Heated Rivalry Now Packing a 1-2 Punch

A Traditionally Heated Rivalry Has Taken On Extra Meaning

(Charles Rex Arbogast - AP)

Such is the magnitude of tomorrow's college football game in Columbus, Ohio, that Michigan's dean of students felt compelled to e-mail the student body in Ann Arbor this week with lengthy instructions for anyone planning to make the trip to watch the second-ranked Wolverines take on top-ranked Ohio State.

It included such tips as, "If possible, drive a car with non-Michigan license plates." And, "Keep your Michigan gear to a minimum, or wait until you are inside the stadium to display it."

"Let's help the Wolverines win with spirit and class," the e-mail concluded. "Go Blue!"

Passions will be high and the stakes higher when the Buckeyes host the Wolverines in the biggest game of this season, and perhaps of any season in recent memory. Few rivalries in college football match the fervor of Michigan-Ohio State, and now the teams are meeting with identical 11-0 records, the Big Ten championship and a spot in the national title game guaranteed to the winner.

The game will be as close to a national semifinal as the sport has witnessed. Never have Ohio State and Michigan played against each other as the top two teams in the country.

Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith likely will clinch the Heisman Trophy and become one of the school's all-time legends with a great game, or he can fumble it all away with a bad one. Michigan's defense, coached by first-year coordinator Ron English and headlined by cornerback Leon Hall and defensive end LaMarr Woodley, can lay claim to being one of the greatest units in recent memory with a win.

The excitement surrounding the game has been building all season, and it's exploding this week. School officials expect 106,000 fans in Ohio Stadium, which seats nearly 102,000. Ohio State has issued approximately 1,100 media credentials. A pair of tickets for seats at the 49-yard line was being hawked for $20,000 yesterday on eBay.

Adam Reiss won't need a car, because he'll be in a bus with 54 maize-and-blue-clad Michigan students. Reiss, a senior in Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business, bought tickets to every Michigan road game this season, and he usually crashes with a friend on road trips. Not for Ohio State. Reiss has a buddy at Ohio State who offered a couch starting Thursday through the whole weekend, but Reiss declined.

"I really don't want to be anywhere there alone," Reiss said in a telephone interview.

So Reiss and a couple friends started comparing prices for charter buses two weeks ago and booked one big enough for 55 people. They were worried at first they wouldn't find enough students to fill it, but they started turning people away within a couple days. The students all wanted on for the same reason.

"No one really wants to stay there longer than we have to," Reiss said.

The bus will arrive in Columbus around noon, at which time the students will join an alumni tailgate. Alumni Association President Steve Grafton said students and alumni usually tailgate separately during away games. For tomorrow, Grafton arranged to have the two tailgates adjacent to each other so the Michigan fans can consolidate and avoid confrontation.

Reiss hopes the bus departs within an hour after the game, time enough to be home by midnight and in time for the celebration, if one is called for.

"It's really like madness right now," Reiss said. "I'm sure that every single bar on campus is going to be packed. There are going to be fans screaming on the streets. For all intents and purposes, most people are considering this the national championship."

Varsity Club, a bar about 500 yards from Columbus Stadium, has been busier than usual this week as fans pour into town. "Columbus has never seen a game like this before," Laurie Watkins, the bar's day manager, said in a telephone interview.

Two full beer trucks will be parked in an alley next to Varsity Club tomorrow so the bar won't run out. When Watkins answers the phone this week, she says, "Hello, 7:30."

"That's what time we open Saturday morning," Watkins said.

The bar is located just off High Street, smack in the middle of the area the Michigan dean of students' letter warns Michigan students to avoid.

"I hope to God that Michigan people have more sense than to come here and cause a ruckus," Watkins said.