At the press conference after Saturday’s football game, no one really wanted to talk about Indiana. After all, that just seemed silly. With Ohio State looming on the horizon, the interest was on how well-prepared Michigan was for the Buckeyes.
The bottom line: The winner of next Saturday’s football game will get at least a share of the Big Ten Championship if Michigan State can pull off an upset win over Penn State. So what seemed like a longshot four weeks ago – when Michigan was 3-3 and near the bottom of the Big Ten standings – is now tantalizing.
Because the Rose Bowl is the national championship game this year, the Big Ten champion’s destination is still up in the air. The conference winner could play in the Fiesta, Sugar or Orange bowl.
Carr admitted two weeks ago that he would use at least part of the bye week to prepare for Ohio State. This week, he made another shocking admission.
“I don’t think you ever stop thinking about them,” Carr said.
After hearing Carr’s comments, Michigan quarterback Chad Henne said, “I certainly don’t.” And good luck getting any Michigan player to admit he’s been sneaking peeks at the team from Columbus.
“Film study and all that stuff starts on Ohio State this week,” defensive tackle Gabe Watson said. “So we had to focus on Indiana first, and now that we got that out of the way, we can focus on Ohio State.”
Watson pointed out the obvious when asked for specifics about the Buckeyes. He said Troy Smith – Ohio State’s mobile quarterback who last year rushed for 150 yards and one touchdown and threw for another 240 yards and two touchdowns against the Wolverines – was “real good.” Wideouts Ted Ginn Jr. and Santonio Holmes are “key players who can spark the offense,” he added.
In all, Michigan has 10 players on the roster who hail from the Buckeye state – Ohio State has just one player from Michigan. Most participants know what the game means. The rest will find out soon enough.
“It was a new experience. The crowd was overwhelming,” Henne said about last year’s battle in Columbus, where he was a freshman starter in a 37-21 win for the Buckeyes. “Last year, it came down to the Big Ten Championship, and this year there’s a chance. The rivalry is just a great rivalry. It’s just two great teams going head-to-head.”
Perhaps in preparation for the biggest game of the year, the Michigan offense showcased its talent and versatility on Saturday against a clearly inferior Indiana squad. Michigan has run a few trick plays this year – freshman wideout Antonio Bass had lined up at quarterback with Henne out wide – but the Wolverines opened a Pandora’s Box this weekend.
The misdirection might just give coach Jim Tressel and Ohio State something to think about for the next five days. But that’s not Henne’s intention.
“I would say just keep it simple,” he said. “Just go out with our gameplan and try to execute as well as possible. Ohio State has a great defense, and they’re very well-coached.
“They have a lot of speed, so we just have to execute and get the ball up in the right places.”
Whether Carr decides to go simple or complex will remain a mystery until Saturday, and until then it’ll be just a week full of questions and speculation.