I hope you have enjoyed this week as much as I have. It started with a classic episode of "The Sopranos", then a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" season finale that moved me and my wife to hit the TiVo replay button four times during the hysterical final scene. I hope you saw it.

Enjoying some mild autumn weather, I hit the midtown-Manhattan streets for some early Christmas shopping. This may not strike you as big fun but, as always, I employed the one-to-one guideline: one present for myself for every one purchased for someone else. Hey, that's fair.

I went to the gym a couple times, we caught a couple of movies and watched "24" one night. We popped in a DVD that shows nothing but a close-up of a crackling fire (complete with 5.1-channel surround sound) and stared at it while downing a nice bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape. That's a red wine from the French Rhone region, for those who are more the beer and Jagermeister type.

What I did NOT do was think about, read about, write about and talk about college football 24-7. What a concept. So that means one of two things: I have nothing insightful to offer this week and should sign off this column, yield back my space and save your time, or college football abstinence has left me so eager and energized to dive into this week's feast of rivalry games that this just might be my best column ever.

The truth is closer to the former. But the paragraph in my contract covering this column does not include an out for weeks spent lounging, shopping, vegging and drinking wine. So, here it is. If doesn't dazzle your football-hungry mind, don't say you weren't warned. And besides, when I was doing all that Christmas shopping this week, just maybe I got something for you.

Wolverines-Buckeyes at the Horseshoe
Just thinking about being on the field for this game Saturday in Columbus DOES get me energized. I grew up in the Midwest and was neither a Michigan or Ohio State fan, but I still waited all season for the annual titanic clash between Bo and Woody. Each year it seemed everything was on the line. Each yard was fought for, each play a mini trench war, each first down a cause for celebration.

	Criag Krenzel beat Michigan on the road last year in his first career start.

I can recall where I was when various games in this series were played. On one big November Saturday in the mid-'70s, the family was to be in Taos, New Mexico. Taos? My God, I wondered, do they have TVs there?

They did. And even in a small town in northern New Mexico, the Buckeyes and Wolverines were on the tube everywhere. Bo beat Woody that day, and Michigan went to Pasadena. This rivalry symbolized everything meaningful about college football. Even in the more complicated, less-pure BCS era, it still does to some degree.

If you haven't already, I hope you someday get a chance to witness a game in this series. My brother has been hounding me to come watch a game that GameDay is featuring. "Come to this one Saturday," I told him. "It'll feel different from other games you've attended." I will enjoy seeing this spectacle through his fresh eyes.

Have you stood witness at a college football game in which the entire crowd seems to hold its breath together, awaiting the outcome of each play? Michigan and Ohio State have played a bunch of games like that, many in the last decade.

The Wolverines' win in 1997 held that kind of classic drama. Back and forth, it was tense and tight. A Rose Bowl date with Washington State was at stake. Finally, Charles Woodson gathered a punt and slithered to the sideline. He came racing right by where I was standing at the 10-yard line and ignited mayhem in the Big House by scoring a Heisman-clinching touchdown.

It was one of those moments you don't forget, when it dawns on you that what you are witnessing will pass instantly into sports history and remain there forever. I been fortunate enough to enjoy quite a few of those moments over the years, in a variety of sports. Aren't they the reason we keep watching?

OK, now I'm getting energized for Saturday.

There has already been too much talk this week about Michigan looming as a dangerous "spoiler" and how the Buckeyes must conquer the mental obstacle of the Maize and Blue. It's the familiar, convenient storyline and there is history there: U of M has won 10 of the last 14 in the series and spoiled the Buckeyes' national championship plans four times since 1993.

But this is a new era at Ohio State. There is less of the air-tight tension and sky-is-falling pessimism in the air. Former OSU coach John Cooper was a very successful coach and is a fine man, but as his personal record against Michigan grew worse (winless in his first seven meetings), it took on a life of its own. Everybody, it seemed, got just a bit sketchy that week and it carried over to the field.

Current Buckeye coach Jim Tressel is 1-0 versus Michigan, with a road upset that knocked Michigan out of a BCS at-large bid. He used an ultra-green replacement quarterback named Craig Krenzel in that game and conquered the enormous distraction of Steve Bellisari's suspension. And while Tressel this week is expressing less joy about a 12-0 record than any coach ever, he certainly seems to have a handle on this pressure game thing.

Remember, he came from Division I-AA, where teams must win back-to-back-to-back-to-back elimination games to win a national title. He won four titles at Youngstown State.

Don't snicker at the I-AA playoffs. For the guys who play and coach in them, they are full of pressure. Tressel was a great big game coach in Youngstown and you have to say he has become one in Columbus, as well.

If the Buckeyes lose to Michigan it won't be because they choked. It will probably be because the offensive line is not good enough. The Ohio State front has been a source of frustration after several wins this season, and it really has performed far below the level of a national-title team in almost every road game.

