No new Carr

He maintained a dignity that belied this most undignified of processes. Lloyd Carr's team won't play for the Bowl Championship Series title and won't get another shot at Ohio State after not being able to hold off Florida for a title game bid.

But the Michigan coach kept it real and kept it right throughout a controversy that so often makes everyone look wrong.

Carr doesn't dance for anyone, doesn't beg for anything, doesn't slam someone else. With his team's title hopes slipping away, with the media pleading for him to start pitching his Wolverines to swing voters, he refused to get involved and refused to violate his core beliefs.

Carr clearly is angry with Gators head coach Urban Meyer, who made pro-Florida and anti-Michigan statements in an attempt to influence voters and media coverage, something Carr considers beneath both him and the game.

"I think it's going to be a great controversy … based on some of the comments the Florida coach has made in the last two weeks – campaigning strenuously for a berth in the championship game – and making some statements about Michigan that I think were inappropriate," Carr said Sunday on his television show before the BCS pairings were unveiled.

Meyer was dumbfounded with the criticism because all he did was what 99 percent of his peers would have done. College football isn't a pretty business, and Meyer never hesitated when it came to going to bat for his team, going all out for his kids. He got after those voters the way coaches do on the recruiting trail.

The goal was getting the Gators to Glendale. The goal was achieved. End of story. No apologies.

It may be for the worse (it's difficult to see how it's for the better), but that's the way the game is played these days.

Who knows if Carr could have had the same success for the Wolverines? In the end, the computer formulas declared the Michigan-Florida debate a tie. It was the voters who shifted their allegiance to Florida.

But there are no certainties. As sure as some Michigan fans wish Carr had been more Machiavellian, the thing that hurt the Wolverines the most this season was the bottoming out of the Big Ten, a usually deep and strong conference that reverted to the days of Ohio State, Michigan and a lot of weak sisters.

Florida had the better resume because the SEC had five good teams and the Big Ten didn't. The Gators simply beat more good teams and won the toughest conference in the land. Carr should be upset at Joe Paterno, Joe Tiller and Glen Mason for fielding weak teams.

Regardless, Michigan's case – that its sole loss was at No. 1 Ohio State, that it had a stronger team than the Gators – never had the advocate that Florida did. Carr would rather sit back and let the process play out than win with speeches.

He made just a single "SportsCenter" appearance in which he refused to say much and turned down every other request for comment. That's Lloyd Carr. And not just in talk, but in action.

And so Michigan and its coach go down winners even in this most disappointing of times. This program, Bo Schembechler's program, is supposed to be about just what Carr demonstrated, right or wrong, smart or stupid, hopelessly old school or not.

Meyer did it his way, and perhaps, in this tough world, in this tough game, it was the right way. Perhaps showing his players that you need to kick down the door to opportunity is the best lesson.

Saying Carr was right doesn't automatically mean Meyer was wrong. Meyer acted just as a modern coach would, where seizing every advantage and fighting for every last inch is the only way.

Meyer was a natural politician after capturing the SEC title on Saturday, when his stump speech appealed to every voter emotion imaginable.

There was confidence: "Florida belongs."

There were comparative attacks: "The other team had a shot."

There was overstated extrapolation: "The country wants to see the Southeast Conference champion against a Big Ten champion."

There was a dare to ESPN to cover this in a pro-Florida way: "I hope they list all the statistics, put it all out on the table, here's what it is."

There was potential emotional distress: "We're going to tell a group of young men that just went 12-1 in a most difficult schedule that they don't have a chance to go play for a national championship? I'm going to need help with that one."

It was a speech that James Carville and Karl Rove would have loved. Meyer didn't even seem to understand how it could upset Carr. He couldn't see the issue. He didn't get the problem.

Carr did. Whether you agree with his old-school, bedrock-value approach or not, whether you think he blew it by not sticking up for his team, you have to appreciate that when everything was on the line, he walked the walk.

When a shot at a national title was in the balance, Lloyd Carr, the old Michigan man, proved that even in this hyper-competitive era, even in this senseless system, the values he always expounds – pride, respect, humility – still can take precedent over all.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Hal McCoy: Concepcion deserves plaque in Cooperstown

MITCH ALBOM: Michigan wronged by BCS voters

Well at least, after all the games, the rankings, the computers, the controversy, at least the college football world finally reached a conclusion:

The system stinks.

That’s the only conclusion we can agree upon. All else is chaos. Did Michigan get jobbed? Sure it did. There is no way, in a logical world, that a big time, second-ranked team, whose only loss is by three points to the top-ranked team, should fall behind anyone with at least one defeat in a poll. Anyone. Southern Cal. Florida. Anyone.

Instead, it happened twice in the past two weeks. First, USC beat Notre Dame, and a wave of hype, forced logic and selective memory made voters forget that USC struggled often this season and blew a game to lowly Oregon State — and instead they leapfrogged USC over Michigan for the No.2 spot. The USC Trojans are the strongest contender! Look at them!

Then, over the weekend, USC was exposed, losing to unranked UCLA, and, oops, guess the hype was wrong. So instead of restoring No.3 Michigan to where it belonged, a new wave of hype, forced logic and selective memory made voters leapfrog the Florida Gators over the Wolverines and into the national championship game next month. Hey, they’re the strongest contender! Just look at them!

You can spin this thing any way you want. It was strictly about fresh versus familiar. In the end, Ohio State will play Florida on Jan.8 in Glendale, Ariz., because people with votes want to see that game more than they want to see a rematch of Michigan-Ohio State. This was all about the line of thinking that says: “Give someone else a chance.”

But if the system were about giving everyone a chance, they wouldn’t call it a poll, they’d call it a donkey ride.

SO MUCH BABBLING

Which is not to say there hasn’t been some donkey-like behavior. Consider Urban Meyer, the braying coach of the Gators. When asked by ESPN about Michigan on Saturday night, Meyer said: “They had their shot.”

Thank you, Judge.

Meyer is not only rude, he’s confused. Nowhere in the Bowl Championship Series system is “having their shot” supposed to determine anything. The system is supposed to rank teams, not manipulate them. It’s supposed to set up a national championship game, not cast it.

Ask yourself this question: If we were in the fifth week of the season, and Michigan and Ohio State had played their game and were idle — do you think Florida would have jumped up two spots to wedge between them by beating eighth-ranked Arkansas?

I don’t.

The truth is, Meyer is wrong. Michigan didn’t have its shot. Not at a national championship game — which is all the BCS is supposed to determine. And now it won’t get its shot. Why? Because Florida is somehow a superior choice since it doesn’t play in the same conference as Ohio State?

Meyer acts as if the SEC is Broadway and all the other conferences are summer stock. He talks as if you have to survive germ-warfare to win an SEC game (conveniently excusing his close scores against some lesser teams) while suggesting that other conference champs should be blowing out their opponents.
Hey, if Ohio State is as great as everyone says it is, and most of its victories are against the same Big Ten teams Michigan faces, why does it work FOR the Buckeyes and against the Wolverines?

That’s fair?

“Florida belongs,” Meyer told reporters Saturday night. “The other team had a shot. We went 12-1, and I think the country wants to see the Southeastern Conference champion against the Big Ten champion.”

Well, it’s nice to have Lord Meyer tell us what we want to see. Apparently “the country,” in his view, doesn’t include huge parts of the Midwest. His first name may be Urban, but it should be Parochial.

