All season long, reporters asked Ohio players and coaches about the Marshall game, and the players and coaches politely declined, saying they wanted to focus on their current opponent.

The opponent everyone wanted is here, as the Bobcats take on the Thundering Herd Saturday at Marshall Stadium in Huntington,W.Va., at 3:30 p.m. The game will decide the Mid-American Conference East Division champion and the chance to play Toledo in the MAC Title game Dec. 5.

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The Bobcat rushing defense was tested last week against Miami's Travis Prentice, but will be up against the best passing team in the MAC in Marshall. The Herd is led by Heisman Trophy candidate Randy Moss.

"What else can you say, it's a championship game," cornerback Tevell Jones said. "We're fortunate to be in this situation. It's going to be a hard game, because they're just as good as Miami. All year it's been those two games for us, so we've got to go 1-1 in them."

Talking about Marshall means talking about wide receiver Randy Moss, a Heisman Trophy candidate. Moss leads the MAC in all purpose yards, scoring and scoring touchdowns, and is second in receptions and receiving yards per game.

Moss has made it clear Marshall is merely a springboard for his National Football League aspirations and nothing else. Until then he will have to put up with MAC defenders at least once more.

The job of stopping Moss, or at least slowing his production, falls on cornerbacks Jones and Mark Stubbs, who will alternate covering Moss.

"We're looking forward to him," said Jones, who will get plenty of chances to add to his MAC-leading seven interceptions. "He's tough, but whoever wants it more between us will win. Our defense is out to prove it's not just going to be the Randy Moss show out there."

Ohio coach Jim Grobe warned about focusing too much on the Heisman Trophy candidate.

"Everything about Marshall is dangerous," Grobe said. "Everybody talks about Randy Moss, but they've got a bunch of weapons; you can't just try to stop him."

Moss has overshadowed everything else about Marshall all season. Running back Doug Chapman is in the MAC's top 10 in rushing. Quarterback Chad Pennington averages 295 passing yards per game and has a MAC-leading 34 touchdown passes.

Defensively, the Thundering Herd have only two players in the top 20 in conference tackles. Linebacker Larry McCloud is fourth with 116, and linebacker John Grace is 20th with 85. Also, defensive end B.J. Cohen has 10 sacks.

If there's one area where Ohio has the advantage, it's in the running game. The Bobcats average 325 rushing yards a game, 100 yards more than second-place Akron in the MAC. They will get a big boost from the return of team-leading rusher Steve Hookfin. Hookfin sat out last week's game against Miami, a game Ohio rushed for 178 yards. The Herd's defense allows about 206 yards a game.

Marshall coach Bob Pruett, who led his team to a Division I-AA national championship last year, said he expects the Bobcats to come out fired up.

"We're playing for a championship of the East Division and the opportunity for the MAC Championship, so I would think that you've got to forget about last week and go on and play this week's game," Pruett said. "I'm sure they'll be emotionally ready to play. I know they'll be ready to play and hopefully our guys will be too."