To Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines, it's More Than Just a Game

Saturday in Ann Arbor, the latest installment of The Game is between Ohio State and Michigan.

Earlier in the decade, The Game was something special, when both teams were among the elites in college football, and when the Big Ten title was usually on the line.

But lately, the decline of Michigan football has taken some of the luster away from one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports.

While the rivalry to the outside world is meaningless, don't try telling that to the people in Ann Arbor and Columbus.

Around Columbus, the university kicked off the week a Beat Michigan Week Pep Rally, featuring talks from the football captains, and former players Eddie George, and Keith Byars.

The Buckeyes are also celebrating the week by debuting their new Nike Pro Combat uniforms as a tribute to the 1954 National Championship squad.

Meanwhile in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines are 5-6 after starting 4-0, and need a win to get into a bowl game after missing the postseason last year for the first time since the 1960s.

So there is plenty to fight for, but even the stakes for Michigan is just adding to the fuel thrown on the fire.

Wolverines' players are not shy about sharing their feelings about Ohio State's, G Justin Boren, who transferred from the program before the 2008 season.

The trasfer seems like  "a loss of family values."

The most vocal about these sentiments was star DE Brandon Graham, who said Boren was, "Just somebody who should not have been here in the first place."

QB Tate Forcier also had made a guarantee that the Wolverines would break their five-game losing streak to the Buckeyes.

But to assume Ohio State doesn't share the same feelings about Michigan, just because of their five-game winning streak, would be wrong.

For example, right after the Buckeyes beat Iowa for the Big Ten Championship, fans on the field broke out in a familiar tune called "We Don't Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan."

Some people might remember that Ohio State fans had purchased a billboard in Detroit commemorating the 2000th day since Michigan last beat Ohio State.

In his weekly press conference, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel threw out concerns that his team would overlook the embattled Wolverines.

The main sticking point of his tenure, beginning in 2001, was believing that beating Michigan was everything, and he has done a great job of driving that message into his players.

The result: a 7-1 record, including beating Michigan 42-7 in 2008, one of the largest margins of victory in the history of the rivalry.

A quick glimpse into the recent history, no one should believe that Tressel and the Buckeyes would overlook their rivals.

And even though Ohio State technically has nothing to play for with a Rose Bowl ticket already punched, this is the last game they will play, and therefore leaves open the ability to "let it all hang out," as Tressel put it.

Even though the significance of the rivalry has been greatly diminished by Michigan's underachieving and Ohio State's national perception, The Game is still just that, the game that means everything.

It's the game that gives one state bragging rights.

It's the game that creates legends and moments that people on either side will never forget.

It's the game that has been the downfall of multiple coaches on both sides of the ledger.

In other words, when it comes to Ohio State and Michigan, and those living in either state or alums of both schools, this is everything.