Yes, people can say the same thing about Michigan fans. And in Florida they probably are. But the one thing Gators fans will never be able to argue is that they were EVER No. 2 this season before Sunday night.

Michigan can say that. Michigan, having not touched a football in two weeks, has to wonder why it was dropped — while Florida was vaulted. Michigan has to wonder how losing on the road to the only team ranked ahead of it — and losing by three points — is somehow less worthy than Florida losing by 10 points to Auburn, a team not even in the final Top 10.

PLAYOFF SYSTEM NEEDED

And with that, another rankings mess mars a college football season. Michigan’s Lloyd Carr, who was far more graceful than Meyer, optimistically called it, on his TV show, “a great controversy.”

But controversies are rarely great. And college kids are supposed to study math, not be victimized by it. Yes, the Wolverines will go to a Rose Bowl and there is nothing bad about that. But there is a reason why sports that determine things by voting — figure skating, gymnastics — continually result in anger, bitterness and missed chances.

And it is why this system remains a joke, while the obvious solution keeps getting ignored.

I’ll say it again. Add two games. Both on the same day. A four-team playoff. You take the Nos. 1-4 ranked teams and let them prove who belongs on the field for the championship.

Under that system, this year, Michigan would play Florida. And Meyer actually would have to coach his team past Carr’s, instead of trying to do it with his mouth.

Such a playoff would only affect four schools each year. It could be done using two existing bowls. As for when do you schedule it? Well, considering the national championship this year is more than seven weeks after Ohio State’s last on-field appearance… I’m guessing they can find some time.

But don’t hold your breath. It won’t happen — at least not soon. Instead, exhale that sigh that has been sighed for so many years in so many places since rankings were used in lieu of actual on-field battles. It was a popularity contest, in the end, what people wanted to see. And the new, exciting orange beat the same old maize and blue.

And if you’re wondering what that has to do with football, you are not alone.

Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch “The Mitch Albom Show”cq 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). He will sign copies of his latest best-seller, “For One More Day,” at 7:30 tonight, Barnes & Noble, Bloomfield Hills; 8 p.m. Thursday, Barnes & Noble, East Lansing; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Borders, Toledo; 1 p.m. Saturday, Borders Express in Briarwood Mall, Ann Arbor; and 4 p.m. Saturday, Costco, Madison Heights.

Highway Robbery in Michigan

Florida's fine, but how is Michigan left out?

By Gene Wojciechowski
ESPN.com

If you're Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, how do you explain to your players that they won't be in the BCS Championship Game? How do you tell the second-best team in the country to get pumped about playing USC in the Runner-Up Bowl? How do you resist the urge of wishing Nutcracker drills on every person who jumped one-loss Florida ahead of the one-loss Wolverines in the final polls?

Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

Lloyd Carr and Michigan lost to No. 1 by three points...and aren't title-game worthy.

There is no polite way of saying it: Michigan got jobbed. Sunday's rankings are Exhibits A-Z why the BCS means well, but simply doesn't work -- and never will.

Carr had to do what Auburn's Tommy Tuberville did two seasons ago. Tuberville's team finished the regular season 12-0, but was left out of the Tostitos BCS Championship Game in favor of undefeated USC and Oklahoma.

"It's hard," said Tuberville. "It's hard to look them in the eye. Heck, we're still not over it. You never get over it. It's like a question that's never been answered."

Carr is asking those same questions. And he'll get the same shoulder shrugs that Tuberville got.

Let me get this straight: Michigan, which was unbeaten against all teams on its schedule ranked lower than No. 1, isn't going to Glendale, Ariz., for the Jan. 8 national title game because ...

• It didn't win its conference.

No, it didn't. But did you see who did? Team by the name of Ohio State. Maybe you've heard of the Buckeyes? Undefeated. Ranked first in the country. Beat Michigan in Columbus by the grand total of three whole points.

And feel free to show me in the BCS handbook where it says you've got to win your conference to play in the championship game?

• Nobody wants to see a rematch.

Just asking, but how did Ali-Frazier II and III work out? Or that Georgetown-Villanova Final Four?

I know Florida's Urban Meyer doesn't want to see a rematch, but he's not exactly an impartial observer, is he? And if Meyer were in Carr's Nikes, I guarantee you his objections to a second Ohio State-Michigan game would have disappeared.

A rematch, this time on a neutral field, would have been a game for the ages. And if you threatened to take away his precious sweater vest if he didn't tell the truth, I bet you Buckeyes' coach Jim Tressel would rather play Florida than have to face the Wolverines again (Tressel declined to vote in the final coaches' poll).

• Florida played a tougher schedule.

Agreed. But strength of schedule is part of the equation, nothing more. Tuberville's 2004 team had the strongest strength of schedule, but didn't make it.

You want to give the Gators the edge based on scheduling? Fair enough, though you could argue that Florida didn't exactly beat vintage Alabama, Georgia and Florida State teams this year, and Central Florida and Division I-AA Western Carolina were dreadful.

And look at the one loss each suffered by Florida and Michigan on their schedules. You tell me which defeat was more impressive: the Gators' 10-point road loss to an Auburn team that finished the season No. 9 in the BCS standings? Or the Wolverines' three-point road loss to an Ohio State now favored to win the national championship?

"It's hard to look them in the eye. Heck, we're still not over it. You never get over it. It's like a question that's never been answered"

-- Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville

• The BCS system rewarded Florida for finishing its season with wins at FSU and against Arkansas at the SEC championship in Atlanta.

And the BCS penalized Michigan twice for being on the wrong end of the calendar: once when USC moved to No. 2 after beating Notre Dame (even though Michigan beat the Irish worse), and now, when Florida overtook the Wolverines (even though U of M's season ended two weeks ago).

How can you call this a "system" when Florida belongs to a league that plays a conference championship, and Michigan doesn't? How can you call it a quasi-playoff when Michigan drops twice in the standings without losing a game.

• Florida has earned the right to play Ohio State.

Absolutely true. But so has Michigan.

Ask the coaches at Vanderbilt (the Commodores played both Michigan and Florida this season) who is the better team, and the consensus pick -- privately, of course -- is the Wolverines. Florida has more speed and a handful of players to die for, they say, but Michigan is more physical, would control both sides of the line of scrimmage, have wonderful wide receivers, and are led by a senior quarterback who doesn't make many mistakes.

Ask them who would give Ohio State the better game, and you'll get the same answer.

Tuberville voted Ohio State, Florida and then Michigan on his final ballot. "But I watched Michigan this year," he said. "Heck, I think they could beat anybody. But that's the way the system is. It's a screwed-up system."

Michigan never had that chance. It was 11-1 on Nov. 18. It was 11-1 on Dec. 3. But between then and now the Wolverines apparently became the cellulite queens and somehow lost the swimsuit portion of this ridiculous BCS beauty pageant.

Michigan didn't do a thing wrong. And yet Carr was the one who had to console his team Sunday night. He did it, but here's guessing he wasn't Mr. Congeniality.

Gene Wojciechowski is the senior national columnist for ESPN.com. You can contact him at gene.wojciechowski@espn3.com.

Troy Falls 13-9; Michigan vs OSU?

Step aside, Trojans. Your chase for the national championship is over.

