plays. They also have a nice collection of receivers as well.

Michigan Defense

55 Brandon Graham, DE – Senior (6-2, 263) is a third-year starter (27 starts). Team-high 8-1/2 sacks and 21 TFLs. He gets off blocks and makes plays. He is far and away Michigan’s best player. He must be blocked. He forced a fumble for a touchdown last week against Wisconsin.

53 Ryan Van Bergen, DT – Soph (6-6, 271) is undersized but effective as a DT.

68 Mike Martin, DT – Soph (6-2, 292) has a high motor. He splits time with freshman William Campbell (6-5, 318), a prized recruit who is clearly going to be a mainstay.

88 Craig Roh, OLB – Freshman (6-4, 238) has worked in as a starter and has shown some ability.

45 Obi Ezeh, MLB – Junior (6-2, 243) plays hard and is in on a lot of plays (69 tackles). He runs well and with 31 career starts is coming into his own.

8 Jonas Mouton, WLB – Junior (6-2, 228) is a second-year starter (21 starts). He stirs things up and gets upfield quickly. He shows nice range and could be a star in another year or so.

3 Stevie Brown, SLB – Senior (6-0, 211) is a former cornerback. Leads the team with 73 tackles.

9 Donovan Warren, CB – Junior (6-0, 185) has tremendous upside and has been a godsend (59 tackles, 4 INTs). This lanky corner covers a lot of ground. He is a star and was a prep All-American coming out of Long Beach (Calif.) Poly.

32 Jordan Kovacs, SS – Redshirt freshman (5-10, 194) is a good hitter. Has been a fill-in after injuries hit the secondary.

40 Mike Williams, FS – Soph (5-11, 188) has 56 tackles.

29 Troy Woolfolk, CB – Junior (6-0, 193) moved from safety to corner after Boubcar Cissoko was dismissed from the team.

41 Zoltan Mesko, P – Ohio native averages nearly 45 yards per punt.

Defensive Tendencies – Michigan is at or near the bottom of the Big Ten rankings in most major categories. Other than Graham and Warren, I just don’t see many difference makers on this side of the ball. UM has its fourth defensive coordinator in five years with the arrival this year of former Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson.

Their tackling is not what it should be. Rollout passes have been effective. UM plays a soft zone. A heady quarterback can pick it apart (Purdue’s Joey Elliott went for 387 yards two weeks ago). They just give up a lot of 20- and 30-yard plays.

If OSU is on point, the Buckeyes could go for 200 rushing and 200 passing.

Final Thoughts – This is about Ohio State. Michigan has lost six straight Big Ten games – including to the likes of Illinois and Purdue – for the first time since 1958-59. It’s there for the taking.

We wondered if last week’s game was a set-up or a Midnight Run. It ended up as a set-up. We’ll see how this one turns out tomorrow. I am sticking with my pick of Ohio State 31, Michigan 13.

Wilson Ready This Time

One OSU senior who will relish the chance to play in this game is defensive end Lawrence Wilson. He has missed the last two Michigan games after suffering season-ending injuries at midseason.

“Oh, it’s great,” Wilson said. “This is the best I’ve felt the last three years – I’ve been hurt the past two seasons. So, it’s great and I’m just excited to go up to the Big House to play.

“It’s Ohio State-Michigan. As soon as you walk on the field, it’s the biggest game of the year. It’s the biggest rivalry in sports. So, we’re going to be ready because of the magnitude of the game. This is a huge game. We want to win so bad and they want to win so bad and it’s a big game.

“I’ve been hurt the past two seasons for the Michigan game and it’s been killing me to get a chance to play the Wolverines and I’m just so excited to play in the game.”

Wilson wants to do whatever he can to help his team lock down a sixth straight win over Michigan and an outright Big Ten title.

“This is a huge game,” Wilson said. “The magnitude of this game is unbelievable and we have to be prepared for them. Michigan is a really good team and we have to be prepared and we have to know what we’re going against. It’s a big stage playing at the Big House in front of 110,000 fans and everything. So, we definitely have to be ready for the game.

“I think winning it outright is big because you’re by yourself. You’re the undisputed champions.”

