Both Ohio State and Michigan have plenty to play for Saturday when they take the gridiron for their annual rivalry. The Buckeyes have already clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game next week, but need to win both of their remaining games to maintain a chance at the four-team playoff. For Michigan, a win means bowl eligibility, and Brady Hoke would bring his record against the Buckeyes up to 2-2. With the future of the fourth-year coach still uncertain, Michigan could be entering a scenario that Ohio State has faced in the past.

In 1987, then-head coach Earle Bruce was fired the Monday before Ohio State traveled to Ann Arbor. Wearing headbands with “Earle” written across, the Buckeyes upset the heavily-favored Wolverines 23-20. It would be their last road win in the rivalry for 14 years.

As of Friday morning, Hoke has not been officially fired, but many fans believe that with athletic director Dave Brandon resigning earlier this year, Hoke’s time with the Wolverines won’t last much longer. The last time Michigan won a game in Columbus was 14 years ago, when Lloyd Carr and John Cooper were the head coaches. Since then, Michigan has only won this game twice; in 2003 (35-21) and 2011 (40-34).

This rivalry has produced some great drama over the last three years. When these two teams met last November, the Buckeyes and Wolverines had an offensive shootout that nearly resulted in an upset. The Big Ten Network produced this montage of the 2013 meeting, using audio from both schools’ radio networks.

It’s very clear from the video that even with the deep respect each team has for the opponent, this is the kind of rivalry where a win can make or break a season. With that being exactly the case for both squads come Saturday, emotions will be high, and should make for an exciting afternoon in Columbus.

Interesting notes on “The Game:”

-ABC will air the game nationally, with kickoff at noon. It has traditionally started at noon, with two recent exceptions in 2005 (1:00 ET) and 2006 (3:30 ET).

-Dave Pasch and former Michigan quarterback Brian Griese are the television commentators. Pasch and former Buckeye LB Chris Spielman called the 2011 encounter. Griese played in three consecutive Michigan wins from 1995-97, starting two of them.

-Urban Meyer could be the first Ohio State coach to win his first three games against Michigan since Francis Schmidt, the man who created the “gold pants” tradition.

Ohio returns to the gridiron Tuesday night for their final regular-season contest of 2014, when they visit archrival Miami (Ohio) in Oxford. The Bobcats come into this game with a 5-6 record overall, 3-4 in the MAC. Their chances for a sixth consecutive bowl game will be slim at 6-6, but if the Bobcats lose Tuesday, those chances will disappear completely. After a tough loss last week to Northern Illinois, can Ohio get a road win to become bowl-eligible?

Ohio has had trouble this season getting points on the board; they average 20.2 points per game, 115th in the country and last place in the MAC. It’s been an up-and-down year for Derrius Vick in his first season as first-string quarterback; the redshirt junior has thrown for six touchdowns and three interceptions (with another TD rushing), and has an opportunity to close out the regular season with a road win, which is exactly how 2014 started for the Bobcats. That win at Kent State remains Ohio’s only victory away from Peden Stadium, and Frank Solich’s team will be ready to change that.

Miami will finish their 2014 campaign Tuesday after a rough first year under new head coach Chuck Martin. Martin was the offensive coordinator at Notre Dame two years ago, when the Irish made the BCS Championship Game, but the RedHawks have struggled scoring points themselves, averaging 22.5 points a game (tied with Akron for 102nd in the nation). Miami’s quarterback, senior Andrew Hendrix, will be the third different signal-caller in three seasons that the Bobcats have faced (as opposed to Tyler Tettleton being Ohio’s starting QB from 2011-2013). The home team is currently 2-9, already an improvement from last year’s 0-12 record, but it’s been four years since they last finished above .500; the second-most recent winning season was 2005.

Ohio has won seven of the last eight football editions of the “Battle of the Bricks,” with the one exception coming two years at Yager Stadium. Miami upset a then-unbeaten Bobcat squad 23-20; after getting inside the RedHawks’ 10-yard line with nine seconds left and no timeouts, Tettleton was sacked when Solich decided to let the quarterback make one more play before attempting a field goal. Ohio won last year’s encounter in Athens 41-16, but with bowl eligibility at stake, expect the Bobcats to be fired up for this Mid-American Conference rivalry.

Tuesday’s game kicks off at 7:00 ET and will be aired on ESPN2.

As I mentioned in my previous post, only three FBS games on Saturday feature two Top 25 teams playing each other. College GameDay will be live from the historic Harvard-Yale game, which will be aired on NBCSN. At the same time, on “free-to-air” NBC, one of the big Premier League rivalries returns when Manchester United visits Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in London. This match may not have drawn as much attention recently as it did 10 years ago, but both teams have plenty at stake.

