COLUMBUS, Ohio – Almost a year since Ohio State lost to Michigan State in the Big Ten title game the two teams meet again and several Buckeyes say they’ve never really gotten over that 34-24 defeat.
But one game does not a rivalry make.
“After watching them on film, they’re a great team. And they stand in the way of Big Ten championship. They stood in the way last year and we failed. And so does that make them a rival? It makes them in the way of something that we all want. And that’s Big Ten championship,” head coach Urban Meyer told reporters Monday.
The loss to the Spartans ended a school-record 24-game winning streak and dashed Ohio State’s hopes for a national championship but to Meyer there is only one team from Michigan that fits his definition of “rival.”
However, he is not soft-pedaling the importance of Saturday’s game, when the Buckeyes (7-1, 4-0), ranked 16th in the first College Football Playoff rankings travel to eighth-ranked Michigan State (7-1, 4-0) for a primetime showdown at Spartan Stadium (8:00 p.m./ABC).
It will mark the first time Ohio State has played a nationally ranked team this season — and may just be a last shot for a while for the Buckeyes to prove that they can win a big game against a quality opponent.
“I think [the players] know that already that…this is a game to get the respect that Ohio State deserves and has had in the past,” Meyer said.
The winner has the inside track to return to the conference championship game and the winner of that game will be given serious condition by the committee putting together the final four teams that will compete for the national championship in January.