Editor's note: Each week, analysts from ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine will tackle a game plan for one of the biggest games on the schedule.
Barring an upset -- and there have been a few of those this year -- Ohio State at Michigan (ABC, noon ET) again will determine the Buckeyes' BCS fate. If OSU declaws the Wolverines for the fourth straight time, the thermostat will get cranked up on Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. We asked our coaches, Bill Curry and Mike Gottfried, to draw up game plans for both teams. Then we had Jim Donnan pick a winner.
Curry takes over Michigan
I expect QB Chad Henne and RB Mike Hart to be healthy. They'd better be. Backup QB Ryan Mallett has a mega arm and will be great, but he's not there yet, while Henne is a steady hand. WR Mario Manningham is a consistent deep threat, and nobody fights harder to come down with the ball. On defense, I'd call out LB Shawn Crable in practice by reminding him about last year's game-costing personal foul vs. OSU. He's a future No. 1 draft choice who can win a game himself, as either a pass-rusher or a pick-sixer. Watch SS Jamar Adams at the line of scrimmage. He's OK in coverage, but is a brutal run-stuffer. RB Chris Wells won't ever want to see him again.
Gottfried takes over Ohio State
We'll pound Wells behind LG Steve Rehring (6-foot-8, 345) and LT Alex Boone (6-8, 313), who are fast enough to get to Crable and bury him. Then we'll go right at Crable with play-action to TE Rory Nicol. We also need C Jim Cordle to lock up disruptive DT Terrance Taylor. At 6-feet, 301 pounds, Taylor's not a penetrator, but he's tough to move. We'll chip him sideways with FB Dionte Johnson. On defense, stopping the run is pivotal. Key to that: DE Vernon Gholston, possibly the nation's strongest player, who can hold the line against OT Jake Long. And as good as Manningham is, he doesn't worry me. Not with CB Malcolm Jenkins blanketing him.
Donnan takes over
Henne, Hart and Long spurned the NFL for this game, and that matters. Look for lots of Hart runs, even some screens, to slow down OSU's pass rush. If the Wolverines throw eight deep balls at Manningham, all he has to do is catch two. With the UM defense ganged up to stop Wells and pressure QB Todd Boeckman, I like Michigan in an upset.