Manchester United are currently 7th in the EPL table, after a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace before the international break. The Red Devils will likely be without influential defensive midfielder Daley Blind, who was injured while on duty with the Netherlands. But the visitors do have captain Wayne Rooney, in only his third match back from suspension, and Robin van Persie, the former Arsenal captain who arrived at Old Trafford in 2012. Apart from the 0-0 draw at Arsenal this past February, the last time Van Persie failed to score in this fixture (for either team) was in May 2011; that was also Arsenal’s most recent win against United in any competition.

The home side sit sixth in the table, just above United, and suffered a 2-1 loss to Swansea in their last match after giving up a lead at the Liberty Stadium. Danny Welbeck is one of the key summer transfer window signings for the Gunners, as he arrived at the deadline from United in a move that Rooney thinks will benefit his former teammate. Both Welbeck and Theo Walcott are doubtful for Saturday because of injuries, but Arsene Wenger said Thursday that Olivier Giroud is available after a rapid recovery from a broken leg, a welcome return for Arsenal. The North London club hosts Borussia Dortmund in a Champions League encounter on Wednesday, but won’t be looking past this match.

This was the marquee fixture of the Premier League season a decade ago, at a time when Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira captained the two teams. This video of a pre-match tunnel incident in February 2005 helps illustrate how vivid the rivalry was. (Warning: Keane uses profanity in the clip.) The rivalry remains strong even with the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, and both teams are eager to collect three points and move up in the table.

Who do you think will win Saturday’s game? Leave a comment below!

Only three FBS games in Week 13 feature a pair of teams ranked in the top 25; two of those games are in the Pac-12 (Arizona-Utah and USC-UCLA), while Minnesota meets Nebraska in an elimination game for the Big Ten West. With most other schools preparing for their big rivalries on Thanksgiving weekend, the top college football pre-game show, ESPN’s College GameDay, will be in Cambridge on Saturday for the annual Harvard-Yale showdown.

This is not the first time GameDay has appeared at an Ivy League game; in 2002, Lee Corso memorably dressed up as Benjamin Franklin ahead of Harvard-Penn in Philadelphia. The authors of “Death to the BCS” mention the variety of locations in this passage…

“Whether it’s windy, rainy, snowy, freezing, scorching, or humid, GameDay shows up. It doesn’t discriminate where, either. The crew has traveled to an Ivy League game, another between historically black colleges, the Division III Amherst-Williams rivalry, and all three service academies…nowhere is too far away, no coach too obscure, no campus town anonymous.”

This is already the second FCS game this season featured on GameDay; Chris Fowler and company have been to North Dakota State each of the past two years, when the Bison were ranked atop the FCS Coaches’ poll. Awful Announcing has been keeping track of how much airtime the show spends on each conference, and with the Ivy League being mentioned during last week’s broadcast in Tuscaloosa, how much airtime will the conference get when one of its schools hosts “The Worldwide Leader” on Saturday?

As for the actual game, the conference championship is at stake, and because the Ivy League chooses not to allow teams to go to the FCS playoffs, it will also be the season finale for both Harvard and Yale. The Crimson are seeking an undefeated regular season, and a third league crown (tied or outright) in four seasons. The Bulldogs have not beaten their rivals since 2006, but can create a tie for first place if they win at Harvard Stadium; should that happen, and if Dartmouth wins against Princeton, there would actually be a three-way tie.

Will Corso dress up as John Harvard or any one of the school’s famous alumni? Saturday morning should provide a fun show!

Ohio’s capital was one of four cities chosen Monday to host a future NCAA Women’s Final Four championship, and will welcome the top women’s college basketball programs in 2018. Columbus was one of seven finalists named in January to host a championship in the 2017-20 bid cycle, and will now host a Final Four for the first time. Ohio has previously hosted the championships twice: Cincinnati in 1997, and Cleveland in 2007.

This is just the latest major sports event to come to Columbus. The city has been the site of the last two USA Summer National Fencing Championships, and will host not just the Ohio high school football state championship games later this year, but also the NHL All-Star Game on January 25. In the past, it has hosted men’s college basketball NCAA Tournament games, the MLS Cup and All-Star Game, multiple “Dos a Cero” USA-Mexico World Cup qualifiers, and is the regular home to the Arnold Classic, Columbus Marathon, and several professional sports teams. It’s safe to say the Greater Columbus Sports Commission has been very successful in both attracting events to the area since its founding in 2002, and in staging the competitions.

The 2018 Women’s Final Four will be held at Nationwide Arena March 30 & April 1.

Ohio men’s basketball opens its 2014-2015 season Saturday, when they host Appalachian State. It will be the first game for new head coach Saul Phillips, who comes from North Dakota State, and took the Bison to the third round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Phillips has already endeared himself to fans with his enthusiasm, and his involvement in the return of a public preseason scrimmage, which had been popular under John Groce. But can he lead the Bobcats to a postseason tournament for the sixth consecutive year?

