(Mansfield, Ohio) News Journal

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Questions were being fired at him earlier this week, two and three at the same time. At one point, Jim Tressel looked alarmed.

"We have anarchy here," he said.

Tressel was kidding, of course.

This is Michigan week, the biggest week of any Ohio State football season. A week, remarkably, when Tressel is never more in control.

Looking for a reason why he is 4-1 against Lloyd Carr and the Wolverines since taking over for John Cooper — Michigan's favorite whipping boy — as coach of the Buckeyes in 2001? Start by looking at the six days leading up to the game.

"You don't notice any appreciable difference in him," Marv Homan said. "You would with Woody."

Homan worked in Ohio State sports information for 40 years and broadcast Buckeye games for 30 years. He knew Woody Hayes about as well as anyone and is candid in drawing comparisons between the coaching immortal and Tressel, another leader Homan has observed up close.

"To be honest, I think Woody would have gotten pretty tight and clammed up (this week)," Homan said, addressing stakes that have never been higher in this storied 103-year rivalry.

"He would have been fully cognizant of the magnitude and probably wouldn't have been nearly as smooth as what you experience from Tressel. He's incredible in that sense.

"Woody would have talked about how you can't be too tight, too long. His old expression was 'You can only clench your fist so long.' Then you have a tendency to let go. That was indisputable, but I think he was actually a victim of that very thing from time to time. It wasn't a chronic weakness, but the darn thing (OSU vs. Michigan) kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and it was beyond (Bo) Schembechler and beyond Hayes.

"They weren't sure how to handle the thing," Homan said. "This guy (Tressel) does."

Twice in his four victories over Michigan, the Buckeyes have been the lower ranked team — unranked, in fact. A 14-9 win in 2002 propelled them to a national championship and a win in Saturday's No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown could do the same for his top-ranked Buckeyes.

It would also drop Carr to 1-5 against Tressel, the exact opposite of Carr's record against Cooper, whose 2-10-1 mark against Michigan makes Tressel look like Vince Lombardi, George Halas and Woody rolled into one.

But if Tressel has a secret for his hold over Michigan, it will remain that way.

"Troy Smith spins and runs 46 yards ... now, c'mon, I don't have any answers," said Tressel, referring to his quarterback, the catalyst behind wins the last two years over Michigan. "Sometimes you come up on the good end, sometimes you don't. But if anyone pretends to think they have an answer, they have a problem."

Schembechler, who has seen the rivalry as both Woody's sidekick and Woody's biggest nemesis, has a problem with anyone who has a problem with Carr. The former OSU assistant and Michigan head coach is wearing a pacemaker that got a workout this week when it was suggested that Tressel has Carr's number.

"That's hogwash," Schembechler, 77, said. "Go back through the history of the series. There's always been years where one might win two, three in a row. That's just the way it is.

"I think we should go back and look at Lloyd's record. I don't care whether he beats Tressel or not. He's done a marvelous job here."

Carr has won 76 percent of his games in 11-plus seasons, which includes a 16-6 record against top 10 opponents, a 1997 national championship and five Big Ten championships. A win Saturday will give him his third undisputed league title.

Ohio State, conversely, is gunning for its first outright crown since 1984.

"I don't see any gamesmanship on his part; I would hope he doesn't see any on mine," Tressel said of Carr. "We're both trying to run programs to be the best they can be and he's done a pretty good job."

Just don't expect them to spend Christmas together.

"I think Bo and Woody were (friends) ... when you coach with somebody like Bo did for Woody, that's a different deal," Carr said. "We have an extremely professional relationship, but the rivalry is so intense ... I don't think you're going to see the Ohio State and Michigan coaches going to dinner together."

Carr made waves this week by admitting the Wolverines spend some time during the season preparing for Ohio State, but it hardly gives them a leg up on the Buckeyes. Turns out Tressel gets started on Michigan in March. Each week of spring drills, the Buckeyes study one quarter of footage from the most recent Michigan game.

"We break down what went right and what went wrong and how to improve on that," defensive end Jay Richardson said. "It just goes to show no matter how many games we have, everybody's mind is kind of focused on one game. It keeps us focused on what's really important and understanding the importance of this game and how much weight it holds."

Center Doug Datish has watched Tressel almost as intently as he's studied Michigan. To him, there's no secret to what's at work here.

Normalcy rules.

"Coach Tress is coach Tress 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year," Datish said. "He's never different in any situation. I've never seem him one time get out of whack or crazy.