Big Game, Immense Hype for Buckeye Football – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/17/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
November 17, 1998
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By Rusty Miller
%^$ AP Sports %^$
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%^$ COLUMBUS, Ohio — Every time they turn around they are reminded of%^$what’s ahead. When the phone rings, they don’t assume it’s only Mom calling.%^$ %^$
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%^$ “Everywhere you go, it’s just somebody saying, ‘What’s going to happen? Are%^$you going to win?”‘ Ohio State flanker Dee Miller said. “So I’ll just pretty%^$much close myself off, stay in my apartment, sit on the couch, watch some film%^$and if the phone rings, check my caller I.D. and see who it is. If it’s nobody%^$I want to talk to, I won’t answer.”%^$ %^$
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%^$ Michigan is coming, and television, radio and newspapers are overloading on%^$Ohio State football like no other time.%^$ %^$
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%^$ Asked what he liked least about the week, coach John Cooper said: “The hype%^$that goes with it – the questions you have to answer. But that goes with it. I%^$understand.”%^$ %^$
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%^$ In a city of 633,000 that is caught in Ohio State’s gravitational pull,%^$there is only one major topic of discussion.%^$ %^$
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%^$ The Middle East crisis? It doesn’t lead the evening news. The impeachment%^$investigation? It was at the bottom of the front page of Sunday’s Columbus%^$Dispatch, squashed by an Ohio State football picture that filled a quarter of%^$the page along with a headline that read, “Big Ten Battle Royale.” And this%^$was a week before the game.%^$ %^$
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%^$ It’s an obsession that often turns to depression. In Cooper’s 10 years at%^$Ohio State, his teams are 1-8-1 against Michigan. The Buckeyes have been%^$unbeaten going into the game three times in the last five years – and lost.%^$ %^$
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%^$ This year, Ohio State got the disappointment out of the way early, losing to%^$another Michigan school, Michigan State, 28-24 two weeks ago. One writer%^$suggested someone erased the word “State” on Cooper’s schedule.%^$ %^$
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%^$ The No. 7 Buckeyes are 9-1. If the No. 11 Wolverines win, they take the Big%^$Ten title and go to the Rose Bowl. If Ohio State wins, the Buckeyes grab a%^$share of the conference championship and are almost assured a major bowl,%^$possibly the Rose.%^$ %^$
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%^$ Ohio State’s problems have been a source of unending commentary on talk%^$radio. Everybody wants to get in his two cents.%^$ %^$
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%^$ Eric Kaelin, host of a morning call-in show on Ohio State’s flagship%^$station, WBNS in Columbus, said a typical day in August might include five%^$callers an hour.%^$ %^$
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%^$ But as the scarlet-letter day on Ohio State’s schedule approaches, the phone%^$lines are jammed.%^$ %^$
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%^$ “If all we did was take phone calls – no weather, no traffic, no news%^$updates, no commercials – if all we did was have Bob calling from his car%^$phone, we could easily fill up an hour with no trouble,” Kaelin said.%^$ %^$
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%^$ Most of the players, particularly those who grew up in Michigan or Ohio, are%^$steeped in the mania of the game. They don’t need encouragement from Bob on his%^$car phone.%^$ %^$
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%^$ “Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago, ‘Do you think about Michigan all%^$season?”‘ Ohio State linebacker and co-captain Jerry Rudzinski said. “I told%^$him, ‘No, I think about Michigan 365 days a year. I’ve been thinking about Ohio%^$State-Michigan since grade school.”‘%^$ %^$
