This game is between two entirely different sub-cultures in the collegiate football world. Ohio State lives in the rarified atmosphere of the major football power in a talent-laden football state. Most great high school players in Ohio grow up dreaming of being Buckeyes. Washington State exists in the nether world of second fiddle in a state more famous for rain and mountains than football. Kids grow up in the Cougars' state wanting to be Huskies, mountain climbers or mogul skiers.

When Jim Tressel took over at Ohio State, the cupboard was full. John Cooper established a powerful recruiting base and Tressel has maintained it, signing nine of Ohio's top ten players this year. Eighteen of his signees came from within Ohio's borders.

Game Plan: No. 11 Washington St.

Offense: Jason Gesser, perform as well as you have (175.7 pass eff.) at a quicker pace. Use the patented WSU trick plays early, when they are more likely to work. If you are the best O-line in the Pac-10, show up today! Defense: Marcus Trufant, you must be a lockdown corner today! Your longest run allowed thus far is 18 yards-secondary tackling critical. Rien Long, can you get the sacks here and now? Special Teams: Return teams must improve on last year's poor record. Kicker Drew Dunning, your amazing accuracy may be the difference. Punt coverage must improve. The 55-yard return by Idaho was unacceptable. Players: Feed off the environment. Have fun and go for it! If injuries keep starters out, let this be statement day for you backups. When Ohio State makes a big play, keep the energy up on the sideline. Coaches: Be certain you are prepared for this setting. The players will reflect you. Test their inexperienced O-line. Make them tentative. Attack all day in every area. That is your best chance to win.

When Mike Price took over in Pullman, he inherited an outpost mentality and a recruiting situation in which ingenuity, junior college contacts, sleepers, transfers and walk-ons would be his basis.

Price has done a remarkable job with quarterbacks through the years, producing one fine quarterback after another, and Washington State can now recruit nationally at that one position. Drew Bledsoe, Ryan Leaf and others have enjoyed great careers in Pullman, and similar players are curious enough to visit.

Ohio State, in addition to harvesting the bountiful crop of players in Ohio, can recruit nationally at every position since there are Buckeye All-Americans aplenty at each spot. Even a cursory recall of a few famous names gives any football person cold chills: Paul Warfield, Bob Vogel, Jim Parker, Rex Kern, Tom Matte, Jack Tatum, Archie Griffin, Dick Lebeau, Eddie George, and many others are legendary figures. If Woody Hayes no longer stalks the sideline, his legacy certainly knows the highways and byways of this country.

These two programs have played seven times in Columbus, most recently in 1991, with unsurprising results. The Buckeyes have won them all and are even the most recent team to shut out the Cougars, winning 44-0 at Ohio Stadium in 1984. Interestingly, Washington State has scored in 203 consecutive games since then.

If each coach were asked to write his plan for winning, Jim Tressel could tell stories about building his own underdog program into a national power at Division I-AA Youngstown State, where he won four national titles. He could make family references to his late father's work at Baldwin-Wallace in Division III, or his brother's winning at Hamline in Minnesota. The Tressel men have 423 victories between them, and know how to build football teams in a variety of situations.

Ironically, Jim may be dealing with variables at this national powerhouse that will take time to learn. Can he deal with a team filled with high school superstars? Has he developed a plan to keep talented players happy on the bench? Has he encountered what Bobby Bowden calls the problem of not enough footballs to go around? If there were not inherent issues of such a nature, surely The Ohio State University would have won some kind of national championship since 1968.

In 1998, I worked an Ohio State-Minnesota game in Columbus. It was played in late September, the Buckeyes were undefeated and two red-clad fans stood behind me in the hotel lobby discussing the team. "I think we will beat Minnesota," said the woman. "Yeah, but what about Michigan?" asked the agitated man. This was two months before the U of M game. Victories were assumed. The subject of Ann Arbor's monsters was a sore one at the time. Tressel has that in hand for the time being, but is expected to keep it that way every year.

In Pullman, folks are still celebrating victory in "The Battle of the Palouse". That means the Cougars successfully handled the Idaho Vandals at home. Just how does a coach take a bunch of teenagers from The Palouse, as the WSU campus area is called, to Columbus in a confident state of mind? To take on the mighty Buckeyes? In front of 101,568 wild-eyed Buckeye faithful? With the spirit of Woody hovering in short sleeves with his funny hat?