A quarterback who didn't know he was starting until three days before UCLA played Southern California and a vastly improved defense combined to knock USC out of the BCS title game Saturday as the Bruins stunned their crosstown rivals 13-9.

Patrick Cowan passed for 114 yards, ran for another 55, and the Bruins snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Trojans in paving the way for a Michigan-Ohio State rematch or an Ohio State-Florida matchup for the national championship Jan. 8 in Glendale, Ariz.

The final BCS standings and bowl pairings will be announced Sunday.

U2 and Philosophy by Mark Wrathall

The Point After

There is no denying that Southern California’s 44-24 win over Notre Dame on Saturday night was dominating.

But as the Bowl Championship Series computers whirred and spit out the Trojans as the new No. 2 team in the land Sunday night, it dawned on me – we now have an apples-to-apples comparison of USC and No. 3 Michigan – the teams’ performances against the Fighting Irish, their lone common opponent.

As the debate over who should face No. 1 Ohio State in the BCS title game on Jan. 8 supposedly comes to “style points,” what we have here is some substance.

A simple study of the boxscores shows the Wolverines were even more demonstrative in dismantling Notre Dame, and by a fairly significant margin.

Michigan had the edge over USC against Notre Dame in the following categories:

Points for: 47-44 (3).

Points against: 21-24 (3). Total yards allowed: 273-404 (131). Rushing yards allowed: 32-130 (98). Passing yards allowed: 241-274 (33). Turnovers forced: 5-1 (4). Rushing yards: 148-139 (9) USC, meanwhile held slight edges in just two categories: Net offensive yards: 404-368 (36). Passing yards: 265-220 (45). The evidence seems pretty empirical, especially when you factor in that the Wolverines’ lone loss came by three points at top-ranked Ohio State (12-0), while the Trojans lost at unranked Oregon State (8-4) by two. Strength of schedule? USC faced 10 teams that will play in bowls, Michigan seven. As you do the math, it seems clear that the Maize and Blue should be making their way to the desert for a date with the Buckeyes, not the Cardinal and Gold. Crazy talk, I know. Next, I’ll be advocating a playoff to determine the champion, you know the way it’s done in every other division of college football.

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God's Gonna Cut You Down

You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler,
The gambler,
The back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news
My head's been wet with the midnight dew
I've been down on bended knee talkin' to the man from Galilee
He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel's feet
He called my name and my heart stood still
When he said, "John go do My will!"

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler,
The gambler,
The back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

Well you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin' in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What's done in the dark will be brought to the light

You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler,
The gambler,
The back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut you down

Window in the Skies

The shackles are undone
The bullets quit the gun
The heat that’s in the sun
Will keep us when there’s none
The rule has been disproved
The stone it has been moved
The grave is now a groove
All debts are removed

Oh can’t you see what love has done?
Oh can’t you see what love has done?
Oh can’t you see what love has done?
What it’s done to me?

Love makes strange enemies
Makes love where love may please
The soul and its striptease
Hate brought to its knees
The sky over our head
We can reach it from our bed
You let me in your heart
And out of my head, head…

Oh can’t you see what love has done?
Oh can’t you see what love has done?
Oh can’t you see what love has done?
What it’s done to me?

Oh, oh, oh, oh…
Oh, oh, oh, oh…
Please don’t ever let me out of here

I’ve got no shame, oh no, oh no

Oh can’t you see what love has done?
Oh can’t you see?
Oh can’t you see what love has done?
What it’s doing to me?

I know I hurt you and I made you cry
Did everything but murder you and I
But love left a window in the skies
And to love I rhapsodize
To every broken heart
For every heart that cries
Love left a window in the skies
And to love I rhapsodize

Hard Hat Show: Who can you trust?

Ohio State vs. Mich-again?

By Bomani Jones
Special to Page 2

Whaddya know, Ohio State and Michigan lived up to the hype. This season has been called boring by more than a few observers, but it was hard to ask for anything more than Saturday's 42-39 show at The 'Shoe.

The rematch talk started immediately. Then Sunday's BCS standings kept Michigan one spot behind the top-ranked Buckeyes, making another OSU-Michigan battle well within reason.

That's great, right? Who wouldn't want to see the Buckeyes and Wolverines do it again?

(Raises hand.)

(Puts hand back down.)

(Shakes hand slowly.)

Let's think about this for a second, shall we?

Five reasons OSU and Michigan should run it back

1. These are, without question, the two best teams in America.

Before Saturday, we knew Ohio State was the best team in the country, but we were sort of guessing with Michigan. Its marquee win was against a Notre Dame team that hasn't beaten a team better than hot-and-cold Georgia Tech. Michigan also has a win against Wisconsin, which also hasn't beaten anyone of note.

Saturday made it clear that Michigan is almost as good as Ohio State, and the space between them is very small. The game was just as close as the score indicated, and no other team has had a moment all season when it would have stayed within three points of Ohio State.

Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

Troy Smith has already stoked the fire for a potential rematch with his postgame comments on Saturday.

2. Troy Smith's "the best team won" line adds the sort of bulletin board gossip that makes good games great.

With knowledge that a rematch was entirely possible, Smith showed some brass with that one. It doesn't matter that Lloyd Carr said the same thing. Losing coaches are supposed to say those things.

Winning quarterbacks, typically, are not.

As sure as Smith sounded, you can't help but wonder if he really wanted to say, "if it wasn't for that fumble, we'd have put fiddy on 'em."

Something tells me Michigan's players took Smith's words similarly. That guarantees a rematch would have additional intensity, if it's possible to get more intense than an Ohio State-Michigan game.

3. We could get an entirely different game than we got Saturday.

It might not have seemed like it, but both of those teams actually have really good defenses. Michigan's run defense had been impenetrable before being gashed by Antonio Pittman and Chris Wells. Ohio State hadn't given up more than 17 points in a game before the Wolverines put up 39.

Saturday's game was a lot like last season's Rose Bowl – 'twas a great game, but not because both teams played their best games. A more defensive game could easily happen if OSU and Michigan met again, and that could be just as suspenseful and compelling as the first go-round without feeling like a rerun.

Kurt Snibbe

4. We don't need another martyr.

Yeah, it's generally assumed that you only get one bite at the apple in college football. But as good as Michigan is, there's guaranteed to be lots of whining from folks in Big Ten country about how it's unfair that Michigan is being penalized for being in the same conference as the best team in the country.

And it would be hard to argue with them. The Wolverines are the only team with a chance of even staying close with Ohio State. Any other game could wind up like the 2005 Orange Bowl.

Michigan would be the latest BCS martyr, joining Miami in 2000, Oregon in '01, USC in '03 and Auburn in '04.

The last thing the world needs is a new reason to complain about the BCS. Nobody likes the damn thing. We get that. But it's not going anywhere.

Michigan's missing the chance at the crystal ball could just add to the noise. And the most unfortunate of annals.

20th Century Fox

Bomani Jones would rather duke it out with this guy than listen to weeks of Notre Dame hype. Can you blame him?

5. I'd rather slap box with Wolverine than deal with the coverage that would come with Notre Dame in the BCS Championship.

Not the Wolverines, but Logan's alter ego.

Oh man, imagine if Arkansas wins out and Notre Dame beats USC, which could help the Irish scale the BCS standings to make it to Glendale. It's a highly unlikely scenario, but disturbing enough to merit discussion.

