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are viewed by many from Ohio as elitist. Some Michiganders allegedly view people from Ohio as inferior and lacking class, while Michigan fans and alumni express feelings of intellectual superiority over people from Ohio and Ohio State. In addition, Ohio has become known as a state full of football talent. Many jokes about the Wolverines point out that Michigan's roster is always filled with Ohio natives. As Desmond Howard will tell you from personal experience, those Ohio natives who play(ed) for Michigan brave the open animosity of some Ohio residents. This history and these sentiments fuel the annual meeting, adding to the rivalry's greatness.

Similar to Ohio's place as a pool of football talent, Ohio State has rather quickly climbed atop of the Big Ten conference and the college football world as a premier program. Ohio State's standing is partially based on the team's recent ability to dominate the Wolverines in conference play, Big Ten championship wins and appearances in the National Championship game. However, the college football world forgets that Michigan edges Ohio State in the rivalry's history. In addition, Ohio State's recent domination has been based predominantly on matchups between coaches Lloyd Carr and Jim Tressel, with Michigan's Carr holding a losing record against Ohio State's Tressel. However, late in 2007, the Wolverines named former West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez as Michigan's new head coach. Over the years, coaching changes have made significant differences in the rivalry's domination. Before Jim Tressel arrived at Ohio State, Michigan dominated the rivalry, winning its last National Championship during that time frame (January 1998) after almost 50 years without a National Championship title. Ohio State's previous coach, John Cooper, had been replaced in large part because he repeatedly failed to beat the Wolverines. More often than not throughout the rivalry's history, the two teams have simply traded wins and losses. This was, perhaps, most notably true while Bo Schembechler served as Michigan's head coach from 1969 to 1989. Periods of lopsided domination, while they have certainly occurred, have been more few and far between.

Over the years, first-round, as well as low-round, draft picks from Michigan have been successful in the NFL. At times, the sports media attempts to paint Michigan as a team with a high number of players who have failed to live up to their promise in the NFL. One of the most notable Wolverines in this regard

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