Ohio State plans to inflict Penn State with scarlet fever Saturday night. The Buckeyes (7-1, 4-0) and Nittany Lions (8-0, 4-0) will enter the national spotlight in front of more than 100,000 clad in OSU's core color.
The No. 9 Buckeyes will look to taint No. 3 Penn State's unblemished record and take sole control of first place in the Big Ten. Fans have been encouraged to wear scarlet to enhance a sense of Buckeye pride on homecoming night. The team looks forward to seeing a sea of red, senior linebacker Marcus Freeman said.
"The crowd is going to be great," he said. "We're going to have scarlet fever going on and it's going to be great to see all that red. It's going to be a live crowd and a live atmosphere, and we're excited to play."
The game represents the biggest conference challenge thus far for OSU, head coach Jim Tressel said.
"We understand the difficulty of the challenge," he said. "Penn State's an excellent football team. Anyone that's watched them play knows that. If you look at the Big Ten statistics or the national statistics, you see Penn State at or near the top in many of the categories. We have to raise it up a notch as we get to this point in the season and get to this type of ball game."
ABC will broadcast the game nationally at 8 p.m. In addition, ESPN's College GameDay crew will air their live, weekly program outside of St. John's Arena at 10 a.m.
The national attention has certainly raised the excitement level on campus in preparation for the game, Tressel said.
"It's exciting to have attention," he said. "It's exciting to be recognized. It will be neat for our students that they'll go to the GameDay thing all day long and get to scream and yell and have fun. The environment, the energy, it's a neat thing to have that on your campus and I'm proud of our guys for earning that situation."
The anticipation leading up to the night game will add to the excitement, Tressel said.
"The fact that the world is at the end of their football-watching day and they all get to sit back and watch us play is exciting," he said. "There will be great energy."
Penn State is the toughest challenger to travel to The 'Shoe this season, and the more energy provided by Ohio State fans, the better, Tressel said.
"It's an outstanding football team," he said. "It will be great for our fans to have an opportunity to be a big part of this and to be there and to be having fun and be loud and create that energy that the Buckeyes can use as we get ready for a big challenge."
The Nittany Lions' offense has torched opponents for an average of 45 points per game, the highest in the conference. Therefore, maximum noise levels will be preferred to induce difficulty in hearing and timing, Tressel said.
"I expect it to be loud and fun and energetic and I hope it's very difficult for the away team to hear," he said. "That would be one of my goals."
Having played in loud venues around the Big Ten and in bowl games, the team expects a lively crowd to add support, senior tight end Rory Nicol said.
"I hope our fans just go crazy," he said. "Being in some hostile environments on the road, and seeing how some of those fans act, I hope our fans come unglued and become like our 12th man."
The winning team will move one step closer both in the Big Ten standings and the BCS rankings. However, Tressel said the Buckeyes have focused on Penn State this week, not the uncertain future.
"Whatever it is we earn is what we'll get, and so far we've earned seven wins and a chance to play in a big game on Saturday night and see what we can do there," he said.
The nationwide hype has finally started to settle in, senior defensive lineman Nader Abdallah said.
"If you're not ready to play in this game, you're not ever going to be able to play."
Zack Meisel can be reached at meisel.14@osu.edu.
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