EAST LANSING, Mich. — Urban Meyer had not even been asked a question before bringing it up.
“We’ll take the win against a team that we know very well on the road in November,” Ohio State’s head coach said following his team’s 17-16 victory over Michigan State on Saturday. “We’re 10-1 and gotta get ready for our rivalry week.”
Meyer understood all along what was waiting at the end of the season for his Buckeyes. For obvious reasons, he never talked about it up until his opening statement after Saturday’s victory against the Spartans.
For Ohio State, all hands are now on deck for Michigan.
And why wouldn’t they be? This is the biggest meeting between the two teams since the 2006 game when they were Nos. 1 and 2 in the country, respectively. The Buckeyes and Wolverines currently sit at Nos. 2 and 3 in the polls; next Saturday’s game has massive implications.
The loser cannot make the Big Ten championship game and is also likely eliminated from College Football Playoff contention. If Michigan wins, it goes to Indianapolis to play for a league title. If Ohio State wins, the Buckeyes are in solid position to earn a Playoff bid even if they don’t get the Penn State loss needed to get to Indianapolis.
The 113th version of The Game has everything you could possibly ask for.
“It’s the big week we’ve all been waiting for,” Ohio State redshirt sophomore junior defensive end Sam Hubbard said.
Like Meyer, Ohio State players had been rather quiet about the matchup with Michigan all season when asked. With the exception of a few players recently saying they’d never root for the Wolverines even knowing it would help their own team, the Buckeyes were rather silent on the subject even though they eventually knew this week would be here.
Now that it is, let’s check out what some Ohio State players had to say about Michigan in the minutes following a one-point victory over Michigan State.
Offensive guard Billy Price: “They know what is at stake. We know what is at stake. We’re, of course, going to enjoy the win today and then get after it again [Sunday] for The Team Up North.”
Linebacker Chris Worley: “We didn’t play our best ball at all. We had a lot of mistakes, we missed a lot of tackles and we usually don’t miss a lot of tackles. We do have some things that we need to work on, but that’s what we have a whole week for.”
Defensive end Tyquan Lewis: “We come out next week flat, giving up some runs like that, we obviously won’t win the game.”
Defensive end Jalyn Holmes: “I’m going to enjoy this right now and then Sunday morning, it’s back to the drawing board for what’s next. We’ll see them when we see them.”
Running back Mike Weber: “Right now, we’re looking at it as the national championship and that’s how we’re supposed to look at it. We’re going to go out all week, work hard at it and try to execute that game plan.”
There will be plenty more to say throughout the week, from both Ohio State and Michigan, as the biggest game in the rivalry in the last decade now sits just six days away. We only got a glimpse of what is to come after the Buckeyes’ victory over the Spartans on Saturday.
With so much on the line in this year’s version of college football’s best rivalry, how could it possibly get any better?
“It’s officially rivalry week,” Meyer said.
Indeed it is.