The last two weeks have been ugly for the big uglies: far too little push up front to get the running going, spotty protection for Krenzel and inexcusable mental gaffes, like three consecutive false starts that turned first and goal at the one into a field goal. That was one of the poorest sequences I've ever seen.

Faith in the running game has faded. Without Maurice Clarett healthy enough to punish defenders and create yards, OSU has struggled. Performance on short-yardage runs has been dismal. Remember, the miracle touchdown pass to Michael Jenkins at Purdue came on fourth and a long yard, when a pass had to be called.

Needing only one first down in the final two minutes to put away Illinois, the Bucks were stuffed by a run defense that had been average all season. After the punt, Illinois marched for the field goal that forced overtime. In the extra session Ohio Stated avoided calling running plays. Only Krenzel's crafty scrambles (for 17 of the final 25 yards) created the chance for a game-winning run.

Plus, opponents like Purdue safety Stuart Schweigert say OSU's line is easy to read, tipping off run and pass calls with their stances. The feisty Boiler says the Buckeye running game "seems so easy" to solve and wonders why other teams were troubled by it. Well, for one thing, other teams were troubled a lot more when number 13 was toting the rock. But Schweigert's point is well taken.

Trying to camouflage a suspect offensive line in the 13th game of the season against Michigan is truly living on the edge, folks. Ohio State's biggest challenge Saturday is not the mind games but rather the trench game.

Michigan is playing good football since the historic home undressing at the hands of Iowa. The Wolverines have emerged from behind the woodshed a hungry, cohesive team. They never feel like spoilers during Ohio State week and say they have plenty to play for themselves, even though their bowl fate -- the Outback Bowl in Tampa -- is all but set.

The offensive line, rearranged last week by injuries, is healing up just in time. Michigan won't march all over the Buckeyes' great defense, but then, opponents haven't had to. Making an occasional big play and getting into the end zone once a game has been enough for teams to hang close and have a great chance to win at the end.

OSU's offensive ineptitude is putting tremendous pressure on the defense. When you hold five of the last six opponents to one touchdown or less you should be cruising, not sweating.

True, most of the Buckeyes' woes have been away from home. They have been far more energized on offense at Ohio Stadium. We'll see if that pattern continues. A nervous mob of 100,000 dressed in scarlet and gray can only hope so.

The Tide and Tigers
Alabama-Auburn is another rivalry I have enjoyed watching from field level over the years. Like Ohio State-Michigan, this rivalry brings out the best in the players and sometimes the worst in the fans. It's a lot easier to watch as a neutral party, and I assure you I've felt like one of the very few neutral parties every time I've witnessed an "Iron Bowl." The games are so often classic.

In 1996 we brought our new guy, Herbstreit, on a GameDay trip to Birmingham. He was a little mopey because we weren't at Ohio State-Michigan and wasn't too enthused about being at Legion Field. Then he got a load of the Iron Bowl's unique, Southern-style frenzy and he was stunned and won over. Never complain if you get a chance to watch the Tide and Tigers from ringside.

In a playoff system...
There are a half-dozen teams who would be under-seeded and very, very dangerous and under-seeded because they have lost a couple of games.

1. Kansas State - The Wildcats are playing the best football in the Big 12 right now. quarterback Ell Roberson has grown a lot this season and the performance of the offensive and defensive lines against Nebraska was devastating. The 'Cats lost the division by getting burned for big plays and failing on a couple key plays at Colorado. The only other loss was on a blocked field goal by Texas. In a playoff, I'd give them a good chance to get to the championship game. Instead, it's probably the Cotton Bowl, and the Wildcats will never know what might have been.

2. USC - The Trojans are obviously on a roll. Their defense has been good enough to slow offenses in the nation's best offensive conference and quarterback Carson Palmer has become lethal in Norm Chow's offense. Head coach Pete Carroll would be a formidable defensive game-planner in a playoff.

3. Alabama - The Tide's 31-0 shutout at LSU was quite a statement. Alabama can't call itself the SEC's best since Georgia did beat the tide in Tuscaloosa, even though it was a squeaker. But they look like they're in another class than the rest of the SEC West.

4. Florida - Drawing the Gators in a playoff game would be scary. Why? Two words: Rex Grossman. He hasn't had anything close to his best year. Talent analysts say he's developed some bad habits. But in a foxhole, you want this guy with you. And if there's a big game to be won against tough odds, which other QB would to want to rely on to make plays? Grossman's competitive fire pulled his team to wins over its two biggest SEC rivals, Georgia and Tennessee. I'll be watching to see if he can do the same against Florida State.

5. Maryland - The Terps have come light years in three months. They bring a constant physical toughness to each game and QB Scott McBrien has become a playmaker. Ralph Friedgen has been superb at squeezing the most from his team and they would not surrender easily to anyone.

6. Penn State - True, the Lions have lost to all three ranked opponents this year and beaten up on weaklings. But those three losses were by 16 points total. JoePa does have a point: poor officiating probably did cost them wins over Iowa and Michigan. This team is capable of beating anyone.

Do you realize?