It is one meeting coach Jim Tressel does not exactly look forward to.
The Sunday afternoon briefing from team doctors on the conditions and statuses of his ailing players for the upcoming week generally takes 15 minutes or so to run down the list of the injured.
Not this week, not with No. 17 Michigan (7-3, 5-2 Big Ten) on the horizon.
“It was amazing,” Tressel said. “They just came in and said, ‘Of course, everyone’s ready.’ That’s the way this game is.”
Ticking ever since Ohio State’s triumph over Michigan a year ago, the clock in the Buckeyes’ weight room counting down the days until 2005’s edition of “The Game” reads three. Three days before No. 9 OSU (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten) heads north to Ann Arbor in a game that, for better or worse, will define their season.
“This game is what makes or breaks your season,” sophomore tailback Antonio Pittman said. “You never stop thinking about Michigan.”
Tressel does not let the players forget. During summer training camp, Tressel would dub practice’s extra periods “Michigan drills.”
Unlike predecessor John Cooper and his “just another game” mentality, Tressel has embraced and thrived on the rivalry. Coming out ahead in three of his first four seasons, Tressel has already beaten Michigan once more than Cooper could in 13 tries.
“The 11th game is a season unto itself,” Tressel said. “Coach (Earle) Bruce reminds our players often that your legacy is the Ohio State-Michigan game and that’s our culture, but that’s why it’s so exciting to play in it.”
“The reason that most of our guys came to Ohio State was in large part to be a part of this game,” he said.
Even years down the road, no matter a season’s outcome, only one Saturday is still etched clearly in the minds of the game’s former participants.
“When guys will come back at reunions, they talk about the guy that made the big play in the Ohio State-Michigan game,” Tressel said. “That’s just the legacy that’s left.”
A legacy junior quarterback Troy Smith knows well. After a pedestrian first four starts, Smith turned in one of the greatest individual performances in the game’s history, accounting for 386 yards of offense as the Buckeyes rolled to a 37-21 upset win.
One big game against Michigan and fans were already hailing Smith as the next Buckeye legend. Asked if he was uncomfortable with the defining power of the Michigan game and a season’s worth of expectations riding on it, Smith shook his head.
“What happened last year means nothing,” Smith said.
But it did help him gain an appreciation of the game’s importance.
“As a youngster, I sort of took the rivalry for granted,” Smith said. “But as soon as I took my first hit in that game, I understood what it was all about. Every yard is gold, one yard is worth two, two is worth four and it goes on and on.”
As if any motivation was needed for Saturday’s game, the Buckeyes need only think back to their last trip up north in 2003. With a shot at defending their National Championship with a win, the Buckeyes fell to Michigan 35-21.
“(There was) silence on the bus the whole way home for five hours,” junior wideout Santonio Holmes said.
If the OSU players were overlooking Michigan two years ago, they will not this year with what is on the line. For the sixth straight season, the game will have direct Big Ten title implications. An OSU win would at least clinch them a share of the Big Ten championship with Penn State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten). Should the Nittany Lions fall at Michigan State Saturday, the conference title will go to the winner in Ann Arbor.
“This is it,” senior defensive end Mike Kudla said. “Our season rides on this. We need to get a share of the Big Ten title or that’s it. It kind of means everything for us.”
“It’s Michigan for the Big Ten title,” sophomore wideout Anthony Gonzalez added. “What more could you possibly want?”
