The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - As the number of games melt away, the pressure mounts for most college football teams. No. 6 Ohio State and No. 18 Minnesota are prime examples.

There is no wiggle room if either team wants to keep alive its championship hopes heading into Saturday's showdown at Ohio Stadium.

"You don't want to be walking around on eggshells," Ohio State tight end Ben Hartsock said. "You've got to take a mindset that this is just another game. We can't allow ourselves to think, 'Oh, we're walking a tightrope and each week we get a victory that tightrope gets a little bit smaller.'

"It's when you go out and play not to lose, you're going to get beat."

However, both sides know what's riding on the outcome.

Minnesota (7-1, 3-1) will be effectively eliminated from the Big Ten race with another loss. Ohio State (9-0, 4-0) would certainly drop out of the national championship picture and could end up missing out on a shot at the conference title. Iowa (8-1, 5-0) leads the way heading into its game with Wisconsin on Saturday.

"October is for pretenders. November is for contenders,"' Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said, quoting former Ohio State head coach Earle Bruce. "That's the truth. We understand in November, that's when the decisions are made."

Minnesota leads the Big Ten in rushing with almost 300 yards a game on the ground. Terry Jackson and Thomas Tapeh have each topped 100 yards rushing in the last three Gophers games.

In his first season as a starter, Jackson is the top rusher in the conference with 171 yards a game - over 50 yards more per league game than second-place Antoineo Harris of Illinois (118.5). Tapeh is fifth in the Big Ten in rushing at 115 yards per game.

"I don't know if we're a great rushing team, but I'm very pleased with the way we've been rushing the football," Minnesota coach Glen Mason said.

Mason, a former Ohio State player and assistant under Woody Hayes, also served under Bruce in the early 1980s on the same staff with Tressel. They were the two finalists for the job when Tressel was hired two years ago.

The last time Mason brought a team to Columbus, the Buckeyes were 5-0 and ranked No. 5 early in the 2000 season. The Gophers pulled off a stunning 29-17 upset.

That victory was considered an open audition in front of 100,000 at Ohio Stadium for the Ohio State job, which was vacated later that season when John Cooper was fired. Tressel moved in from Youngstown State, though, and Mason returned to the Twin Cities to mend fences.

Ohio State's players still vividly recall the sting of that defeat, although quarterback Craig Krenzel downplays its importance two years later.

"That's the kind of stuff that's irrelevant right now," he said.

Ohio State will be close to full strength. Freshman sensation Maurice Clarett should be back at tailback after missing all but six plays of Saturday's win over Penn State because of a nerve injury in his left shoulder.

Clarett said earlier this week that he's getting hate mail - from Ohio State fans - in the wake of a magazine article in which he said he would consider jumping to the pros early.

Clarett needs just 108 rushing yards to break Robert Smith's freshman record at Ohio State of 1,126 yards.

Cie Grant, who missed the last game with an ankle sprain, is expected back for the Buckeyes.

The Gophers had last week off to heal and hone their game for the Buckeyes.

"It's going to be a huge game for us," Minnesota offensive tackle Jeremiah Carter said. "I think everybody on our team was hoping they'd beat Penn State and beat Wisconsin two weeks ago so we could go in there and play against an undefeated team."

With a loss to Purdue already, the Gophers can't afford another slip.

"This game is very pivotal for us," said quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliz, who has completed 54 percent of his passes for 14 touchdowns with four interceptions. "We understand what type of an environment we're going into. You just have to understand it's going to be rough and the only way to slow that down is to put points on those guys and quiet the crowd."