For almost every Bobcat and Bronco at Ford Field on Friday night, it will be the most important game of their lives.
When Ohio and Western Michigan hit the field at 7 p.m. for the Mid-American Conference Championship Game, the weight of history will be on both teams' shoulders.
It's possibly the last chance for coach Frank Solich to earn a conference championship at Ohio — he hasn't won one in his 12 years as an Ohio coach.
It's the first, and if history is any indicator, could be the last, chance for redshirt freshmen Quinton Maxwell and Javon Hagan to become a conference champion.
It will be the last chance for redshirt seniors Tarell Basham and Troy Watson to do what no Ohio team has done since 1968 — win a MAC Championship.
“Every day of this week, playing in my mind will be the year we made it and went up 20-0 on NIU and ended up losing," Hagan, who didn't play in the 2011 championship game, said. "That moment right there is going through my mind, in practice, while I’m in the dorm, watching film. Knowing we were that close."
In Ohio's last conference championship game in 2011, it led Northern Illinois 20-0 at halftime. The Bobcats lost 23-20.
Western Michigan has a similar, cringe-worthy list; it hasn't won a conference championship since 1988, and coach P.J. Fleck, linked to Power 5 Conference coaching openings, might be "rowing the boat" in his final game as a Bronco.
With a win, Western Michigan will likely earn a spot in the Cotton Bowl. The only other MAC team to earn a berth to a BCS Bowl was Northern Illinois to the Orange Bowl in 2012.
But that's child's play compared to the demons Ohio (8-4, 6-2 MAC) must face when it runs out of the tunnel to face a team most think will win by multiple touchdowns. Western Michigan is currently an 18.5-point favorite.
“It would mean everything," Watson said. "Last time we made the MAC Championship, I was a senior in high school watching it on TV. I knew the guys that were there, they told me all about it. It’s crazy to be there now.”
The unnerving history doesn't just go back to nearly the last decade and beyond, either.
Last season, Western Michigan dismantled Ohio 49-14 at Peden Stadium. The Broncos rushed for 430 yards, 401 coming in the second half alone.
“That’s one taste you’ll never be able to get out of your mouth, allowing somebody to run for 400 yards on you," Basham said. "That game alone is probably one of the biggest reasons we came in focused on stopping the run so much, we never wanted that to happen again. We don’t plan on it happening again.”
The Bobcats, No. 5 in the country this season against the run, are a different team than the one that allowed more than 400 yards on the ground last season.
But then again, so are the Broncos.
“We're just approaching it like any other game," Watson said. "They’re a beatable opponent, they’ve been talked up by the media a lot, and that’s why everyone has the sense that we’re a super underdog."
The reality is, this game is one that no one expects, or even wants, Ohio to win. Western Michigan (12-0, 8-0 MAC) has beaten two Big-10 schools and hasn't defeated a MAC team by fewer than 14 this year.
It's not quite David and Goliath. But it's close.
But Ohio hasn't thought like that this week, it's been a business-as-usual approach. Solich and the team has focused on the usual talking points: Field position, turnovers and solid defense.
"We expect to come out there and stop their run," Basham said. "We’re good at run defense, we’re No. 1 in the conference, we’re No. 5 in the country in run defense. I don’t see why we can’t stop the run.”
The Bobcats aren't a slouch, however.
Toting one of the strongest run defenses in the country and a solid running attack, they could ground and pound their way to victory.
While Western Michigan prepared for Friday in the national spotlight, there was a underlying, yet noticeable, sense of confidence stemming from Ohio. No one in the national media has picked the Bobcats to win the game, but that hasn't phased them in the slightest.
After all, it's just a football game.
“I don’t care about the type of attention they get," Basham said. "You can throw a camera on a guy all you want, but at the end of the day, he’s still going to put his pants on one leg at a time.”
