How many times has Michigan realistically had a shot at the natty in the last 30 years? Their national significance when it comes to being a big time national winner isn't that great in modern times. scUM is much more likely to go 8-4 or worse than actually contend for a national title.
In the past when people have made such points the response has typically been to sarcastically imply that you're saying that Michigan is the worst team ever and never wins anything. Rather than let it devolve into that, let’s look at this objectively.
During the division era of the B1G, Ohio State started out having been hammered by sanctions and was thus 4th place in the inaugural year of the Leaders division. They then had a run of 10 straight years where they had the best record in the division or were tied for the best. Before the cheating started, the cheaters tied for first in their division once, were second twice, third three times, fourth once, fifth twice and sixth once.
When you look deeper, it’s worse than that because both of their years finishing 2nd in their division were in the first two years of division play when they were in the weak Legends division. How weak? In 2012, 8-5 Michigan was 2nd in the Legends division to Nebraska, while the Leaders division was represented by 4-4 Wisconsin because Ohio State and Sandusky (Joe Knew) State were both ineligible for postseason play. The 3rd place Badgers destroyed the Huskers in the CG.
So, objectively speaking, a grand total of one time in the ten seasons prior to the cheating was Michigan Ohio State’s nearest competitor for conference record. And in that year, the Buckeyes laid a 60-burger on the skunk bears.
I am not saying that Michigan is terrible, or even that they suck. But it is objective reality that the game has moved on from the time when the skunk bears were the Buckeyes nearest competitor in the Big Ten without cheating.
And no, last year’s game does not prove a damn thing that is relevant to this conversation. Was Michigan the better team on that day? Yes. But this is not about one day in November or about a mixture of hubris and stupidity that led to the National Champion falling to the 7th placed B1G team.
This is about who is our nearest competitor each year. That was Oregon in 2024. They’re the defending conference champions. They’re the ones who have what we want and we need to go get it back.
When it comes to our closest competition in this conference, it is just an objective fact that Michigan is not even in that discussion and they haven’t been for some time. And the tv executives know it.
