Sons of Cleveland! Of Columbus! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same apprehension that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the 
courage of JT fails, when we forsake play-action and fail to break all bonds of tendency, but it is not tomorrow. An hour of wolverines and shattered BCS dreams, when the age of Tress comes crashing down! But it is not tomorrow. Tomorrow, we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, and BEAT MICHIGAN.
But first, a news round-up.
This calls for a Snickers commercial wherein Pryor is replaced on the sidelines by Aretha Franklin. Remember the big dust-up between TP and QB coach Nick Siciliano during the Iowa game? Wondering what Tressel thought of it?
"If we had cameras in the meeting rooms, it would be a reality show," Tressel joked. "I told those guys I spend half my energy calming those two down. It's that competitive between quarterback and that quarterback coach."
Tressel said neither Pryor nor Siciliano ever crossed a line.
"A lot of times when those two are yelling at each other, I'm not sure, but that's the love/hate," he said. "There's got to be a good guy and a bad guy. I'm usually the good guy and Sic is the bad guy. That's the way I designed it."
So when I surmised in the game thread that Pryor was not a diva and that he simply recognized Siciliano for the schlemiel he was, clearly I was being facetious. I was being that way for a reason: this sort of thing happens all the time, and is not necessarily indicative of diva status or of a person unfit for leadership. Even Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have these moments, and they're widely regarded as consummate professionals (though Brady is doing his best to look the part of a Murfreesboro meth dealer these days). Are they "divas"? Yeah, perhaps, but they're also champions. I'll take Pryor's feistiness 100 times out of 100 over a meek, emasculated Todd Boeckman staring at the scoreboard while the kicker takes the field.
So, move along, nothing to see here.
MICH Family Robinson. Denard Robinson and the Michigan offense are easily the most dangerous offensive unit Ohio State has faced since the Rose Bowl, Ken Gordon writes. Fortunately for the Buckeyes, the Wolverines have no proxy of Kenjon Barner, who repeatedly put the Ducks in frustratingly good field position in Pasadena. They stand at a measly 7th in the conference in kickoff returns. Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Greg "GERG" Robinson is likely coaching for his job this weekend. Considering his unit has surrendered 38, 65 and 41 points to the conference's 7th, 8th and 9th-ranked offenses already this season, even slowing down its second-best attack might be a tall task. And given that they just laid down and let next-best offense Wisconsin roll up 48 in Ann Arbor, it might just be an entirely pointless endeavor. Good thing, because Michigan has too many dudes named Robinson associated with it: they also have WRs Jerald and Terrence, and a safety named Marvin Robinson. Oh, and they have a JB Fitzgerald and Fitzgerald Toussaint to go with Jerald Robinson. So in sum, fire GERG. Or keep him around. I have no vested interests here, honestly.
Enough statistical triumphalism for now. On our part, anyway? But seriously. All of that stat-whoring I just did? Yeah, it can be flipped on its head. Michigan leads the conference in total offense by an admirably wide margin (about 700 yards) and, should it stay on its present pace, will end up as the best Big Ten offense of the last decade. It's a pretty firm rebuttal of the even-annoying-to-me "DICKROD'S OFFENSE WON'T WORK IN THE BIG TEN" meme. Rusty Miller of the AP writes that the key to the Ohio State defensive gameplan will be the Buckeyes keeping Denard Robinson in front of them. Seems bleedin' obvious, to be sure, but this entails more than just not letting Robinson beat you in space. The Buckeyes will likely be deploying a lot of zone coverage on Saturday, so every defender keeps his front (and thus his eyes) toward Robinson as much as possible. The great thing about Ohio State's recent defensive evolution is that it now is a defense built to stop the spread. The defensive line is light and quick - part of the reason a power team like Wisconsin mauled them - while the two best linebackers are relatively undersized and quick to the ball. Having Tyler Moeller in this game would probably knock a couple touchdowns off of Michigan's final tally, but even without him, I think Ohio State has the speed to keep Robinson under wraps as the offense builds a lead. This JT quote is money:
There's this problem Ohio State has this week in preparing for Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson. You see, the problem is the No. 8 Buckeyes can't really prepare for him.
"It's impossible to simulate him because there's no one like him," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said.
So, like, Robinson will get his yards. It's just going to happen. He's more of a force of nature, than a person. Like a typhoon with an irrepressible Cheshire Cat grin. Him going for 300+ would not be a shocker, considering he has surpassed that total in every game in which he wasn't knocked out with an injury. Even so, Ohio State should score at will on Michigan, and should keep the Wolverines at arm's length no matter how productive Robinson is.
Additional notes, sponsored by Haterade. Michigan is trying to revive its old Ohio pipeline, but hasn't had much success landing (or retaining, in the case of Justin Turner) elite talent that Ohio State also offers. Saturday's game will be the first to feature two black starting QBs since the early 70's, writes Rob Oller. Why both schools became havens of lumbering whitebread types in the intervening years escapes me. Lastly, Michigan has given up three times as many touchdowns as Ohio State this season, and some people's standards are a liiiittle ridiculous.
