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Pryor, who leads the Big Ten in pass efficiency, has had good games and bad. He has shown an amazing knack for avoiding a closing pocket and turning negative yards into big gains. But he has also had difficulty throwing the ball with authority more than 10 or 15 yards. At other times, he’s taken sacks instead of throwing the ball away.

He has said that playing college football is “easy.”

“I just think as you’re growing up and playing football, it’s just a game,” he said a week ago. “Football is more simple than everyone thinks. You have four downs to get a first down and every down until fourth down you have to get at least three yards or more. If you do that and you move the chains and don’t turn over the ball you get a victory.”

Michigan’s players are aware that Pryor could have been a teammate instead of an adversary. They have mostly said all the right things about going up against him.

“He’s got awesome athleticism when he gets out of the pocket, so you have to contain him,” linebacker Obi Ezeh said. Then he added, “When he’s back there in the pocket, he’s just another quarterback.”

Ohio State’s players don’t find anything ordinary about Pryor.

“He’s made a ton of plays for us and that’s really the important thing,” Nicol said. “You don’t want to think about him in maize and blue, either.”

Regardless of what colors he’s wearing, he’s in for a wild ride. Some rookies to the game handle it extremely well, others are traumatized by it.

“Going into your first (Michigan-Ohio State) game, you have no idea what to expect,” Leach said. “People can talk to you about it until they’re blue in the face, but you won’t know in your heart and mind what it’s like to be in this game until you get one under your belt.”

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