If you like meaningful rivalry games with national implications at the end of the year, Michigan-Ohio State has you covered.

One of the fiercest rivalry games in college football could decide the Big Ten East and paint a picture for the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. The Wolverines have an easy path: win and they're in. The Buckeyes might need some help if Penn State wins the East by beating Michigan State.

Either way, this was the vision of Michigan-Ohio State when Jim Harbaugh and Urban Meyer took over their respective programs.

Storylines

Michigan: The Big Ten's place in the College Football Playoff could get muddy. Michigan can make it a lot cleaner. It's simple: if the Wolverines win their next two games, they're in. That starts Saturday against the Buckeyes. Here's the thing: Michigan has lost 11 of its last 12 games against the Ohio State. Seven of those losses have been by double digits. Four times, including three straight games from 2013-15, the Wolverines gave up 42 points. To put it lightly: It's been kind of one-sided. Adding anxiousness to the matter is the uncertain availability of quarterback Wilton Speight, who is still "day-to-day" with an injury.

This isn't a playoff-or-bust season for coach Harbaugh, who has already shown he can get his team near the top of the national landscape in two years. But realizing dreams of being a final-four team would ... and beating the Buckeyes would exorcise some demons.

Ohio State: So much for a reloading year, huh? Meyer has this team ready to compete for it all again. But it's not just Michigan that stands in his way. It's Penn State, too. Even if the Buckeyes beat the Wolverines again, it will mean nothing in the East Division so long as Penn State beats Michigan State -- because of the Big Ten's tie-breaker rules. At that point, it will be the waiting game for Ohio State to see if the committee will give the a team that did not even win its division a shot in the playoff.

Perhaps don't be surprised, then, if Ohio State keeps its foot on Michigan's throat if it gets off to a fast start. Style points may be the only friend the Buckeyes have left.

Prediction

Conventional wisdom tells you that wacky things happen in emotional rivalry games. It tells you to throw out the record books and that this game could be a tight one. But in regards to Michigan-Ohio State, conventional wisdom also tells you the Buckeyes have won by double digits more often than not over the past 12 years. Besides, there's the whole quarterback uncertainty for the Wolverines. In other words, I'm having a Coach Klein moment with the point spread. I'm faking right ... no ... faking left ... no ... I'm thinking about faking.

Michigan's defense matches up well with Ohio State, and the lack of a potent passing attack means the Wolverines have an edge. However, I think Buckeyes halfback Curtis Samuel has a huge game and this team needs to impress the CFP committee in case it doesn't win the Big Ten East. Pick: Ohio State -6.5

No. 3 Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State, Noon ET, ABC
Line
Ohio State -6.5