After a full year of hype, it's here.

The Game has arrived, and sky-high stakes beyond bragging rights in the blood feud between Ohio State and Michigan have finally returned.

The best rivalry in college football really needs no introduction. But it could use a handy guide to lay out the strengths and whatever weaknesses might exist for the No. 2 Buckeyes and No. 3 Wolverines ahead of the clash of the Big Ten titans (Saturday, noon ET, ABC/ESPN App).

How Michigan beats you: Consistency on defense and creativity on offense have been the hallmarks of the Wolverines' 10 wins so far this season. Don Brown's defense is on pace to have the best third-down stop percentage in at least the past nine years, and the Wolverines do that by applying pressure early and getting opponents into bad situations. On offense, Michigan has shined brightest when Jim Harbaugh & Co. have thought outside the box. Two conservative games in the past two weeks have yielded a total of 33 points, far below the team's normal output. -- Dan Murphy

How Ohio State beats you: At the peak of its powers, the power-spread offense moves the chains and lights up the scoreboard at will, thanks to a deep, athletic group of skill players and a savvy, veteran distributor in J.T. Barrett at quarterback. Defensively, the Buckeyes can choke the life out of opponents with a vicious pass rush and arguably the most talented collection of playmakers in the country patrolling the secondary. Urban Meyer has worked hard to load his roster with speed at every position since he arrived on campus in 2012, and quite simply, the Buckeyes are literally trying to win in a hurry. -- Austin Ward

How you beat Michigan: Ohio State ran for more than 350 yards last year by attacking an injury-weakened Wolverines front. If they're going to fill the box score this season, the Buckeyes will have to do it on the edges of the defense, where Michigan has shown some weakness in containing outside runs and tackling in space. If the Ohio State defense can scare Michigan away from taking shots downfield and force it to run the ball, the Buckeyes might not need to rack up too many points on offense. -- Murphy

How you beat Ohio State: Whether it's by a shutdown secondary, bad weather or sometimes just good fortune, if an opponent can contain Ohio State's passing attack, it has a chance to win. There have been ups and downs in that area this season for the Buckeyes as they have dealt with inexperience at wide receiver, occasional lapses in protection up front and a couple of outings where Barrett's accuracy hasn't been up to par. That can make the play calling more predictable and provide a huge lift to a defense. There's still the issue of scoring on one of the nation's stoutest defenses, but Wisconsin and Michigan State proved that it is possible to run on the Buckeyes. -- Ward

Michigan's most important stat for a win: Turnover margin seems too obvious, but it has an even more heightened value than normal for Michigan this week. Ohio State has as many interceptions (17) as any team in a Power 5 conference this year. With question marks at quarterback, the Wolverines can't afford a momentum-flipping mistake. They might not have the firepower right now to stage a high-scoring comeback effort. -- Murphy

Ohio State's most important stat for a win: The target is 15 touches per game for junior H-back Curtis Samuel, and in a game with these stakes, it will be imperative for Ohio State's most dangerous weapon to get at least that many combined carries and receptions, if not more. Samuel is averaging 13 offensive touches per game this season and has 1,440 total yards and 14 touchdowns. In Ohio State's lone loss at Penn State, Samuel had the ball in his hands just 10 times. -- Ward

What a win means for Jim Harbaugh: Beating Ohio State is the last regular-season box to check in Harbaugh's two-year march of returning Michigan to a Big Ten, and therefore national, power. He was still an NFL player the last time the Wolverines won in Columbus, back in 2000. All of the unique things he does can easily be justified with a win Saturday and a trip to the conference title game. A second straight loss to Ohio State won't significantly shrink his benefit of the doubt among maize and blue fans yet, but Harbaugh will eventually have to beat the Buckeyes if he's going to maintain his messianic reputation. -- Murphy

What a win means for Urban Meyer: Unbeaten in four editions of The Game and boasting a 60-5 record and a national championship since taking over as Buckeyes coach, Meyer doesn't really have anything to prove. But he never wants to come up short in a rivalry that he has followed since he was a young boy -- born and raised -- in Ohio. A loss to the rival Wolverines would leave the Buckeyes just short of the College Football Playoff for a second consecutive year, doubling the sting. A win, though, would further cement Meyer's growing legacy with Ohio State by keeping his record against the Wolverines perfect and probably sending his team on to compete for another national crown. -- Ward