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Ohio State coach Urban Meyer's Buckeyes have tied a Big Ten record with 20 consecutive wins in Big Ten regular-season games entering into Saturday night's game against Michigan State at Spartan Stadium.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

EAST LANSING -- Ohio State coach Urban Meyer made it clear during his Monday press conference that he holds Michigan State in high regard, but that doesn't make the Spartans a rival.

Meyer indicated the Buckeyes have only one rival, and he doesn't anticipate that changing regardless of how big his team's games with MSU have been of late.

Michigan State (7-1, 4-0 Big Ten) hosts Ohio State (7-1, 4-0) at 8 p.m. Saturday at Spartan Stadium in a game that likely will decide the Big Ten's East Division and looks to have College Football Playoff implications.

"We have one rival here,'' said Meyer, referring to the University of Michigan before talking about Michigan State. "What's happened in this situation is you have an excellent team, after watching them on film, they're a great team, and they stand in the way of the Big Ten championship.

"They stood in the way last year and we failed.''

Michigan State beat Ohio State 34-24 in the Big Ten championship game last season, capturing the league's Rose Bowl bid and knocking the Buckeyes out of an appearance in the national championship game.

Some have suggested that the No. 7 Spartans and No. 13 Buckeyes are on the verge of a new rivalry on account of the importance of the last year's game land this Saturday night.

"And so does that make them a rival? It makes them in the way of something that we all want, and that's Big Ten championship,'' Meyer said. "I think it happened a little bit with Wisconsin. I remember our first year it was big because they went to three straight Rose Bowls.

"I think this is a credit to their (Michigan State) university, their coaching staff and most importantly their players.''

The Spartans have the attention of Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett, who said after the Buckeyes' 55-14 win over Illinois on Saturday night that "this is why you come to Ohio State, to go play Michigan State at Michigan State. This is what it is. It's big-time."

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, who grew up in Ohio and recruits the Buckeye State aggressively, has said he views the Ohio State game as one where the Spartans need to "measure up.''

Meyer said Saturday night's game can be a great one without people hanging the "rivalry" tag on it.

"To say this is a rivalry game, that would diminish the rivalry (Michigan) that's been here for 100 years,'' Meyer said. "This is a great game because it's two teams battling for first place.''

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