What beats replaying the game of the century? Nothing

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Congratulations, Buckeyes. Mulligan, Michigan.

No matter what your plans are for Jan. 8, they'd better include watching these two teams play again.

What you saw Saturday night certainly was the game of the century.

Make no mistake: Mike Hart wants a rematch, and he thinks Michigan can win. (Getty Images)

Part I.

Now on to the rematch. Saturday's result was the perfect storm for pitting these two teams against each other again. No. 2 Michigan lost 42-39 on the field of its top-ranked blood rival. Two magnificent offenses went back and forth, finally stopping only because Michigan failed to recover an onside kick.

"I guarantee if we play them again it would be a whole different game," Michigan running back Mike Hart said. "We should have got them the first time. ... I think we're both the top teams in the country, regardless of what anybody says."

Don't be shy, Mike.

The game was just getting good when the clock ran out. The teams combined for 900 yards, 81 points and one conclusion:

This has to happen again. In the desert, 50 days from now, on a neutral field that would make Bo Schembechler doubly happy.

"The worst playing surface in the America is right there in Ohio Stadium," Bo said on Wednesday.

And he was right. Denied the goalposts, fans ripped up giant swatches of turf, the same turf players had slipped on the entire game.

Saturday was great. Jan. 8 would be greater, validating just about everything we've seen this season. Sixteen days ago some wise-acre scribe said West Virginia and Louisville had played a nice WAC game (44-34).

So what was this? Ohio State gave up 45 percent of its previous season total in points (39 of 86). Michigan's No. 3 total defense played like Number Two for most of the game.

Poll Would you like to see a rematch in the title game? 46% Yes: What a game!   54% No: Been there done that   Total Votes: 28680

And it was wonderful. We should all come to the conclusion that it is very hard for any team to play good defense these days. The nation's best running back is at West Virginia (Steve Slaton). The best quarterback is at Hawaii (Colt Brennan). Both have basically shredded every defense they've faced.

The two best teams were right here.

Why should Saturday have been any different? Ohio State and Michigan might have merely been stacking up impressive defensive numbers against bad Big Ten opponents, while stockpiling most of the offensive talent.

"I'm sure that Woody (Hayes) and Bo would be very, very proud of this game," Ohio State linebacker Jim Laurinaitis said.

Or at least the first quarter, which ended 7-7. The rest of the night basically mimicked the length and tone of a Springsteen concert. At the end of three hours and 28 minutes, dripping with sweat, you wanted more.

For nine minutes in the fourth quarter, even the scoreboard was advertising a rematch. Ohio State led 35-31, which was how Oklahoma and Nebraska ended up in 1971's game of the century.

Who wouldn't want to see that game played again?

Even the Fiesta Bowl guys who run the BCS championship game this year couldn't officially offer Ohio State a bid yet. By some unofficial, unwritten code of loud jackets the invite can't be extended for two more weeks.

"No," one of the high-ranking jackets from the BCS title game said, "but we can go in there and say, 'Can't wait to see you.'"

The best reason for a rematch? The BCS commissioners, in their greed, have given tacit approval. They could have taken the crazy step of requiring the championship game participants to win their conferences. But nooooo, they'd rather have the $20 million payday for having (in this case) the conference champ get the automatic bid and Michigan collecting a $4.5 million at-large berth check.

Kirk Barton has no problem with a rematch. (US PRESSWIRE)

So let Ohio State have its first outright Big Ten title since 1984.

Let Troy Smith (season-high 316 yards, four touchdown passes for the fourth time this season) have his Heisman.

Let offensive lineman Kirk Barton have his victory cigar.

"It would be great," Barton said of a rematch while searching for a light. "Ticket scalpers would probably make a zillion dollars."

Let Jim Tressel have his fifth victory in six meetings against the Dazed and Blue. Then let him start squirming.

"There can't be many teams in the nation better than Michigan," he said, probably not realizing he was giving backhanded approval to a rematch.

How far do the Wolverines deserve to drop after scoring the most points any team has piled up on Ohio State in seven years?

Start with the fact that you certainly can't put Notre Dame ahead of them. Not now, not by the end of the season, considering Michigan won by 26 in South Bend.

Rutgers is out of the picture after losing to Cincinnati.

USC? Michigan hasn't lost to Oregon State. It lost to the No. 1 team in the nation.

The country deserves it. The fans (should) want to see it.

It's no longer about the best game, it's about the right thing to do. For college football. For Bo, darn it, who died the day before this classic.

"I'm a little mad at him because he didn't stay around for this game," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said.

There's always Part II.