Ready to hear about Jeff Samardzija's baseball career? What about Tom Zbikowski's boxing career?

Already knew about those things? Well, did you know Brady Quinn's sister is married to A.J. Hawk? And didn't A.J. Hawk go to Ohio State?

Ready to go through a few more weeks of that? Didn't think so.

Plus, OSU would obliterate ND. Notre Dame's defensive backs would get lit up so badly that they'd be able to count the little holes in the backs of Ted Ginn's and Anthony Gonzalez's jerseys by the end of the first half.

Five reasons one was enough

1. Sorry, Michigan. You had your chance.

Ball kinda bounces that way, guys. It's not just about having the second-best team. It's also about having the second-best season, and it's hard to say that about the Wolverines when their best wins are over teams who have won zero games of consequence this season. With that in mind …

Colin Erie / US PRESSWIRE

Do John David Booty and the Trojans deserve a shot at Ohio State more than Michigan deserves a rematch?

2. There's a team that deserves the chance at Ohio State more than Michigan.

That would be USC. Sure, the Trojans lost to Oregon State, but they've got big wins over Arkansas and Cal, two teams better than anyone Michigan beat. Darren McFadden may have been hobbled, but USC knocked the dust off those boys. Half a hundred is half a hundred, so long as the Hogs had 11 men on the field.

Michigan might mop the floor with USC, but the Trojans have done more this season. That should count more right now than anything else.

3. Uh, remember the last time this happened?

Ten years ago, Florida lost to Florida State 24-21 in the last game of the season, but got back to second in the polls after the SEC Championship. That earned the Gators a trip to the Sugar Bowl against the Noles.

Florida then embarrassed Florida State in a game that was as suspenseful as a bad sequel. Perhaps that means Florida deserved to play for the championship, but that doesn't change the fact the game wasn't too interesting.

Florida proved to be the best team in America, deserving of a place in the championship game. But I didn't go to Florida, so I don't really care what they deserved.

Most folks have given up on hoping the BCS will produce a true national champion. But they still watch the last game of the season because they figure they'll get a good game. That's the least the BCS could do.

But if this year is anything like '96, when a greatly hyped rematch was a serious letdown, Michigan can stay home.

4. We're quickly approaching Bo and Woody overload.

OK, I'm down for appreciating history and being respectful of the dead. But Lou Holtz said that Bo and Woody had a hand in making the winning numbers in the Ohio Lottery's Saturday evening Pick 4 "4239," strikingly similar to Saturday's 42-39 score.

That's too much. I'm no theologian, but things are a widdle bit out of hand when people start saying that football coaches in heaven are runnin' numbers.

5. Another full season of SEC bitchin' would be wack, even if it would be totally justified.

John Reed / US PRESSWIRE

Ronnie Brown and the undefeated 2004 Auburn Tigers are a martyr of the Bowl Championship Series system.

There's no way that SEC fans, after watching their teams cannibalize themselves during their brutal conference schedules, would stay silent while Michigan got a do-over. Especially not if Arkansas goes undefeated in the SEC and wins the SEC Championship Game. Leaving either the Razorbacks or Florida out of the party would bring more attention to one of college football's trickiest head-scratchers – how can it be nearly impossible for the nation's best conference to produce the national champion?

The worst part? SEC fans would probably keep whining for years. Folks in Baton Rouge are still pissed that USC calls itself the 2003 national champion. I bet Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams would skip their NFL games – where they get paid – if the '04 Trojans challenged the '04 Auburn Tigers to play a pickup game on a Sunday afternoon.

Ready for a few more years of that? Didn't think so.

But none of this matters for one big ol' reason.

The reason it's all good either way

Troy Smith will be in Glendale no matter what

Talk about punctuating a Heisman season. Saturday's game showed the story behind Smith's numbers – it's hard to think of the last time a college quarterback has looked as in control of games as Smith does. His posture is perfect, his timing precise, his patience virtuous. While Vince Young's legend was built on the uncommon ability to react to what was thrown at him, Smith seems to know what's going to happen before it does and is simply buying enough time to do what he wants to do. It's breathtaking; anyone who misses his last game must not have a clue.

And anyone who thinks Michigan, USC or any other team not playing on Sundays could beat Smith and the Buckeyes is foolish.

No matter the opponent, the next Heisman winner and the next national champion are Must-See TV.

Bomani Jones is a frequent contributor to Page 2. Tell him how you feel at readers@bomanijones.com.

Game, rivalry couldn't be scripted any better

In the case of the University of Michigan and The Ohio State University, you can dispense with the stories, the plays and the great games that have been as much a part of the Rose Bowl as the New Year's Day parade. You can dispense with the 1 vs. 2 rankings, the unblemished records for only the third time in 103 meetings, even with the prize of a place in the BCS Championship Game that awaits the winner.

"I'll tell you how big this game is," former Ohio State coach John Cooper said Wednesday on a Master Coaches Survey teleconference. "The loser is going to the Rose Bowl."

All well and good, but all you need to know is this: Everything you have ever heard about the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is true.

• It is true that the late Ohio State coach Woody Hayes, who did more to pump up the negative feelings in the rivalry than any man, refused to fill up his car in the state of Michigan.

"I'll tell you why we don't," Hayes said, according to the seminal book, "Woody Hayes and the 100-Yard War." "It's because I don't buy one goddam drop of gas in the state of Michigan. We'll coast and push this goddam car to the Ohio line before I give this state a nickel of my money!"

• It is true that Michigan, leading 55-0 late in the 1946 game, lined up and kicked a field goal.

• It is true that in 1950, the teams played through a blizzard with 29 inches of snow and more than 50,000 fans sat through it. Michigan's Chuck Ortmann punted 24 times, and the Wolverines won 9-3, despite failing to make a first down. Buckeyes coach Wes Fesler quit a few days later. Ohio State hired the little-known Hayes away from Miami (Ohio).

• It is true that in 1970, a local judge in Columbus dismissed a charge of obscenity against a defendant arrested for wearing a T-shirt that said, "F--- Michigan" because the message "accurately expressed" local feelings about the university and the state.

• It is true that Hayes sometimes bunked his team in Toledo on the night before a game in Ann Arbor so the Buckeyes could sleep on Ohio ground.

• It is true that, by state law, the Franklin County (Ohio) Board of Elections is supposed to begin counting the provisional ballots cast in this month's 15th Congressional District race on Nov. 18. Rep. Deborah Pryce leads challenger Mary Jo Kilroy by 3,536 votes. However, the board will not begin to count the votes until Nov. 19 so that the counters may watch the Ohio State-Michigan game.

• It is true that the lowest-priced ticket available on StubHub on Thursday, for a seat on the corner of the end zone, on the 41st row of the upper deck, would have set you back $530. Binoculars extra.

That's just another reason why Saturday's contest will be the most important game the players on either team will have ever played.

"Legends are made in this game," Ohio State senior guard T.J. Downing said this week. "Every guy knows they have a chance to go down in the record books and make history."

Someone asked Michigan senior tackle Rueben Riley about watching two groups of Wolverines seniors lose to their archrival.

"You just see a sickening feeling in the face of those guys and you know you don't want to feel that way," Riley said. "Being younger and seeing how that affected them, you think, 'I don't ever want to feel that way on my way out.'"

