Kurt Coleman

A crowd in excess of 111,000 is expected on Saturday at Michigan Stadium. The veteran OSU players were asked what they would tell their younger teammates to expect at The Big House.

“It’s going to be a hostile environment,” Ballard said. “It’s a great place to play and they have a lot of tradition. To go up there and play a good team in Michigan is something very special.

“There are 110,000 people and it’s definitely not a quiet place to play. The fact that Michigan hasn’t beaten us there the last couple of times will heighten the tension in the game.”

The last few years, the two teams have jostled and exchanged pleasantries prior to the game during warm-ups.

“We came pretty close,” Ballard said. “It’s tradition more than anything. It’s just friendly talk and we’re just messing around. We have the utmost respect for Michigan. I would never see us get into a fight.

“It’s just built up rage and built up emotions at that point. We’re getting to that point where we’re ready to kick off, but we’re not there yet. It’s just jabbering. It’s all in good fun.”

Russell said it is natural for there to be some yapping between the teams before The Game.

“That’s just something that comes with the territory,” he said. “It’s something all the players like to do to get your team fired up before the game. All the talk is going to be settled once the ball is kicked off and the pads start smacking.

“Last year they came out and they were running through our drills during warm-ups. If that happens this year we’ll be even more fired up like we were last year. I don’t expect that to happen this year because they’ll probably already be on the field it being a home game for them. But the stuff that happens at midfield, there’s no telling if that might happen again this year.”

Linebacker Austin Spitler added, "It gets you fired up. It's two teams that really don't like each other. It comes down to that. We really despise Michigan here at Ohio State, as all Ohioans do. Emotions are running high running out there. I don't know if this year we'll get all the way out to the 50 because we've been warned a couple of times already. We're only allowed to go to the 40 yard line. I don't know if it'll be as heated as it has been in the past.”

Coleman said young players don’t have much time to be in awe of their surroundings.

“They better come prepared,” Coleman said. “This game is going to be a fight. Just listening to some of the comments the Michigan guys have made, I know they’re preparing hard for this. We are too. I think there’s going to be a lot of punches thrown between each other.

Cordle recalled his first trip to The Big House for that 2007 game.

“Back in ’07 when we were running out on the field coming out of the tunnel, you could see all the Maize and Blue and I thought to myself, ‘This is what I imagined watching it on TV back when I was a little kid,’ “ he said. “Just the Big House and the atmosphere and being able to run out there and get another chance to do it this year, it’ll be very special. I won’t take it for granted.”