Ranking Best Big Ten Football Matchups of Week 13

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer walks across the field prior to the game against the Maryland Terrapins at Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium on November 12, 2016. Teacher vs. pupil. Dear friends and fierce competitors, their legacies are linked. They have two wins against current top-25 teams.

“Does the selection committee see a small margin of separation this week between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Penn State?”.

Before a possible conference title game, and a chance to perhaps reach the College Football Playoff, is the work of playing Michigan State, senior defensive end Evan Schwan said. “I’m just taking each week, trying to focus on the moment”.

If Ohio State beats Michigan, and Michigan State beats Penn State, then the Buckeyes will go to the Big Ten Championship.

Many expected a physical, hard-fought game a year ago and Ohio State rolled to a 42-13 win in Ann Arbor.

And on the Ohio State side …

UW trails Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Clemson and Washington in the rankings. Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson again took the top four spots.

“We’re going to talk about it with the team”, Franklin said.

Never mind that No. 2 Ohio State’s clash with No. 3 MI this week is the most meaningful contest between the bitter rivals in a decade.

If Oklahoma State beats Oklahoma in Week 14, they will be Big 12 champions.

They were gruff and uncompromising.

Biggest obstacle: SC is a rivalry game, and the Gamecocks have been a solid 6-5 in coach Will Muschamp’s debut season. “Against a defense like this, you’ll need every one of them playing their best”. “I just tried to bring a little extra in for last week, and I’m going to do the same for this week”.

“He’s a goofy big brother”, Thomas said. The Buckeyes have not lost to the Wolverines in Columbus since 2000.

We have a feeling that one will be a popular seller in OH for a while.

Harbaugh has been hailed for coming back to the school where he was a star quarterback and guaranteed a win over the rival Buckeyes in 1986, backing it up with a win.

“I left (the depth chart) as it was, ” Dantonio said. The Jim Thorpe Award finalist has been targeted just 31 times, allowing eight receptions for 78 yards with two interceptions.

“I wouldn’t say they have separated themselves from the Group of Teams 2-5”, Hocutt said. “Obviously things didn’t go as planned for us”.

“To my eye, he has looked better every day”, MI coach Jim Harbaugh said.

That the Buckeyes can spread the ball around, especially in the running game, like no team MI has faced before this season could help deflect some of those “bad intentions”.

“He is one of Bo’s boys”, Madej said. I feel like as a team we can’t focus on that.

That certainly isn’t the case with Penn State still in the race for the East Division title, but this Saturday’s battle between No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 MI hasn’t had this much on the line since the classic 2006 showdown that pinned the top teams in the country against each other.

Winners of seven straight, the Nittany Lions can clinch a berth in the Big Ten championship with a victory and an Ohio State win over MI.

“I think that came from Coach Hayes and (former MI coach) Bo Schembechler”, Meyer said. I hope it actually happensSo what would be the doomsday scenario for the voters?

The first go around between the two last season, the Buckeyes went into the Big House and embarrassed the Wolverines 42-13. While Harbaugh has never been shy about taking a fellow coach to task, he has traded no barbs with Meyer. That includes 22 times the teams decided the champion between themselves (most recently Ohio State’s 14-6 win over MI in 2007).

This story has been corrected to show that there have been 113 games, not 114, in the series, when taking into consideration a vacated game.