Here is a video interview with Wilson from earlier this week:

Gold Pants Tradition

One tradition that has endured is the awarding of a Gold Pants pendant to OSU players and coaches that are on teams that defeat Michigan. The tradition dates to coach Francis Schmidt, who said in 1935 how the Buckeyes had to “beat the gold pants off” of Michigan.

Last year’s fifth-year seniors became the first group of players to win five sets of Gold Pants. Coleman is going for his fourth set.

“Ever since I’ve been here I’ve always won one,” Coleman said. “Every senior class that’s been here has won one that I’ve been here for. I don’t want to be the class to let us down, let the streak down. In the back of our minds, that’s the way we kind of want to play. We don’t want to lose going into the bowl game.”

Junior wide receiver Dane Sanzenbacher has two pairs and wants two more.

“When you’re at a university like this that takes the Michigan game so seriously, a lot of past players come back and that’s’ all they’ll talk about so obviously they’re very important to everybody around here,” he said.

During interview sessions, players remarked the “unwritten rule” of not giving the Gold Pants to a girlfriend. After all, you never know when relationships could come and go.

That’s why most players agree the only safe place for their Gold Pants is with their mother. And they also seem to be territorial about it.

“I tried to give one to my dad, but my mom grabbed it away from him,” one senior said.

Stefanie Spielman, RIP

It was with much sadness Thursday night that we learned of the passing of Stefanie Spielman, the wife of former OSU star and ESPN color commentator Chris Spielman.

For 11 long years, Stefanie battled cancer. She and Chris worked tirelessly that entire time to raise money for cancer research. The efforts netted nearly $6.5 million worth of donations for OSU’s Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and the Solove Research Institute.

When things like this happen, I often wonder why the worst things seem to happen to the best of people. She most certainly did not deserve this fate.

Stefanie Spielman fought this disease with every fiber of her being. She turned the ultimate negative into a positive, serving as a role model for any and all who will ever face such an adversity.

The Spielmans have raised money to fight cancer through the annual Cruise For Cancer, the Spielman Scramble golf outing and other fundraising events. Even in the worst of times, they always put a positive face on Stefanie’s troubles.

I’m not sure I could have handled such adversity with so much grace and intestinal fortitude. My condolences and prayers go out to Chris and their four children. Stefanie was an amazing woman, a dedicated mother and a wonderful wife.

I have gotten to know Chris a little bit the last few years through our partnership with 97.1 The Fan. I can’t tell you how impressed I have been with the way he has dealt with this hardship.

I would invite you to click here to read an amazing obit/story fashioned by the family. It includes details on how you can best honor the memory of Stefanie Spielman.

Publication Updates, Chats, Media Appearances

* The December edition of Bucknuts The Magazine has been released online for our magazine subscribers. Click here for a look at it.

This edition is our Basketball Preview issue. We have features on DeVier Posey/Dane Sanzenbacher, Bryant Browning and Doug Worthington for football; Tyrone Williams and Roderick Smith for football recruiting; and Evan Turner, David Lighty and P.J. and Tayler Hill for basketball.

Our next Bucknuts The Magazine online edition will be our Rose Bowl preview released in mid-December. Click here for subscription information and, remember, it is only $29.95 for six issues annually. Bucknuts.com premium subscribers can have it for just $19.95 a year – and that includes the Football Preview we mail each June.

* If you missed it, here is our exhaustive look at the history of this great rivalry. Here is our Game Data page for this game. Click here for Jeff Rapp’s defensive notebook and here for Dave Biddle’s offensive notebook.

* I invite you to check out this week’s Michigan preview edition of the Bucknuts Radio Hour. This show has our weekly update on recruiting with Bill Kurelic. Plus, we have audio sessions with Terrelle Pryor, Jim Heacock and Kurt Coleman. Good stuff indeed. Click here for that special show.

Dave Biddle and I hosted a special live edition of the Bucknuts Radio Hour Friday as we will previewed the Ohio State-Michigan game. We were joined by Bruce Hooley from 97.1 The Fan, Adam Rittenberg from ESPN.com, Jerod Smalley from NBC 4 Columbus and Sam Webb from GoBlueWolverine.com as guests. Click here to listen to the show.

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