Jim Tressel grew up in Ohio, the son of a small-college football coach. He thought he knew what this game meant before he came to Columbus as an assistant coach in 1983.

"You can feel the electricity and the energy and you can't quantify it, but you can feel it," Tressel said. "I remember thinking I was preparing for just another game as a coach, and then all of a sudden you got into the environment, and I've mentioned before, I wasn't worth a hoot probably the first quarter because I was just in awe of the feeling."

George Long/LPI/WireImage.com

Woody Hayes always focused on Michigan.

Hayes could spellbind when he became emotional, and nothing got his emotions going like this rivalry. As recorded by the late Paul Hornung, the longtime Columbus columnist, in 1975 Hayes gave this kind of pregame speech before the Michigan game: "Men, this is war! I don't care anything about the national championship or the Big Ten championship. But if we win this game today and afterward, if the good Lord says, 'Woody, it's your time,' I'll say, 'Lord, I'm ready!'"

Eight times in the 10 years (1969-78) that Hayes and his protégé, Bo Schembechler, glowered at each other across the sideline, their teams played for the Big Ten championship. Each coach took his team to the Rose Bowl five times. Hayes went 1-4, Schembechler went 0-5, and neither record should come as a surprise. After coaching against each other, they and their teams were spent.

Twice in that time, both teams came into the game undefeated and untied. Ohio State won in 1970, 20-9, and the teams tied in 1973, 10-10.

Hayes turned the rivalry with Michigan into his personal, 365-day-a-year war. Nearly two decades after his death, Hayes' obsession with all things maize and blue has become his legacy to the state. Hayes rarely recruited in Michigan. In 1969, perhaps the most famous game in the rivalry before Saturday, Ohio State had no players on its roster from Michigan. The Wolverines had 21 players from Ohio.

"You can feel the electricity and the energy and you can't quantify it, but you can feel it. I remember thinking I was preparing for just another game as a coach, and then all of a sudden you got into the environment, and I've mentioned before, I wasn't worth a hoot probably the first quarter because I was just in awe of the feeling."

-- Jim Tressel on Ohio State-Michigan

Hayes cared nothing about fame, money or the other trappings available to the most loved man in the state. Hayes cared only about succeeding as a football coach, and he saw his biggest obstacle to that as the University of Michigan. Hayes maintained until the day he died that the best team he ever coached was not the 1968 national champions.

(That '68 team not only beat Michigan 50-14, but after the Buckeyes' final fourth-quarter touchdown, the players lined up and went for two, a breach of protocol in every unwritten football manual. When asked why, Hayes delivered a one-liner worthy of Bobby Bowden: "Because they wouldn't let us go for three.")

No, Hayes always said his best team was a year later, when the heart of the national championship squad returned as juniors. The Buckeyes came into Michigan Stadium in 1969 with an 8-0 record, having allowed only 69 points. Ohio State hadn't scored fewer than 34 points in any game, and had scored more than 60 twice.

But the Wolverines had a spy. No coach in America knew Hayes better than Schembechler. He had played for Hayes at Miami (Ohio). He had coached for Hayes at Ohio State from 1958-62. Schembechler loved the man, although he didn't love him enough not to become head coach at Michigan after the 1968 season.

Mike Powell/Getty Images

Bo Schembechler never stopped preparing for Ohio State.

Schembechler never stopped preparing Michigan for Ohio State, and this was in the days before the NCAA limited the number and length of practices.

"It was our strategy here at Michigan to do something to beat Ohio State every day," Schembechler said this week.

Michigan pounced on Ohio State in 1969. The score at the half was 24-12, Michigan. At halftime, defensive coordinator Jim Young, pounding a blackboard on every word for emphasis, yelled at his players, "They will not score again!"

That's how the game ended: 24-12.

"I swear it was like Bo was in our huddle," Ohio State quarterback Rex Kern said in the 2003 oral history of Ohio State football, "What It Means to Be a Buckeye" "They knew exactly what we were going to do. It was just an ugly day and, without question, the worst loss I ever experienced."

Long after Hayes retired, his former players gathered for a banquet in his honor. Schembechler, in his memoir, recounted the speech that Hayes gave.

"You know, everybody always asks me which of you were the greatest team I ever had at Ohio State. Well, the greatest team I ever had was that 1969 team. It had great defense. It had great leadership. It had a great offensive line, great running backs, a wonderful quarterback, a fine kicking game."

Hayes paused, and looked down the dais at Schembechler.

"Goddamn you, Bo! You will never win a bigger game than that one!"

AP Photo

Schembechler and Hayes coached against each other 10 times.

Hayes would get his revenge. In 1973, No. 1 Ohio State was 9-0, and No. 4 Michigan was 10-0. The Wolverines rallied from a 10-0 deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter. Michigan kicker Mike Lantry missed field goals of 58 and 44 yards in the final 61 seconds but the Wolverines left the field celebrating. They had been the underdog. They had come back to tie the game. Ohio State had gone to the Rose Bowl the previous year.

The pall of defeat hung over the Buckeyes dressing room.

Big Ten commissioner Wayne Duke convened the conference athletic directors after the game to pick the team that would go to the Rose Bowl. The Big Ten had lost four Rose Bowls in a row, and the athletic directors wanted to make sure that the league won. Michigan quarterback Dennis Franklin had suffered a broken collarbone late in the game. The athletic directors voted 6-4 in favor of Ohio State.

Schembechler may not have forgiven Duke or the athletic directors yet.

"You know, the thing finally faded away," Schembechler said this week. "If anything, there were some good things that came out of it."

The following year, the league decided to allow non-champions to go to bowl games. That will come in handy this year, when, as Cooper pointed out, the loser will get the consolation prize of the Rose Bowl. The winner will play for the national championship, and you have to hope that the BCS Championship Game on Jan. 8 will live up to the atmosphere at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.

"You really couldn't script it any better," Michigan corner Leon Hall said.

That, like so much about the grand history of this rivalry, is true.

Ivan Maisel is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Send your questions and comments to Ivan at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.

Remembering Schembechler

Schembechler News

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – They decided to bring a stool out for Bo Schembechler, because he was 77 and fresh off a heart procedure and everyone knew that once he got going at Monday’s press conference, once he started regaling everyone with stories of Ohio State and Michigan, of he and Woody, of a bygone era when college football was both more and less important, he was going to keep going.

Bo needed a stool. Bo needed to sit. Bo needed some help.

“I think I’ll stand,” he said, of course.

Bo Schembechler died Friday of a massive heart attack just before he filmed his weekly television show, just at the end of another busy, uncompromising week. If there is any solace to the sadness here, any silver lining to the loss, it is that Bo went out like Bo, fulfilling obligations, refusing to slow down, accepting no stool to sit on.

The winningest coach in University of Michigan history, a giant of an icon here in the Midwest, a legend of the sport, is gone on the eve of the biggest game in a rivalry he helped turn into arguably the best in all of sports.

“I just don't see one any bigger than this,” he said.

Monday he was everything Bo Schembechler ever was, charismatic yet uncompromising, charming yet combative. Bo was never one to tell stories about himself, that’s the kind of self promoting he would never stand for. But here on game week he was willing to talk about Woody Hayes, he was willing to stick up for his protégé, Lloyd Carr, he was willing to choose sides and say the things that others couldn’t or wouldn’t and fight for what he always believes is right.

