The Associated Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Because the Big Ten does not have a championship game, No. 10 Purdue and No. 13 Michigan are treating today's game as if the conference title is on the line.

"I told my players, this is why you came to Purdue, to play in games like this," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said. "You are fortunate to play in a game like this. Instead of saying, 'Oh my God, we have to go to the Big House,' we are saying, 'We get to go to the Big House.' I love these kinds of games."

Purdue (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) and Michigan State are the only unbeaten Big Ten teams. Michigan (6-2, 3-1) is one of three teams with one conference loss.

"The success of our season depends on this game," Michigan's Dave Pearson said. "If we stumble, it will cripple our season because this is like a Big Ten championship game."

Michigan players believe they control their own destiny after the results of two games last week.

Purdue beat Wisconsin, which doesn't play Michigan. Ohio State handed Iowa, which beat the Wolverines, its second Big Ten loss.

"Part of me was rooting for Ohio State, which was a little weird, but it was good for us to have Iowa lose," Pearson said. "It's nice to know that if we get our job done, we can get where we want to be - without anybody helping us out."

If Michigan does not lose any of its final four games, it will play in the Rose Bowl for the first time since the 1998 game, when the Wolverines beat Washington State to win the national title.

If Purdue finishes the Big Ten season undefeated, the Boilermakers would need Michigan State to lose because the two teams do not play one another and would finish with the same overall record. In the event of a tie, the Spartans would head to Pasadena because Purdue went most recently, after the 2000 season.

NOTRE DAME: A former Notre Dame football player convicted of sexual battery avoided jail time.

Abram Elam was given an 18-month suspended sentence by Judge Roland Chamblee Jr. Elam also was placed on probation for two years and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Elam was among four former players charged with an alleged sexual attack on a female student in March 2002. He was the only one of the four not charged with rape, but the only one to be convicted of any charges.