1 vs.2

It was already No. 2 Michigan at No. 1 Ohio State, the most gargantuan game in the history of, possibly, sport’s fiercest rivalry.

And now it’s this?

Former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler’s death Friday, at 77, on the of eve of one of the most eagerly awaited college football games ever, added a somber subtext to a for-the-ages feeling.

And what, only hours before, seemed like adolescent, archrivalry frolic -- namely the punk group “Dead Schembechlers” headlining a Friday night show at Columbus’ Newport Music Hall -- gave way to eulogy.

At 12:57 p.m., local time, Friday, Tom Loudermilk, manager of the Newport Music Hall on High Street, emerged from the theater with a ladder.

Despite an admitted fear of heights, Loudermilk ascended the rungs and removed the black, block letters that spelled out “Dead Schembechlers” on the theater marquee.

At 1:01 p.m. the marquee sign read: “God Bless Bo.”

“Anything that insults the memory of someone who died is going to be avoided,” Loudermilk said “We’re adamant about that.”

The band released a statement saying it was “crushed to learn of the death of Bo Schembechler” and announced it would disband after Friday’s performance.

Matt Gordon, a 27-year-old Ohio State graduate, paid $8 for his ticket shortly after hearing of Schembechler’s death.

“This is the weirdest thing ever,” Gordon said as he stood near the ticket window. “This is unreal ... It’s terrible.

Josh Pinkerton, his friend, wondered whether this was the type of motivation Michigan could use to upset his beloved Buckeyes.

“It could be like a win-one-for-the-Gipper mentality,” Pinkerton said. “It would be even worse if the game was in Michigan.”

Schembechler’s death was announced just as the Michigan team bus was leaving Ann Arbor for Columbus.

Against this backdrop, Ohio State and Michigan will now play a game with stakes as high as any regular-season game on record.

This winner earns a berth Jan. 8 in the Bowl Championship Series title game in Glendale, Ariz.

The loser, depending on BCS machinations, may also claim it belongs.

This will be the 103rd meeting of the schools, which have been playing each other at the end of the season since 1935 -- with never quite an ending like this.

“I expect it to be all 11 [other regular-season] games in one,” Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith said this week.

Four times in the series, both teams have been unbeaten, as they are this time around, but this is the first time they have played as No. 1 and No. 2.

“There was something about those teams being on the field at the same time,” former Michigan quarterback Jim Harbaugh, now the coach at the University of San Diego, said this week. “You prepare for that game all year long and when it comes, it’s better than Christmas.”

Former Ohio State All-American linebacker Randy Gradishar, who played in three Ohio State-Michigan games in the early 1970s -- he was 1-1-1 -- said the importance of the rivalry was ingrained from the moment he stepped on campus.

“Every day was building toward that game,” Gradishar said.

An already intense rivalry was elevated to code blue in 1969 when Schembechler arrived in Ann Arbor.

Schembechler had been an assistant coach under Woody Hayes at Ohio State and, in what turned out to be his last news conference this week, described his onetime boss, with feisty respect, as “the most irascible guy that ever lived ... and the worst guy in the world to work for.”

Woody and Bo battled 10, hard seasons.

In Schembechler’s first year, Michigan upset No. 1 Ohio State, which was defending national champion and winner of 22 straight games.

Hayes thought his 1969 team might have been his best.

Years later, at an event to honor him, Hayes peered down the table at Schembechler, called him a name, and added, “You’ll never win a bigger game than that.”

Hayes, who died in 1987, never referred to Michigan by name, referring to the Wolverines as “that team up north.”

Once, the story goes, Hayes refused to stop for gas while returning from a recruiting trip to Michigan until he’d crossed the Ohio line.

Hayes said he would push the car over the border rather than spend a penny on Michigan soil.

According to Gradishar, Hayes was insufferable during Michigan week.

He remembers the 1971 Michigan game, during which his coach, angered at an official’s call, “ran down the field and broke the sideline marker.”

In 1973, Ohio State was No. 1 and Michigan was No. 4, and the schools played to a 10-10 tie.

Big Ten athletic directors voted to send Ohio State to the Rose Bowl. Back then, that was the only bowl game available to the Big Ten, so Michigan stayed home.

Schembechler described it this week as “the greatest disappointment of my career.”

Twice in the last decade the game has been the last important hurdle to posterity.

In 1997, No. 1 Michigan needed every ounce of Charles Woodson’s talent to beat No. 4 Ohio State, 20-14, earning a Rose Bowl bid and, ultimately, a share of the national title.

In 2002, Michigan stood in the way of No. 2 Ohio State’s advance to the BCS national title game. Ohio State held on, 14-9, but it took an interception at the goal line by Buckeyes defensive back Will Allen on the game’s last play.

There are other important games on today’s schedule. Auburn and Alabama square off in their annual “Iron Bowl” battle, and California plays at USC in a game with Rose Bowl and national title implications.

Now, though, those games pale in comparison, for the reasons stated above.

And so it is Michigan ...

“We don’t need the 1 and 2 rankings to make this a special game,” Wolverines senior tight end Brian Thompson said.

... against Ohio State ...

“Legends are made in this game,” Buckeyes guard T.J. Downing said.

... and a new, rivalry rallying cry:

God Bless Bo.

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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1 vs. 2 facts, figures

The lowdown on showdowns between college football’s top-ranked teams:

* There have been 37 meetings of the top two ranked teams in the Associated Press football poll.

* The top-ranked team is 22-13-2 in all No. 1-No. 2 games.

* In regular-season games, the No. 1 team is 13-6-2.

* The last regular-season matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 was Sept. 9. No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 2 Texas, 24-7, at Austin.

* The road team is 8-7-1 in regular-season 1-2 matchups. Five games were played at neutral sites.

* The No. 1 team is 6-0 when playing host to the 1-2 regular-season matchup.

* Ohio State has won all three 1-2 games it has participated in. The Buckeyes beat No. 2 USC, 27-16, in the 1969 Rose Bowl, beat No. 1 Miami, 31-24, in overtime in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl, and beat No. 2 Texas, 24-7, on Sept. 9.

* Michigan also has played in three 1-2 matchups, losing all as the No. 2 team, in regular-season matchups. The Wolverines lost to Notre Dame, 35-12, in the first such matchup in 1943, lost at Iowa, 12-10, in 1985 and again to Notre Dame, 24-19, in 1989.

* The eventual national champion played in 14 of the 20 regular-season 1-2 matchups before this season. Of those 14 games, the No. 1 team went on to win the national title 11 times.

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Associated Press