He would laugh one minute and growl the next. He would bash Ohio State for silly gamesmanship one sentence and praise its class the next.

“I hope Bo didn’t say anything to screw this up,” Carr smiled, wondering if old Bo had just given the Buckeyes bulletin board material.

He hadn’t, of course. Schembechler was always tough but always respectful, especially about Ohio State, whose own excellence had driven him to greatness.

He was, as always, a throw back to a time when football was about building character, about accepting challenges instead of money, fame or glory. A window into a day and age that is about gone for good now, and not for the better. It sounds trite until you listened to Schembechler, until you looked into his eyes and saw the truth.

Bo never believed in national championships, never believed there should be or could be anything greater for a Michigan team than beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten and playing in the Rose Bowl. He never cared to hold the school up for money, to move games to night for television, to play on a weekday, to make kids miss class.

For as unbending as his demands were, for as tough as he could be, for as all-encompassing as his focus was on winning football games for the Maize and Blue, he also always fell back on a realization that this was nothing more than extracurricular pursuit, that academics were the priority, that this wasn’t the pros.

He coached 20 years at Michigan (and five prior to that at his alma mater, Miami of Ohio). His team’s reached 10 Rose Bowls, including three in the final four seasons before he retired in 1989.

That run of success, 235 career victories, is what he will always be remembered for on the field. But Schembechler was always more proud of the kids he turned into men, of the degrees that were hanging on office walls, of the fact that in two decades the NCAA investigators never even bothered to sniff around Ann Arbor. Bo Schembechler did things his way, without excuse, without debate and his way turned out to be the best way. He believed in personal integrity and responsibility, of ethics that never wavered, of doing things only one way – the right way – because any other way wasn’t worth doing. He coached hundreds of players and taught scores of young coaches, but he also, through his powerful position, was a rock who navigated the turbulent 60s and 70s, inspiring a state, a region, a country even, with the reminder that bedrock values still had their place. He wasn’t just a role model to his players, but to a lot of everyday people who had never been near Ann Arbor. He was fair to whites and blacks, to men and women, to rich and poor, old and young. Even in his retirement, even as old age and modern challenges could have made him callous and unreasonable, he was still trying to relate to the kids, still trying to live in a bright new day. Here in his final week, he was just as alive and just as active as ever. He wasn’t going to attend the game because travel was difficult, but he was as engaged in it as ever. “I'm as excited as you are about this game,” he said. “Because I love to see Ohio State and Michigan come down to the end and, ‘let's play it.’” The leaders and the best, hails the school fight song. About one man they could have written it.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

#2 Michigan @ #1 Ohio State

ABC-TV

[ U-M Audio (Free): All-Access | Quicktime ]
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[ Press Conference Quotes: Lloyd Carr | Players ]

Michigan Football Game Notes
Ohio State Football Game Notes

The Biggest "Big Game"

• Michigan (11-0; 7-0 vs. Big 10); Ohio State (11-0; 7-0 vs. Big 10)
  
• U-M leads the series against OSU 57-39-6.
  
• Series Streak: OSU won the last two games. #8 OSU defeated #17 U-M 25-21 last year at the Big House. The teams have evenly split the last 57 meetings (from 1949 to 2005), with 27 wins apiece and three ties.
• This is the 38th meeting between #1 and #2 ranked teams in college football since 1936. The #1 team is 22-14-2.
  

Michigan Key Stats:

• Michigan leads the nation in rushing defense (29.9 yds/game). It's held 10 teams under 60 yds/game, nine under 50, five under 25 and two to negative rushing yardage.
  
• U-M leads the nation in time of possession (34:11), rushing defense, fumbles lost and third-down defense, with a 25.0% conversion rate. They are second in sacks; third in total defense and fewest turnovers; fourth in total defense (231.45 yds/game); fifth in scoring defense; sixth in sacks (3.68/game); and eighth in turnover margin.
  
• U-M boasts the nation's second toughest schedule in college football. U-M's opposition has compiled a 69-41 (.627) record thus far.
  
• U-M will go for its third 12-win season against OSU. It recorded its eighth 11-win season last week.
  
• Michigan is trying to go undefeated against the Big 10 for the second time under Lloyd Carr. They have five perfect Big 10 seasons (1971, 80, 89, 91, 97).
• Michigan will go for its 43rd Big 10 title Saturday. It has 42 Big 10 titles (OSU - 30) which is the most of any college football program in ANY conference.
• U-M is 3-15-1 all-time against #1 ranked teams. It last defeated a #1 ranked team (Miami, Fla.) in 1984.

Michigan vs. Ohio State
Michigan-Ohio State Rivalry

• Games decided by three points or less: Tied 5-5-6; Games decided by seven points or less: Tied 16-16-6.
• Longest Michigan winning streak vs. OSU, nine games (1901-09); longest losing streak vs. OSU, four games (1960-63)
• Michigan has score 1,714 points vs. OSU, while OSU has only scored 1,264 points against Michigan
• The last time were both ranked in the Top 4 (U-M #1, OSU #4) for the game was in 1997. It is also the last time either team was ranked #1 coming into the game. U-M won 20-14 and went on to win the national championship.
  
• This is the eighth time that either school enters the game ranked #1. Michigan is 3-0 against OSU when they're #1. OSU is 1-2-1 when they've entered the game at #1.
• The Wolverines have compiled a 21-10-1 record against OSU at Ohio Stadium and are 27-21-2 in Columbus. Michigan is 30-18-4 against OSU in Ann Arbor and is 22-16-3 against OSU at the Big House.
• Only three times in history has the match-up pitted the two against each other with perfect records in the last game of the regular season. In 1970, OSU defeated Michigan 20-9. Ohio State went on to lose to Stanford in the Rose Bowl. In 1973 OSU and Michigan tied 10-10. Controversially, Ohio State was selected as the Big Ten's candidate to travel to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated USC. In 1975, OSU defeated U-M 24-14. Prior to 1935, the teams came into the game undefeated 15 times. U-M was 13-1-1 in those early season matchups.
• Since 1935, "The Game" has directly affected the Big Ten Conference championship on 20 different occasions.
• Michigan's largest victory margin was in 1902, when it won 86-0. Ohio State's largest victory margin was in 1935, when it posted a 38-0 shutout. OSU's highest point total in a game was 50, which occurred in 1961 and 1968.
• Michigan has been shut out in 11 times by OSU. OSU has been shut out 26 times by U-M. The second meeting between the schools resulted in a 0-0 tie.
• Between 1933 and 1940, the losing team was shut out every year. The teams split the meetings 4-4, with a combined winning-losing score of 206-0.
• Since 1922, more people (7,203,916) have attended U-M vs. OSU games than any other gridiron matchup in the country. Michigan has played in four of the six most attended series in college football: U-M vs. Mich. State, 6,296,489; U-M vs. Minnesota, 5,407,809; U-M vs. Illinois, 5,141,262. USC has played in three of the top seven.
  

