JIM NAVEAU: Michigan recovery would help Buckeyes

If you are an Ohio State football fan reading this with your breakfast, what comes next might be a little harder to chew than that doughnut sitting on the plate next to your cup of coffee.

It would be a good thing for the Big Ten if Michigan isn’t as bad this season as it was last year.

It would help Ohio State if Michigan becomes a good football team again and stays good.

Madness, you say. Maybe not.

At the Big Ten’s annual football media days last week, Illinois coach Ron Zook sized up the current state of the conference this way: “The rest of us are chasing Ohio State.”

But the perception around the rest of the country is that Ohio State doesn’t have to break a sweat to out-run its competition inside the Big Ten.

This is not just some West Coast idea dreamed up by Southern California coach Pete Carroll while he was dipping his toes into the surf at Malibu.

It’s not something Big 12 fans came up with while they were branding steers or chasing tornadoes or whatever.

It is all there in black and white on paper in numbers that not only don’t lie, they don’t even mislead.

The Big Ten was 1-6 in bowl games last season. It is 9-20 in the postseason the last four years. In the BCS games — Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and BCS championship — Big Ten teams are 0-6 the last three years and five of those losses have been by 14 points or more.

The regular seasons haven’t been a lot kinder.

Ohio State surrendered points so quickly in its 35-3 loss at USC last season that there was some tongue-in-cheek concern expressed for the well-being of Traveler, the horse who is ridden along the sidelines every time the Trojans score.

Michigan, 3-9 last year, has lost at home to Toledo and Appalachian State the last two seasons.

As the Big Ten played out last year, Ohio State had what amounted to a one-game season, the USC game.

Sure, the Buckeyes might have sneaked into the BCS title game if they had beaten Penn State. But they would have been widely regarded as pretenders who grabbed a spot that belonged to someone else.

In the perception department — and that does count for something in the BCS formula — Ohio State and the Big Ten are playing catch-up.

The best way to close that gap is to get as many big wins every season as possible. If Michigan is good, that’s one more potential signature win.

OSU senior defensive back Kurt Coleman agreed up to a point with the idea that the Buckeyes need Michigan to be strong.  But only up to a point.

“Having Michigan be a powerhouse like they have been would definitely help the perception,” he said. “In a sense, yes, we’re pulling for them. But I wouldn’t say ‘root.’ I hope everybody does well in non-conference games and bowl games.”

Tight end Jake Ballard was less hesitant about the benefits for OSU of Michigan getting up off the floor. “They need to get back to where they used to be,” he said.

Whether it would be a good thing for Ohio State if Michigan were good is probably a question for the future anyway.

The Wolverines expect to be better this season. But they’re probably not ready to return to the highest level of college football.

“If we’re not in a bowl game, we’re all going to be ticked. If we’re not competing in every game, we’re all going to be upset,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said.

“Are we good enough to compete for a Big Ten championship? There’s a lot of good things that would have to happen for us and a lot of bad things happen for someone else,” he said.