It started with two-a-day practices Aug. 8. It's played 10 games (going 8-2), turning heads the whole way. Now everything it has done, everything it has accomplished will be thrown out the window. The entire season for the Ohio football team comes down to one game.

The Bobcats play Marshall Saturday in Huntington, W.Va., for the Mid-American Conference East Division title. The winner plays West Division Champion Toledo Dec. 5 in Huntington for the MAC Championship.

The loser goes home.

This is the biggest game in Ohio football history since the 1968 Tangerine Bowl, a 49-42 loss to Richmond. That, coincidentally, was also the last time the Bobcats won the MAC crown.

"Certainly it's a great opportunity for our program," Ohio coach Jim Grobe said. "We haven't been in this situation in a long, long time. It's a great opportunity for us, but we are going to have to go play. We are going to play a really fine Marshall football program."

Marshall, the 1996 Division I-AA National Champion, is used to these winner-take-all games. Dating from 1987, the Thundering Herd are 22-2 in games where they face elimination from a championship game.

The Herd are also in their own element, Marshall Stadium. They haven't lost at home in two years. Add to that a sellout crowd of 30,000 people, and the Bobcats have their hands full.

The Ohio faithful were not shut out of their chance to see the Bobcats play for a championship berth. Four thousand Bobcat fans will make the trip to support their team.

Sophomore Mike Ramus is one of the die-hard fans who spent $16 to make sure he was included in what could be another page in Ohio football history.

"My friends and I are big fans and we have a lot of school pride," he said. "The price of the ticket was no big deal."

Knowing it's a win-or-go-home situation, the Bobcats will come home victorious and MAC East Division Champions, Ramus said.

"They'll be pumped up; they'll be fired up," he said. "I think we'll come away with a victory, but I don't think it'll be by a big margin."

Win or lose, it's been a great season and a giant step forward for the Ohio football program, Ohio Athletics Director Tom Boeh said.

"The team is capable of competing at a very high level and we proved that this year," he said. "But we still have a way to go. We've gone from being ranked 108 out of 108 in the nation to, until last week, the top 30. That is an extraordinary jump. Obviously, the future is very bright."

The future could be right now for Ohio. This one game will determine if there will be more practices, more drills and more games. This game will determine the future.

This game will determine the MAC East Division Champion.