By Decade:
1890's - Michigan 1-0-0
1900's - Michigan 9-0-1
1910's - Michigan 3-1-1
1920's - Michigan 6-4-0
1930's - Tied 5-5-0
1940's - Michigan 6-2-2
1950's - Tied 5-5-0
1960's - OSU 7-3-0
1970's - OSU 5-4-1
1980's - Michigan 6-4-0
1990's - Michigan 7-2-1
2000's - OSU 4-2-0

Google News Summary: Ohio State vs. Michigan News
Yahoo! News Summary: OSU vs. U-M News
AP: OSU vs. U-M Preview
ESPN: BCS title game berth on line as Ohio State hosts Michigan

ESPN: Michigan Clubhouse, OSU Clubhouse
Yahoo!: Michigan Team Page, OSU Team Page
Detroit Free-Press: Michigan Team Page
Detroit News: Michigan Clubhouse
Columbus Dispatch: Sports

ESPN: Greatest Rivalries of All-Time: #1 U-M vs. OSU

Where Did the Winged Helmet; Gold Pants Award; Buckeye Leaves; Script Ohio Come From?

Woody vs. Bo

Detroit News
Does the Michigan-Ohio State game mean more to Ohioans?
It certainly feels different in Columbus versus Ann Arbor during the week of the game. A lot of it is because Ohio State has one main rival -- Michigan. U-M, of course, has four -- Michigan State, Penn State, Notre Dame and OSU. This is not to suggest that the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry means less to Wolverine fans. But what is absent in Ann Arbor are things like "Countdown to Ohio State" clocks in the lower right corner of the local network television affiliates, and "Days Until Ohio State" charts on the local newspaper Web sites, and TV anchors wearing maize and blue clothing all week. Because Ann Arbor is so close to Detroit, a city with four pro sports franchises, and a city with TV affiliates that have a lot more to cover each day other than U-M football, the focus is not all U-M all the time. Ohio State is very much the focus of those living in Columbus and, for that matter, throughout the state.

Michigan Stats

• Michigan is #2 in the BCS, #2 in the AP Poll, #2 in the USA Today Coaches' Poll and #2 in the Sagarin rankings
  
• Michigan has more wins that any football program in NCAA history, 860.
• Michigan has the highest winning percentage of any team in NCAA history 860-280-36 (.7465986).
• 
  
• Michigan will play its 365th game (271-83-10, .758) when ranked in the Top 10 in the AP Poll. They are 8-0 this year. They are 18-6-1 all-time when ranked #2 and 4-0 this year.
  
• Michigan ranks #1 all-time in composite AP final football polls (1936-2005)
• Michigan has 42 Big 10 titles which is the most conference titles of any NCAA school and is 456-163-18 (.730) in Big 10 play.
  
• Michigan has the most weekly appearances in the AP poll, appearing 734 times since 1936.
  
• Michigan has led the nation in attendance 31 of the last 32 years
• Michigan has had 200 consecutive crowds of 100,000+ fan at "The Big House" - a streak started Nov. 8, 1975
  
• Michigan has compiled a 368-106-15 record (.768) at "The Big House"
• Michigan has appeared in 31 straight bowls, the longest current streak in NCAA history.
• 367 Michigan football games have been televised (248-111-8), which leads the NCAA.
  
• The Michigan football program is the only Big 10 team in any sport to win a conference title in each decade. It is the winningest overall athletic program in Big 10 Conference history
• Michigan has appeared in more Rose Bowls (19) than any other Big 10 Conference school
• Michigan has 11 national championships (5th all-time) to OSU's 7
• Michigan's five current NFL quarterback's are more than any other school in the country.

Lloyd Carr Stats

• Head coach Lloyd Carr has a career winning percentage of .769 (113-34), ranking him fifth among active Division I coaches.
  
• He is 41-7 (.841) against Big 10 foes at Michigan Stadium and 34-13 on the road. He has the best winning percentage (69-9 .885) of any U-M coach at Michigan Stadium.
• Coach Carr is 47-18 while ranked in the Top 10.
• Michigan has a 39-21 overall record against nationally ranked teams under Carr. They are 16-6 against Top 10 opponents; 8-2 against teams in the Top 5; 4-1 against No. 2 ranked teams; and 0-1 against opponents ranked #1. He is 4-3 against OSU teams ranked in the Top 10 and 1-2 against OSU at Ohio Stadium when U-M is ranked in the Top 10.
  
• He leads active Big 10 coaches with 75 conference wins, 75-20 (.789), a mark he grabbed in 2003.
  
• Carr is 6-5 against OSU and 2-3 in Columbus.
  
• He is the 8th coach in conference history to claim five or more Big 10 championships.

Michigan Blogs:

• Big House Football
• Blah Me To Death
• The Blog That Yost Built
• Champions Of The West
• The Diag
• iBlog For Cookies
• Maize 'n' Brew
• The M Zone
• MGoBlog
• Michigan Sports Center
• Michigan Football Saturdays
• Mr. Wolverine
• Ron Bellamy's Underachieving All Stars
• Schembechler Hall
• Stadium And Main
• Westsider Rider

Michigan-Ohio State frenzy goes global

The Replacements

Shamus/Getty Images

Senior Quinn Pitcock is one of OSU's two returning defensive starters.

So much for trying to win a national championship despite its defense. That preseason problem on paper (replacing nine defensive starters)? Just another strength on grass for No. 1 Ohio State. Pat Forde ...

• Donnan: Watching Michigan-OSU | Herbstreit: Never been bigger
• Special expectations | Maisel: For Argument's Sake | Judgment Day

MICHIGAN-OHIO STATE: JUDGMENT DAY

Preview content:
• Hooley: Ginn, Breaston's special skills
• Forde: Dashing Toward Columbus
• Maisel: Henne, Michigan as underdog?
• Forde: Sequel talk surrounds game
• Crosshairs: Mario Manningham vs. Ted Ginn
• Crosshairs: Mike Hart vs. Antonio Pittman
• Wojciechowski: Michigan's magical voice
• Maisel: Bo knows rivalries
• Maisel: Wolverines can finally focus | Recap
• Albright: Ohio State gets tune-up | Recap

Motion:
• Michigan vs. Ohio State: Better QB?
• Michigan vs. Ohio State: Better RB?
• Michigan vs. Ohio State: Draft Prospects
• Michigan vs. Ohio State: Better offense?
• Michigan vs. Ohio State: Better defense?
• Consistency key in showdown
• Ohio State offense vs. Michigan D
• Michigan offense vs. Ohio State D

• ESPN 360 library: Michigan-Ohio State

Audio:
• Tressel: One to remember
• Beano Cook picks OSU

SportsNation:
• Preview poll | Who will win? | Best rivalry
• Top 25 ranker | All-time rivalry bracket

• Complete college football coverage
• Full Michigan-Ohio State coverage

Wednesday's Big Game News

Forget tuition: Ohio State U. tickets break bank
Everybody's got an opinion on Michigan-Ohio State
Safety precautions in place for Michigan game at Ohio State U.


U-M News from Yahoo!
OSU News from Yahoo!

Enough Rope's Andrew Denton with Bono

• Play video (excerpt)

Listen to full interview (mp3 download)

BONO: But the best way I can explain it to the band is that, over two initiatives, George Bush has signed a cheque worth 25 billion dollars for issues that I’m working on, which is really serious, 15 billion dollars on an AIDS initiative. And, let me tell you this, three years ago, four years ago, the idea that a conservative administration of the United States would pay 15 billion dollars to get anti retro-viral drugs to Africans was a preposterous idea. People laughed at me openly, and Democrats and Republicans alike. So, he delivered for me.

