(AP) Michigan is one of just three Big Ten teams without a loss in the conference, giving the Wolverines hope that their season will be remembered for more than the Appalachian State loss.

"Really the Big Ten race is wide open, so whoever gets hot at this time of year will take the Big Ten Championship," Michigan safety Brandent Englemon said. "We're right there in the mix of everything."

The Wolverines (4-2, 2-0) will soon know a lot more about their chances of turning around their much-maligned year because they host Purdue on Saturday and play at No. 18 Illinois next week.

If Michigan can get past both games unscathed, it probably will earn a spot in The Associated Poll again after its unprecedented fall from No. 5 to being unranked following its stunning loss to second-tier Appalachian State.

Purdue (5-1, 1-1) might get back in the poll with a win at Michigan Stadium for the first time since 1966 — when Bob Griese was its quarterback.

"For whatever reason, we haven't played our best up there," Boilermakers coach Joe Tiller said. "I'd like to see us go up there and play for 60 minutes."

If the Boilermakers put together a complete game and win, they will be bowl-eligible for the 10th time in 11 seasons and will distance themselves from a 23-7 loss to Ohio State that Tiller said humbled them.

"I think we're still a good football team, and I think we're going to do a good job of responding," quarterback Curtis Painter said. "We ran into a great football team that let us know where we were — that we have a lot of things to work on."

Purdue's explosive offense was grounded against the Buckeyes, getting held to 4 yards rushing after running back Kory Sheets had three consecutive 100-yard games to help the team average 45 points and almost 500 yards entering that game.

The Boilermakers have the kind of spread offense that has caused problems for Michigan, including this year in losses against Appalachian and Oregon. But Painter is not much of threat to run, giving the Wolverines a chance to be successful with their philosophy against wide-open offenses.

"We try to stay in our base defense and make them adjust to what we do, instead of adjusting to what they do," Englemon said.

When Michigan has the ball, its plans are not a secret: Mike Hart to the left, right and up the middle.

Hart leads the nation with 976 yards rushing this year, and 4,655 in his career. He became Michigan's career leading rusher last week, and can break another school mark Saturday if he runs for at least 100 yards for a seventh straight game.

The senior has a shot to finish the year trailing only Ron Dayne, who ran for 7,000-plus yards at Wisconsin, among the Big Ten's all-time leading rushers.

Tiller said the Boilermakers can't shut down Hart, but they aim to limit him.

"He has very strong legs," Tiller said. "After you hit him and it looks like you've got him stopped, oftentimes, he'll come out the crowd and end up turning what looks to be a short gain into a bigger or longer gain."

Michigan hopes some of its banged-up linemen back to create bigger holes for Hart, and expect to have receiver Mario Manningham back after he didn't play last week for unspecified reasons.

Purdue defensive end Cliff Avril might miss the game with a right knee injury. Avril leads the team with three sacks, returned an interception 43 yards for a score and is second on the team with six tackles for losses.