Ohio State and Michigan brace for The Game with playoff implications and historic stakes

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — It didn’t take long for Ryan Day and Sherrone Moore to turn their focus to The Game.

With top-ranked Ohio State and No. 15 Michigan well ahead in their games during the fourth quarter, both coaches and their teams were already locked on preparations for Saturday’s matchup in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and all the attention that the yearly matchup generates.

There also is the pressure both team’s fan bases put on The Game, especially at Ohio State. Day and the Buckeyes have lost four straight to their archrivals.

While last year’s 13-10 loss galvanized the Buckeyes and propelled them toward their first national championship in 10 years, the pain of that defeat has not been forgotten.

“It’s been on our minds since we lost it last year. The week is here. It’s finally here,” defensive end Kenyatta Jackson Jr. said after Ohio State’s 42-9 victory over Rutgers. “We’ve been preparing real hard for this week, and it’s here.”

Ohio State (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten) goes into Michigan Stadium unbeaten and atop the AP poll for the first time since 1973. That game ended in a 10-10 tie. OSU also is trying to avoid dropping five straight to The Team Up North for the first time since Michigan reeled off six straight wins from 1922 to ’27.

Day also is remaining steadfast in making sure that the practice schedule and approach to this week remains the same as it has all season.

The Ohio State marching band usually comes to practice during Michigan week, but that was moved up to the team’s second bye week in late October. Day is sticking to his Tuesday afternoon media availability and having players speak after Wednesday’s practice instead of moving those up since this is also Thanksgiving week.

Despite being the nation’s top-ranked team for 13 weeks and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, Ohio State still has not wrapped up a spot in the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 6 in Indianapolis.

A Michigan win could put the Wolverines (9-2, 7-1 Big Ten, No. 18 CFP) in the conference title game and the Buckeyes possibly playing a first-round CFP game at home instead of earning a bye.

“We’ve been working toward this all year,” Day said. “And we know that the opponent is different. We know what’s at stake. We know we’re playing for hardware now. But at the end of the day, it’s still about us. We can’t all of a sudden change things, so we want to keep it as routine as we can, knowing that, again, we’re playing for hardware — not only gold pants, but an opportunity to get to Indy.”

Moore said “the page is completely turned” after Michigan’s 45-20 win at Maryland. The second-year coach also reiterated that preparations for The Game aren’t just confined to one week.

“You can’t prepare for The Game the week of The Game. It’s got to happen in January, it’s got to happen in February, it’s got to happen in March, in the summer,” he said. “If you try to shift the way you prepare that week, then it’s too late. We’ve been doing this for a while, but now we get to focus in from a game plan standpoint exactly what we’re going to do.”

Both teams are dealing with injury questions going into the week.

Ohio State’s star receiver duo of Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate did not play against Rutgers while Michigan was without running backs Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall.

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