All or Nothing

Kirk Barton, a fifth-year senior, made the journey back home to Massillon following OSU's last loss up north in 2003. He played no part in that game, yet the loss cast a bitter pall over the celebration.

"I don't know if I could make that trip again," he said this week.

Not with what's riding on the 104th playing of "The Game." The No. 7 Buckeyes' national title hopes now dashed, Barton said he knows the outcome of his final OSU-Michigan game will determine the legacy of this year's team.

"Michigan," Barton said, "means everything."

So, yes, both teams will enter the season finale coming off a loss for the first time since 1959. And Saturday's game cannot "conservatively be called the biggest sporting event in the history of the world," as one scribe dubbed last year's contest.

But rest assured. Plenty rests on this year's brush at The Big House: a Big Ten title, a trip to the Rose Bowl, OSU's third four-game winning streak against Michigan and an epic dose of Schadenfreude.

Michigan running back Mike Hart, quarterback Chad Henne and left tackle Jake Long all returned for their senior years with the chief purpose of beating OSU for the first time.

"How can I go down as one of the best running backs in Michigan history if I haven't beaten Ohio State?" Hart said before the season. "You just can't do that. You have to beat Ohio State, you have to win a bowl game. The whole offseason, that's what we pushed for."

As he told a Free Press reporter last week, "I'd rather lose to Appalachian State than lose to Ohio State."

Good thing he doesn't have to choose.

Just kidding. But how does 0-4 sound? Oh, how cruelly sweet victory would taste for the scarlet and gray.

No matter the individual glory Michigan's seniors achieve in their careers, they would forever endure as failures in the sport's greatest rivalry. And if Saturday is Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr's regular season swan song, as many reports speculate, a Buckeyes victory would send him into retirement with an all-time losing record (6-7) in the rivalry.

How exactly will OSU return as victors, though? Seeing as Michigan may show up, here's the hard part.

While Michigan's National Championship dreams were dashed the first week of September, OSU's hopes were shattered in last week's upset loss to Illinois.

A hangover is a legitimate concern. The head man himself admitted OSU's spirits had fallen a bit early this week.

"Anytime when you feel as if you could have done better, your mood takes on something a little bit different," coach Jim Tressel said.

Sophomore wideout Brian Hartline said: "It will be interesting to see how the team bounces back after something like that."

Play the game on paper, and the Buckeyes win. Michigan's offense is ranked seventh in the Big Ten, its defense is giving up more than 20 points per game and Hart and Henne, who both look to play Saturday, have struggled with injuries.

In the end, though, what does it really matter? As always, the game will transcend the season's stakes.

"One team could be No. 1, one team could be No. 118, it doesn't matter coming into this game," junior linebacker James Laurinaitis said. "If you lose this game, it's not going to be good around here for a while. So this is 'The Game.'"

David Briggs can be reached at briggs.166@osu.edu.