It’s not quite as big a deal as it was last year when the Buckeyes and Wolverines were playing for a shot at the National Championship, but the countdown to The Big Game has begun:
In a season that began with the Big Ten’s preseason favorite losing to a Division I-AA team, and which at last look gave us the league’s lone remaining unbeaten losing at home to an unranked, 15-point underdog, there can be no more fitting finish than what will transpire Saturday (ABC, noon ET).
Listen closely and you can make out the distinct beeping of both the Buckeyes and Wolverines backing into their 104th installment of a series that 42 previous times has determined the conference championship.
Not since 1959 have OSU and Michigan met with each coming off a loss the preceding week, but Wisconsin’s 37-21 beating of the Wolverines and Illinois’ stunning 28-21 upset of the Buckeyes dimmed the spotlight on a matchup that could have been so much more.
If Michigan had won in Madison, it would have brought a nine-game winning streak into the Big House, continuing a remarkable turnaround from the devastation of consecutive losses to Division I-AA Appalachian State and Oregon in the season’s first two weeks.
If Ohio State had survived the Illini, it would have been playing to defend the nation’s No. 1 ranking and to advance to the BCS championship game for a second straight year.
Instead, OSU-Michigan has become “Rocky VI” — still with the original stars, but not with much compelling allure.
Oh I don’t think it’s quite that bad. Saturday will still be exciting, probably more so than when the Buckeyes play in the Rose Bowl in January.
