Big isn't the word.
Crucial doesn't do it either.
It takes some major superlatives to describe just how important Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan game in Columbus is, not only to those two schools, but to all of Div. I-A college football.
The Wolverines and Buckeyes and their fans don't need the game to mean anything to the rest of the country for it to mean something to them. The rivalry is considered by many to be the best in college football, and in 2000, ESPN.com rated it the No. 1 rivalry in all of sports.
"You cannot help but get excited for this game when you are at Ohio State and when you are at Michigan," Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel said. "It is the rivalry game of the year and the last game of the year. You would like to think that you are going to play your best football in that game."
But when the game does matter, it takes on a whole new meaning. Ohio State comes into this game 12-0 and No. 2 in the BCS standings. If the Buckeyes win, they'll win a share of the Big Ten conference title and play in the Fiesta Bowl Jan. 3 for their first national championship since 1968.
The Wolverines, who have a 56-36-6 lead in the series, are renowned for rising to occasions such as these against the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes came into the Michigan game unbeaten and ranked No. 2 in both 1995 and 1996 under former coach John Cooper and lost both times. They were also unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in 1969 before losing to the Wolverines
Should the Wolverines pull the upset again, they would shake up the entire college football nation. For starters, another team, likely Washington State or Oklahoma, would play for the national championship. Iowa would win the Big Ten title outright and end up in the Rose Bowl. The BCS would likely have a choice between the Buckeyes and Wolverines, ranked No. 9 in the BCS, for an at-large bid with the winner of the Notre Dame-USC game on Nov. 30 likely getting the other. If neither are chosen, every team in the conference will be pushed back a spot from where they are expected to be, which might force Penn State to play on Dec. 28 in Texas instead of Jan. 1 in Florida.
Clarett's status questionable
The Buckeyes may have to win their biggest game of the season without their best offensive player. Freshman tailback Maurice Clarett sat out the Buckeyes' game against Illinois last Saturday with a shoulder stinger.
"We feel he's got pretty good strength, but that's what we've felt the last three weeks, so I really don't know," Tressel said. "We haven't been putting him in situations with a lot of heavy contact or tackling in practice."
Axes and buckets
For all its history and tradition of big games, the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is missing something that the rest of the Big Ten's rivalry week games have -- a trophy.
Four of the Big Ten's 15 series trophies will be up for grabs Saturday. Purdue and Indiana will be playing for the 77-year old Old Oaken Bucket. Wisconsin and Minnesota will be playing for Paul Bunyan's Axe in a tradition dating back to 1948, and Illinois and Northwetern will be playing for the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk, which was instituted in 1945. Penn State and Michigan State will also be playing for the Land Grant Trophy, created in 1993 when the Nittany Lions joined the conference.
As hokey and outdated as the trophies might seem, several Big Ten coaches agreed that they still matter.
"I think they mean a lot, I know what [the tomahawk] does to our guys," Illinois football coach Ron Turner said. "In our trophy case, we have three shelves for the games we play in, and they like to see that full. It gives them something tangible to play for."
You always have intangibles such as pride and respect from your opponent, but it gives them something to hold on to."
