Huge college football day today with many games with National Championship implications. I don't know if you knew this or not, but Michigan and Ohio State are playing today. Yeah, I'm being sarcastic.
The Wolverines and the Buckeyes will square off this afternoon in an emotionally charged game following the death of former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. Easily the most-hyped game of the season, the game pits two of college football's fiercest rivals in an interconference showdown to determine not only the Big Ten Champion most likely, but also who will play in the National Championship in Glendale.
There are a number of interesting articles out there today discussing the game, including the following from Jim Carty for the Ann Arbor News:
Today's about making it right for Michigan
The image still lingers from two years ago.
Even as Ohio State ran out the clock on a 37-21 victory, star wideout Braylon Edwards put his arm around quarterback Chad Henne and leaned in close, speaking with obvious emotion and intensity.
Make good on it, Edwards said before walking out of college football's greatest rivalry for the last time as a player.
Today, Henne will get his only chance to do just that.
It has been six years since the University of Michigan won in Columbus, Ohio. Edwards, Marlin Jackson, Cato June, David Baas, Ernest Shazor, Pierre Woods and so many more Wolverines have seen their careers come and go without tasting victory at Ohio Stadium. If second-ranked Michigan can't win today, this year's junior and senior classes, including Henne and Mike Hart and LaMarr Woodley, will also walk away 0-for-the-horseshoe.
"I have to say I went 1-3 and never won in Columbus,'' Jackson said after that 2004 game. "That hurts.''
The key players on this team have tasted that hurt first-hand, losing two straight to Ohio State. They know this season and a good part of their careers will be defined today.
Now, a day after the stunning death of Bo Schembechler, they hurt even more.
Forty-eight hours ago, it was hard to think this game could be bigger, but suddenly it somehow is.
You could already sense the pressure after the win at Indiana, as the leaders of this team - Steve Breaston, plus Hart, Henne and Woodley again - spoke with a much greater degree of seriousness and determination than they have all season...[READ MORE]
Both teams share one foe: Pressure
by Rob Oller for THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Speaking in public ranks high on the list of things people fear most, which is why so much anxiety will press down upon the participants in today’s Ohio State-Michigan game.
Buckeyes and Wolverines players and coaches plan to make a very public statement today in front of about 105,000 fans in Ohio Stadium and millions more watching at home.
Ohio State hopes to spell out, with a win over Michigan, how it deserves its No. 1 ranking in the polls, a spot it has held all season. Michigan’s speech will include something along the lines of "win one for Bo," of how No. 2 typically tries harder and how the Wolverines’ 1-4 record against the Buckeyes since 2000 is but a chain that momentarily slips off the bicycle; nothing to worry about.
Hours have gone into preparing these statements this week. Sleep has come in snippets. Fingernails chewed to the nubs. Good thing the day finally has arrived...[READ MORE]
SI.com's The Ten Spot:
"You may think you've already heard all there is to hear about Saturday's Ohio State-Michigan showdown. Think again. The 10 Spot has scoured the history books to bring you these overlooked matchups. This analysis might not tell you who's going to win, but at least you can look at a picture of two American icons -- Alice and Madonna.
1. Famous Hollywood alumni
Michigan: The Wolverines boast both glitz (Lucy Liu, Selma Blair and Madonna, who attended UM but didn't graduate) and grit (golden-voiced James Earl Jones, character actor David Paymer, Christine Lahti). Toss in the likes of David Allen Grier, Max Gail (Wojo on Barney Miller) and Ann B. Davis (yes, the Brady Bunch's Alice) and Ann Arbor might as well be Hollywood Midwest. Ohio State: The Buckeyes suffer a severe drop-off after Everybody Loves Raymond's Patricia Heaton. OSU's next most famous acting alum is the immortal Gigi Rice, whose biggest credit is A Night at the Roxbury, a film that Will Ferrell probably denies making three times each day before the cock crows. Edge: Michigan in a blowout...." [READ MORE]
Last but not least...
Chris of Gorilla vs. Bear turned me to probably one of the best posts written about the Michigan-Ohio State game. Make sure to check it out.
*MUSIC*
Saturday Morning Mixtape
Photo: DJ Melissa NikitaJoanna Newsom - "Bridges"
Unicorns - "Peach Moon"
Ted Leo - "Biomusicology"
Rufus Wainwright - "Across the Universe"
Depeche Mode - "Precious"
Wolfmother - "Dimension"
Bear vs. Shark - "Buses/No Buses"
Rocky Votolato - "White Daisy Passing"
Arab Strap - "Who Named the Days"
Silversun Pickups - "Melatonin"
Preston School of Industry - "Get Your Crayons Out"
Iggy Pop - "Lust for Life"
Death Cab for Cutie - "I Will Follow You into the Dark"
Go Wolverines.