And Condoleezza Rice, who is the person who really worked that, you know, she deserves a lot of respect for that. But, you know, we’ve had disagreements too, and I’ve had, you know, contretemps with him and I get agitated when the money isn’t coming fast enough and, you know, occasionally he’ll tell me to, you know, turn it down and, “I’m the President, let me finish my sentence,” stuff like that.

ANDREW DENTON: What you share in common, of course, is faith.

BONO: Right.

ANDREW DENTON: You may come from opposite ends of the world in many ways but you share faith. Is religion the way to get George Bush to listen?

BONO: Well, he’s not simplistic. That’s a - another one is that people think there’s a lot of fundamentalists running America, that is not true, that is a cliché. I think Bush is a Methodist. They - I mean, I think he’s a very deep - he has faith but he - he’s not, from what I can see, you know, a raving loony party member of, you know - and we all know what they are.

ANDREW DENTON: The end of time speech.

BONO: It’s not that but I do think, yeah, it has been a way for me to explain myself to the conservative right, because I just won’t let them away with it.

ANDREW DENTON: As a man of faith, when you look at Africa, what’s your concept of a working God?

BONO: Look, on the God thing, I have to be really careful because I’m not a very good advertisement, and so I don’t want to sit there and - you say I’m a man of faith. I’m sort of, yes - there I am - I just can’t. You know, I just recently read, in one of St Paul’s letters, where it describes all the fruits of the spirit, and there was none of them - I had none of them. You know and…

ANDREW DENTON: You fulfill the Christian ideal though.

BONO: I don’t know. I don’t think so. I mean all the commandments are broken and the ones I haven’t I’ve probably wanted to. But, that said, I do have a faith, and it is - it is challenged on a daily basis by what I see in Africa, yes. And, yet, more than that, I have a sense that, really, people are the problem, you know, we’re the problem really. And we blame - God gets a lot of bad press.

You know, the tsunami was very eloquent in a way, responses, and there’s a - there’s a natural disaster, you know, all this awfulness done by Mother Nature, you know. It’s just dreadful. But in Africa you have an avoidable catastrophe of tsunami proportions every week, so I’ve kind of - I’ve gone through my shouting at God, I’ve gone through my angry phase but I finally end up looking at my own indolence and fighting with it, and indifference, because I have it too, you know, and I feel that I’m not alone in this. I feel there’s a generation of people - I kind of realise this isn’t something that we can really blame God for. This is - this is about us, really, and so that’s where I am on it.

In The Crosshairs

U-M's Breaston Named Big 10 Player of the Week
The Point After: Let's Play Two
Carr Has A Chance To Silence Critics
State of Ohio State
State of Michigan
Smith can lock up Heisman

Mario Manningham or Ted Ginn Jr.? Mike Hart or Antonio Pittman? Michigan or Ohio State? Who will deliver the Judgment Day verdict?

• Crosshairs: Manningham vs. Ginn | Hart vs. Pittman | Vote
• Monday: Maisel: Bo knows Michigan-OSU | Forde: Rematch?
• Maisel: Wolverines ready for The Week | Albright: Game On!

R.E.M. vs. U2: Who was the best rock band of the '80s?

Slate put together a nice argument-starting piece that looks at the age-old R.E.M. vs U2 debate. The only thing more fun than fighting about the relative worth of rock bands is fighting about the relative worth of rock bands and making it personal. Even if you weren’t a teenager in the 80s, U2 and R.E.M.’s respective rises to fame put them on an eternal Us vs Them path, which continues to stir intense, alcohol-fueled debate in dive bars the world over. So, we’re just gonna come right out and ask: Are you a U2 kid or an R.E.M. kid? Here’s a breakdown of the relevant distinguishing characteristics to jog your memory.

You know you were a U2 kid if:

• You have worn/have dated someone who wore a righteous mullet. You still don’t see any problem with that.
• You were once moved to pick a random old lady out of a crowded bus stop and spontaneously slow danced with her while everyone watched.

You know you were an R.E.M. kid if:

• There are photos of you wearing a tweed overcoat three sizes too big along with a thrifted flower-adorned ladies’ hat.
• You ate so much baked tofu as a teenager you still feel fundamentally malnourished.
• You used to draw elaborate pointalist sketches of two headed cows in your Mead notebook.
• You still wonder if Michael Stipe and Natalie Merchant could have found happiness together.

Twice As Nice?

Twice As Nice
One possibility that seemed unlikely a week ago was a national championship rematch between Ohio State and Michigan. But now that the number of once-beaten teams has dwindled significantly, it's easier to see how it could happen.

Let's start with a classic game on Saturday. If the Buckeyes and Wolverines go down to the wire, there's a chance. Anything less, and voters probably wouldn't allow a rematch to take place.

The next step is finding losses for USC, Florida, Notre Dame and Arkansas. USC would have to beat Notre Dame and fall to either Cal or UCLA. Arkansas could clinch the SEC West by beating Mississippi State, then lose to LSU, then beat Florida in the SEC title game. It's not that far fetched.

If this series of events took place, many people would say, "What about Rutgers?" If the Scarlet Knights are unbeaten at the end of the regular season, it's hard to believe enough voters would rank them ahead of the Michigan-OSU loser unless that game was lopsided. But if Saturday's big game doesn't live up to the hype, and the only other one-loss teams include Louisville, Wisconsin and Wake Forest, then Rutgers just might end up playing for all the marbles.

Buckeyes No. 6?
The Michigan and Ohio State collision in Columbus features No. 1 vs. No. 2 in the polls and the BCS. But the Buckeyes and Wolverines are not 1 vs. 2 everywhere. According to the BCS computers -- at least by four of the six ratings -- the No. 2 team in the nation is Rutgers. And only one of the six computers has Ohio State ranked No. 1. Three have the Buckeyes third, and one computer has them sixth!

Here's the reason. If you really look closely, and keep in mind that the computer ratings are not allowed to factor margin of victory, Ohio State's only impressive win this season is at Texas. And with the Longhorns losing again last Saturday, that suddenly isn't as strong as it was before. Most of the computers consider each team's best win (in addition to winning percentage and schedule strength) to help separate teams with similar numbers. Using this method, Rutgers ranks ahead of Ohio State because Louisville (the best team beaten by Rutgers) is considered to be stronger than Texas. But I'm not about to try to explain how the Buckeyes got that one No. 6 ranking.

Jim Tressel might even put that on the bulletin board.

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Too perfect: Big rivalry keeps getting bigger
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What happens to the loser?

A WIld & Uncrazy Guy

By LYNN HIRSCHBERG
How does Will Ferrell know what makes nice, normal suburban ex-frat boys so funny? He is one.

Wolverines can finally focus on Ohio State

Nothing Stands Between OSU & Michigan

The last team to play in two 1 vs. 2 games was Florida State in the 1993 season. The Seminoles were No. 1 when they lost to Notre Dame 31-24 on Nov. 13, and were No. 1 again when they beat Nebraska 18-16 in the Orange Bowl to win the national championship.

The last time two teams from the same conference played in a 1-2 game was 1987, when Oklahoma and Nebraska did it.

*The Greatest Rivalry - Ohio State/Michigan T-Shirt - Ohio Stadium - November 18, 2006 | T-Shirts