Ohio State’s Urban Meyer hopes to avoid Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers: Crowquill

“We have two weeks left in this regular season”, Hocutt said.

MI at Ohio State (11 a.m. Saturday, ABC): OU fans need to cheer for the Maize and Blue to go on the road and snap a four-game losing streak to Ohio State. In that scenario, Oklahoma State would nearly certainly be in the playoff, simply by beating Oklahoma. The two greatest coaching names in Michigan-Ohio State history have been dead for a collective 39 years, but it’s pretty clear we’ll never need to use their last names again.

We could talk about No. 15 Florida (8-2). There’s your dirty dozen.

Ohio State is one of four schools whose basketball teams wear exclusively James apparel and sneakers.

Other options: There are alternate Pac-12 champions: No. 9 Colorado (9-2) and No. 13 Southern California (8-3) could find themselves in the title game.

There are plenty of questions heading into this Big Ten heavyweight match, but one certainty is that this has the potential to be the game of the year.

In 2006, at the British Open in Liverpool, our innkeeper regaled us with stories of the fierce rivalry between local Premier League teams Liverpool and Everton: families divided, arguments in pubs, restaurants and classrooms, everyone wearing their team’s colors days before the game.

That says the top five teams control their destiny – and to some extent No. 6 Wisconsin and No. 7 Penn State – control their own destiny right now. If nearly unthinkable, Alabama could lose to Auburn or Florida, if not both. Still, given where it is ranked compared with the present Pac-12 and Big 12 leaders, there is a solid chance it gets in above those conferences’ eventual champions – particularly if Washington loses another game. In 2011, MI inducted men’s lacrosse into their athletic department to expand their out-of-state rivalry with Ohio State. Ohio State’s stadium seats almost 105,000.

“Ohio State-Michigan is always special, but when you put such brash personalities and big personalities, guys who have a little bit of an ego with all they have accomplished, and you put them on sideline with all that’s at stake it just really adds to the drama”, said ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, a former Ohio State quarterback whose father played for and coached under Hayes. The Western Michigan coach could end up in West Lafayette, Indiana, but no deal is being struck before the unbeaten Broncos play the MAC title game. That might be a tough fit if Alabama, Washington and Clemson all win out. The Big Ten champ – Penn State or Wisconsin, provided the Badgers don’t stumble over Minnesota on Saturday – would be positioned to claim the second playoff spot, provided …

Michigan’s path is similar. One or the other won the Big Ten title every year, unless they shared it. Penn State will win the East Division if Ohio State wins and the Nittany Lions take care of business at home against Michigan State. From there, hope the Buckeyes win the Big Ten and bank on the same chaos. USC-UCLA? Oklahoma-Oklahoma State?

MI won the game 26-24.

Perhaps the worst thing Ohio State or MI to do at this point is to get to the Big Ten championship and lose.

The numbers strongly suggest they are two of the four – maybe five – best teams in the country, but after Saturday either No. 3 MI or No. 2 Ohio State will be on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff race.

After a convincing 49-20 win over Purdue, the Wisconsin football team has moved up one spot to No. 6 in this week’s College Football Playoff rankings, placing them just two spots back of the four-team playoff.

On the one hand, even if Oklahoma State had beaten Central Michigan, you can still argue that it would have been a bad win and could still be held against them. Would we get a rematch against Clemson from past year?

Ohio State trailed briefly after Loop hit a quick shot to start the game before stretching out to a 12-7 lead four minutes into the first half. Neither Jim Harbaugh nor Urban Meyer will let that happen. The networks can dream that. Anything to keep them away from the really contentious November conversation that could break out between them.