Game Plan: No. 8 Ohio State

Offense: Craig Krenzel, continue your flawless play and your team will win. Wide receivers, you are the strength of this team. Make plays! RBs Clarett, Ross and Hall, you must continue to be unselfish. Defense: Conservative calls early. Be in zones, ready for trickery. Give them nothing big early. Attack as the game wears on. Intimidating safeties, take a toll! Special Teams: Kickoff coverage began the first two games on the eight and 11-yard lines. Keep up the good work. P Andy Groom, your 48-yard average is great, but you need better than 38 yards net. Donnie Nickey and Chris Gamble, keep up the big plays. It demoralizes opponents. Players: Washington State will be loose and aggressive. Will you? Encourage the young O-line if they start poorly. If you get up on them, put the hammer down. They will not quit. Coaches: Price has downplayed this game so he must have a concern. Go for something big early. Get after their special teams. This should be your biggest speed advantage. Find the pulse of your team in this kind of game. WSU is for real.

Here's how: You patch together a football team from the aforementioned sources and recruit a top quarterback prospect like Jason Gesser from a renowned high school program like St. Louis of Honolulu. It also helps if his high school record was 24-0 as Jason's was. You take your guys and you make them believe. You get inside their heads and hearts, as Price has, and you remind them daily that it does not matter whether they were highly recruited. It does not matter whether they get credit for their accomplishments in the eastern press.

You remind them that they are good enough to compete with anybody, and that you are the one to show them the way. You let them know it will be the hardest thing they have ever done, and that the best thing of all is they will learn a work ethic like the one that made America great. You do that, and then hire someone like strength and conditioning coach Rob Oviatt.

In 47 years of football I have seen quite a few of these guys. The best I ever saw is my father, who is still at it at age 84, and Oviatt is very similar to him. Rob is one of only ten men in the country designated Master Strength Coach by his peers, and when he and I we worked together he performed wonders with his caring, non-abusive way.

Rob knows athletes are creatures of habit and starts with the tiniest details of such things as body language. Example: Never bend over during conditioning or games because if you stand tall you breathe better, and your opponent never knows when you are tired. He teaches his men that they will control the pace by bringing each one to a state of mind in which he thinks of quitting. He then teaches each one how to transcend the desire to give up. The habit becomes one of fighting on regardless of the odds, of never quitting, and it works. It is the single most significant characteristic of every winner I have ever seen.

From this "habit base" each team member is taught group accountability, individual accountability and to finish the task. There is never an excuse. Why go into all this detail? Because it means Washington State has a chance in the game this Saturday. Watch for the characteristics I just described, and if the Cougars manage a win, you might see a quiet, well built man in a sweatshirt smile ever so slightly as he walks to the locker room. He will be devising his "humility" plan.

Both teams have started well, disposing of lesser opponents with dispatch. Each has averaged over 40 points per game, 440 offensive yards per game and seven yards per play. Each has allowed the opponent 300 yards of offense and roughly 10 points per game. Each coach should be pleased about his run defense, and a little concerned about the passing yardage allowed.

Both offenses will present balance to the other's defense, something neither has faced to date. The defense that can take away the running game without being decimated by rhythm passing will have the initial advantage in this one. Pure reputation would favor the Buckeyes, but Washington State will hope to overcome that with conditioning, execution and grit.

Dominant players often take over games of this magnitude. Overpowering performances in games like this can be springboards to big seasons. Each team has players with the talent to do it.

Gesser led the Pac-10 in passing and total offense, and was third in passing efficiency last year. He is on pace to break all the significant passing records set by Bledsoe and the other storied Cougar quarterbacks. In wide receiver Mike Bush, he has a 6'6" intimidator with basketball skills and football toughness. Defensive lineman Rien Long had three sacks against Idaho. Will he penetrate the young Ohio State front?

Ohio State's complete list of such candidates would require a couple of pages. A short list should include two time All-American safety Mike Doss, who makes one big play after another, his running mate at free safety Donnie Nickey, freshman tailback Maurice Clarett, and any of a host of talented wide receivers who could have a big day.

Question marks include lingering injuries for Washington State, and the young offensive line of Ohio State. The Cougars need linebackers Will Derting and Don Jackson to get out of the training room, and the Buckeyes need youngsters up front on offense to grow up in a hurry.

The game within the game this week will be the next step in Tressel's development as the coach of a national power. Can he strike that delicate balance between convincing his players that Washington State is good enough to beat them and not evoking cynicism? Can he get them sharp for their first real test without the Big Ten stamp on the opponent? This is the hidden key to the contest.

ESPN College Football analyst Bill Curry coached for 17 years in the college ranks. His Gameplans for marquee matchups will appear each week during the college football season.