'Adrenaline Going' As Ryan Day and The Buckeyes Prepare For Michigan

Once the bloat of Thanksgiving's out of the way, Ohio State and Michigan fans can move on to this week's main course -- The Game. The annual clash between Big Ten rivals is set for Saturday at noon and should be a mouth-watering matchup. No. 6 Michigan will host No. 2 Ohio State for all the marbled rye, and anticipation for this weekend's football feast has the Buckeyes feeling hungry for Saturday.

"This is our No. 1 goal at Ohio State, to beat ‘The Team Up North.’ Period. The adrenaline’s going now,” said Ohio State head coach Ryan Day.

The OSU/Michigan rivalry never takes a day off in the bordering states, but it does heat up like an oven come Thanksgiving week.

“We work it year-round, every day we work it,” said Day. “We just constantly talk about it. The guys understand it, they understand what a huge week this is. We always have one eye on them. It’s just how we do our business in recruiting or during the season. You can’t go crazy on it while you’re going through your season.”

Saturday's winner will play for the Big Ten Championship and a clear path to the College Football Playoff.

"We've got a huge game. We've got everything riding on this thing coming up right around the corner," added Day.

Though his team got off to a lumpy start this season, Day feels as though they are peaking at the right time.

“Now that we’re 11 games into this thing, we know who we are and what we need to do. You have to play the best. And how do you do that? You prepare during the week. (The Buckeyes) feel much different than they did 11 weeks ago.”

By mid-afternoon Saturday, only one of these rival teams will have brought home the bacon. The other will be stuck eating humble pie.

 

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