COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State officials will take extra security precautions to guard against problems with fans when the No. 2 Buckeyes face Michigan (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) on Saturday.

"Ninety to 95 percent of the fans are fabulous, but there is sometimes an undercurrent,'' Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger said Tuesday.

Geiger declined to get into specifics about security, but he did say that personnel would be available to escort both teams and coaches on and off the field.

"Whether we have a successful end to the day, apart from who wins or loses the game, depends upon the issue of mutual respect, human relations and how well everybody behaves,'' Geiger said.

Geiger said he was responding to comments made by Michigan coach Lloyd Carr on Monday when he was asked if he ever feared for his safety on the field.

"Absolutely. The last time we were in Columbus,'' Carr said. "Jon Falk, our equipment guy got knocked down. Really, it was a terrifying experience.

"That's why when I see the way some of these games end and the people that are allowed on those fields, I think it's extremely dangerous. It has be addressed before something happens that we're going to all regret.''

After Iowa clinched a share of the Big Ten title last week at Minnesota, fans rushed the field and tried to take down the goal posts. Also on Saturday, Texas Tech students defied a zero-tolerance policy prohibiting fans from going onto the field after beating Texas.

Marshall fans ran onto the field to celebrate a last-second win 10 days ago over Miami of Ohio. Miami defensive coordinator Jon Wauford was led off the field in handcuffs. He is accused of shoving a 36-year-old man who fell and hit his head on the artificial turf.

"There have been some incidents that have taken wonderful games and have cast a negative cloud over them,'' Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "Just as we ask our players to celebrate appropriately and to never denigrate someone else, we have to make sure we encourage our fans and people who are at Ohio Stadium on this tremendous day to do the same.''

Geiger said there wouldn't necessarily be more campus and city police on hand, but that he was speaking out to make sure that people understand that problems will not be tolerated.

"We're hoping that a lot of precautions we are taking are not necessary, that the idea of the privilege of being a part of all this will prevail and that we will not have a mob scene and an unhappy outcome and people getting hurt and all of those kinds of things,'' he said.

In 1996 after Ohio State had its unbeaten season ruined by Michigan at Ohio Stadium, police used pepper spray and Mace to keep fans off the field. The game has also led to some property damage and bonfires being set in the campus area.