OHIO STATE AT MICHIGAN

Moments after Ohio State lost to Michigan 16-13 in 1990, freshman running back Butler By'not'e first learned what the rivalry really meant. "The talk was how well we played and how close we came, and then I remember (running backs coach) Bobby Turner just broke down crying in the locker room," By'not'e said. "I thought to myself, 'Man, if this can break a coach down, it's pretty serious.' " Eighteen years later, offensive lineman Jim Cordle and his Ohio State teammates were in the final minutes of a 42-7 blowout victory. On a power play, Cordle pulled to his left. Michigan linebacker Jonas Mouton came flying up "and whacked me. I kind of blacked out for a second. My body crumbled. We were just trying to run out the clock. That's the way this game is." Coaches crying. Players knocking each other out in garbage time. Such passion, emotion and intensity are what keep The Game arguably the nation's best college football rivalry. They're what continues to make it important, even in years such as this, when national titles and Rose Bowl spots are not at stake. The talk this week was that the rivalry was losing its luster, based mostly on the past two years, when Michigan came into the game 3-8 and 5-6, respectively. Never mind that it was only three years ago -- hardly ancient history -- that the game pitted No. 1 vs. No. 2 for the first time. OSU coach Jim Tressel brushed off talk of diminished importance. "Not if you're a part of it -- if you're an observer, perhaps," he said. "But if you're a part of it and you've felt those feelings and had those experiences and just know what it means to both schools, that would never occur to the participants. "Perhaps to someone from the outside, someone from Utah or something, might not maybe jump on it because neither team is being talked about every day in the national scheme of things, but not with the participants." Beyond just the past two games, there has been discussion of whether one team's dominance over the other has taken something away from the rivalry. Michigan went 10-2-1 against OSU from 1988 to 2000. OSU and Tressel have a 7-1 record since then. But other top national rivalries have had similar stretches of dominance: * Oklahoma went 9-1 against Texas from 1948 to '57; Texas responded with a 12-1 run from 1958 to '70. * From 1986 to '96, Army owned Navy, with a 9-2 run; Navy has won seven straight since 2002. * Alabama beat Auburn nine straight years from 1973 to '81, and Auburn won six in a row until Alabama broke that streak last year. None of those swings seems to have diminished those rivalries' fervor. In a 2005 poll of all 119 Football Bowl Subdivision coaches conducted by the Dallas Morning News, OSU-Michigan was rated the top rivalry, followed by Army-Navy and Texas-Oklahoma. It's not as if nothing is at stake today. OSU (9-2, 6-1) wants to win an outright Big Ten title. Michigan (5-6, 1-6) needs a win to be bowl-eligible. In addition, players from both teams feel the pressure of OSU's five-game win streak in the series. "We've put just as much importance on this game as we would any bowl game or anything else," OSU receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said. "This game means a lot to the whole city, the whole university . We don't want to be the team to break the streak." Cordle said, "It's a huge program game for (Michigan). We understand that." By'not'e never got to experience beating Michigan. The Buckeyes went 0-3-1 in his playing days. He understands how the Wolverines feel right now. "It adds fuel to the fire personally," he said. "It's one of the things that made you dislike them even more, when they have something you want. It's like someone took your lunch, bullied you around. "It definitely plays into your psyche. It's something I've got to live with. I still don't like Michigan." As long as players feel that strongly, the rivalry will be relevant. kgordon@dispatch.com