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What you'll see, I'm guessing, is a more somber tone: perhaps even the awkward extending of condolences, which could lead to remembrances about the days when the giants strode the earth, when the winner of this game went to the Rose Bowl and the loser packed it in. Tailgates morphed into impromptu wakes.

Which is another way of saying that the fans may catch up with the players. I was in Columbus Monday, the only day Ohio State made players available for media interviews. Some reporters were clearly working the hatred angle, asking the Buckeyes to put into words, if possible, the depth of their loathing for Michigan. To my silent satisfaction the guys weren't going there.

Asked if he hated Michigan as a kid, Troy Smith replied, with a smile, "I don't hate anybody. I don't hate anything. I think hate is too strong of a word. I might dislike somebody's ways, but I don't hate anybody."

Surely a human wrecking-ball like Quinn Pitcock, the Buckeyes sensational defensive tackle and a native of Piqua, Ohio, could be counted on to spew some bile. How about it, Quinn?

"Someone please tell me when all this started," said Pitcock. "There's no true hate. I've been up there. I go on riding trips and stuff like that."

That's right, the 295-pound Pitcock is an aficionado of dirt bikes, which raises a series of questions which must be put off for another day. "I have friends there," he said. All the hate speech, he says, "Is just one of those football things everybody likes to get hyped up about."

I made it a point to talk to wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez, a philosophy major with a 4.0 GPA who may be the smartest player on the field tomorrow. Feeling the need to change the subject after Gonzalez gently admonished me for having never read any Plato, I asked about his father.

Eduardo Gonzalez emigrated from Cuba and was offered a football scholarship to Michigan in the late '60s. He was a stud running back for the Wolverines, but suffered a career-ending injury in his second season. "After that, it was a struggle just to pay for school," the son explained. "Back in those days, when you got injured, they took your scholarship away."

Looking to stir the pot a little, I followed up: "Did he leave on bad terms with Bo?"

"My dad," replied Gonzo, taken aback. "He has great things to say about Bo. Great things."

Watch Buckeye nation evince the same respect tomorrow, in spite of itself. These people may not admit it, but they know it in their Scarlet hearts: they're going to miss the old man.