Jim Harbaugh believes Michigan is “on the cusp” of big things. Ohio State might have something to say about that.

Jim Harbaugh believes Michigan is on the cusp of big things. There’s only one problem. Ohio State is in the way already doing big things.

But back to that Ohio State problem

Okay. Again, there’s just one problem. Ohio State doesn’t seem to be going away into the night anytime soon. And while a competitor never shies away from going toe-to-toe and working to beat the best, the Buckeyes are just on a totally different level right now.

Michigan’s recruiting is good, but not great. It’ll get enough talent on the field to compete with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan State — maybe even Penn State — but it’s not close enough to the goods Ohio State is pulling in. There was a thought that recruiting might tail-off a little with the departure of Urban Meyer, but new head coach Ryan Day is currently assembling one of the best recruiting classes in the history of the program. The 2021 class has a great shot at finishing No. 1 in the entire country.

On top of that, the players being churned out to the NFL are ungodly. Ohio State just popped three more first-rounders to the next level last April, and there’s more in the pipeline. The Buckeye program has been able to hit the sweet spot of not hitting on recruits and then developing them to be the best they can be. So much so that you can field an entire squad full of former OSU players on NFL rosters today.

And yeah, it would be an extremely competitive one, not just a bunch of warm bodies filling out uniforms.

Next … what the rivalry means to both