DaytonDailyNews.com

Jeff Potrykus, a reporter who covers the Big Ten Conference for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, produced a column for ESPN.com in January 2001 about Jim Tressel's hiring as the Ohio State football coach.

At the time, Michigan and coach Lloyd Carr were riding a 5-1 record against the Buckeyes, and no one nationally really expected that to change. That's why John Cooper lost his job as Ohio State's coach and the school grabbed the little-known Tressel away from Division I-AA Youngstown State.

The night before Potrykus' column was published on the well-read Web site, Tressel appeared at halftime during the Ohio State-Michigan basketball game at the Schottenstein Center. Dramatically, he told the crowd it would be proud of his football team, "especially in 310 days in Ann Arbor, Michigan."

"Hmmm," Potrykus wrote somewhat sarcastically. "A frightened Michigan coach Lloyd Carr must have dropped whatever he was doing at the time to begin working on his game plan for the Nov. 24 game."

If Carr didn't, he should have. In Tressel's first six seasons at Ohio State, he turned The Game momentum in his favor, as his teams beat Michigan in five of six. Carr, who had dominated the series when Cooper coached the Buckeyes, now faces questions about his ability to best Tressel and his job status, mostly because his 5-1 record against the Buckeyes has melted to 6-6.

Perhaps the juiciest story line in Saturday's OSU-Michigan matchup in Ann Arbor is the relationship between the two coaches. Even if Carr doesn't believe Tressel has the advantage, the fans do.

"I don't have an explanation for that other than on those given Saturdays the best team normally wins," Carr said curtly this week.

Losses lead to questions

The 13th-year Michigan coach silently smiled at a reporter who asked if Carr wants to be coaching Michigan next year, finally saying, "The only thing on my mind is this game."

His possible departure, though, has been on Wolverines fans' minds since Carr convinced the athletic department to extend his assistants' contracts through 2009 and guarantee payment even if they aren't working at the school. He also altered his own contract to make it easier for him to leave after this year and still receive payments.

"The one thing I tell players when I recruit them is you have to want the pressure, because it's here," Carr said. "We want to embrace that pressure, because we want to win every time we take the field."

Lately, that hasn't happened against the Buckeyes. In 2001, Tressel's first season, Ohio State traveled to Ann Arbor and beat the 11th-ranked Wolverines 26-20 even though OSU was just 6-4 at kickoff.

Carr's only win in Tressel's tenure came in 2003, when Chris Perry ran 31 times for 154 yards and fifth-ranked Michigan beat No. 4 Ohio State 35-21 to take the Big Ten title. Then came Troy Smith. The OSU quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner had one of the best careers in series history and led the Buckeyes to victories in the past three seasons.

That makes Tressel 5-1 against Carr, a record that might be even better received in Columbus than the 2002 national championship.

"You can tell by the way Lloyd runs his program that he feels good about what he does, as he should," Tressel said. "He has a lot of pride in what he and his staff have accomplished and I don't know that Lloyd would ever have to apologize for what he's been able to accomplish."

Struggles beyond OSU

Coincidentally, Carr has also had some of his most embarrassing moments while Tressel won OSU fans' hearts. In 2005, Michigan went 7-5 and finished unranked in the final Associated Press poll for the first time since 1984. This season, the Wolverines started 0-2 with embarrassing home losses to Appalachian State and Oregon.

Carr did lead the team to eight straight wins, but enters Saturday 8-3 without any hope of the national championship some thought possible for Michigan with four-year starters Chad Henne at quarterback and Mike Hart at running back returning this season.

Ohio State, meanwhile, started 10-0 and grabbed the nation's No. 1 ranking before losing to Illinois last weekend. Michigan also lost Saturday, to Wisconsin, the first time since 1959 both teams were defeated on the eve of their matchup.

"In the game of football, I don't know if there's ever someone having someone's number," said Kirk Barton, the Ohio State left tackle. "The game of football is won on the field by the guys in the trenches and guys making plays, and so again it's statistics to talk about. Some of those strings or streaks we were on were talked about over the course of weeks and now they don't even ... they're not alive. So I don't think that any of that type of thing is anything other than, I guess, discussion points."

Heavy discussion points this week. Just as Cooper was criticized for his inability to beat Michigan, Carr is held to the same standard.

"(Carr) is in the same situation," said Eddie George, former OSU running back and Heisman Trophy winner. "If he loses to Ohio State, he's lost four games (in a row). But if he wins, he can ride off in the sunset a winner."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7389 or knagel@DaytonDailyNews.com.