For the coaching subject... I think Carrs' time was already very limited (2-3 seasons) barring a NC that I never saw happening anyway. There's very few coaches that worry me for MI. They can't just be a good coach, but they need to really get the rivalry too. Urban fits the bill, but I can't see him leaving a program that currently loves him to death.
We, as fans, got very lucky with Tressel -- and our State actually has all the coaching pipelines in place.
On the issue of national perspective of the B10. I suppose it could hurt us this year because we have no huge big-name OOC opponent. But whatever. For the future, we really do control our own destiny. If we beat USC next year or the year after -- it won't matter what the rest of the B10 is like. I could say the same for Texas the last 2 years. And whoever our epic matchups are after USC (I forget.)
Teams like PSU and Wiscy depend on B10 perception because it's not very often they have big-name opponents. Ohio State didn't corner themselves into that position.