Ohio lost five seniors in the offseason, but return plenty of key players, including point guard Stevie Taylor. The senior from Gahanna is the last remaining player from the 2011-12 squad that made the Sweet 16, and is eager to make his impact a positive one in his final season. Maurice Ndour spent time this summer representing Senegal in the FIBA World Cup; he scored roughly 14 points per game for Ohio a year ago, and is a preseason All-MAC East first team selection. Javarez “Bean” Willis, who transferred from Texas Tech in 2012, will want to help fill the void left by Nick Kellogg, the MAC three-point leader in conference history. Among the newcomers is Chandler Thomas, who has previous Division I experience at Grambling and UMBC.

The Bobcats will host most of their non-conference games, but will travel to Hawaii during Christmastime to compete in the Diamond Head Classic; their first game against George Washington will start at 9:30 AM local time on December 22. Ohio was picked 2nd in the MAC East behind Akron, who has spoiled the Bobcats’ conference tournament championship dreams the last two seasons. The Bobcats and Zips will meet February 4 in Athens, and later that month in northeast Ohio.

Although it has to compete with football until January, college basketball is back, and this season, like so many in the past, will be fun to watch.

Columbus will play the second leg of its Eastern Conference semifinal with New England in a less-than-ideal situation Sunday night. After the Revolution won the first leg in Columbus 4-2, the Crew face unlikely, but not insurmountable, odds.

The simplest way for Columbus to advance to the conference final is to win by at least three goals. The Crew did just that in its season opener, winning 3-0 at the East’s eventual regular-season champion D.C. United; they also had three wins by the same margin at home. Columbus could also advance with a two-goal win, but because of the away-goal rule, the score would need to be 5-3, 6-4, etc.

This is the fifth match of 2014 between Columbus and New England, with the Crew taking the first two matches, but the Revolution have won the last two meetings, including the first leg last Saturday. If Gregg Berhalter & company are going to advance to the East final, they’ll likely need a quick start, particularly from the two leading scorers, Federico Higuain and Ethan Finlay. Justin Meram, who found the net in the first leg, will also be viewed as a key factor in the Crew’s fortunes.

This is the third professional sports team from Columbus to make a postseason in 2014. The Blue Jackets and the Clippers each lost in the first round of their respective playoffs, so can the Crew find better luck and move forward in the MLS playoffs? Leave a comment below on who you think will progress to the conference final.

It’s Week 11 of the college football season, and Saturday will be the day when many teams take one giant step toward making the playoff, while others will be dropped from consideration. There are games in multiple conferences featuring Top 20 teams, with division and conference titles also at stake; with many of these games occurring in the late afternoon or evening, this offers a national spotlight to the schools involved, as well.

The only one of these eliminators with a noon kickoff is #12 Baylor visiting #15 Oklahoma. The Bears lead the nation in points per game, having been held to under 40 points only twice in 2014 (at Texas and at West Virginia). However, they’ll want to stop this trend; after a dramatic home win over the Sooners in 2011, Oklahoma got a bit of revenge the following year in Norman. After a crushing loss in Waco a season ago, will the Sooners regroup and keep their slim Big 12 title hopes alive?

Staying in the Big 12, one of the marquee primetime matchups is #7 Kansas State visiting #6 TCU. The Wildcats are the last remaining unbeaten in the league, and would be undefeated overall if not for the many mistakes against Auburn in September. They already have a significant road win at Oklahoma, while the Horned Frogs mounted a major comeback a week ago in Morgantown. Keep an eye on how the winner of this game fares the rest of the season.

Two critical games kick off at 8:00 in Alabama-LSU and Ohio State-Michigan State. This could be a potential trap game for the Crimson Tide, with home games still to come against Mississippi State and Auburn. LSU, meanwhile, has already ruined an undefeated season for Ole Miss; can they put a dent in, or extinguish, Alabama’s playoff hopes? Up in East Lansing, a place where Ohio State hasn’t lost since 1999, the Buckeyes are eager for payback after last season’s Big Ten Championship Game loss to the Spartans. But Mark Dantonio, who was the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator when they won the national championship in 2002, could have more tricks up his sleeves in a game that will likely decide the East division champion.

In terms of team records, Notre Dame’s best wins of 2014 so far are against 5-3 Rice and 5-4 Stanford. The Irish can get a statement win this Saturday, though, if they beat #9 Arizona State in Tempe. The Irish did struggle last week against Navy, and here’s a statistic to consider…

The Sun Devils currently lead the Pac-12 South, and would be on track to meet Oregon in the league championship game next month. The Ducks, meanwhile, have a test of their own when they travel to Utah, and the Utes are also in the running for a division title.

Which game are you most looking forward to this weekend? Leave a comment below!