CLEVELAND, Ohio -- If the Big Ten championship isn't enough for you, Ohio State doesn't deserve one.

Even spoiled Buckeye fans know such things don't grow in Buckeye Grove. For all the amazing success of Urban Meyer in Columbus, his only Big Ten championship came in 2014 in The Perfect Game, the 59-0 rout of Wisconsin that spring-loaded the Buckeyes' stunning rise to the national championship.

A surprisingly narrow trophy case

Otherwise, the program with the cachet as the Big Ten's best has a narrow trophy shelf of late in its own league:

The 2012 team was unbeaten, but on probation because of violations committed under Jim Tressel. Penn State, the "Leaders Division" runner-up, was also on probation for far more serious violations committed under Joe Paterno. Wisconsin, then in the same division, crushed Nebraska for the championship, 70-31

The 2013 Ohio State team lost the Big Ten Championship Game to Michigan State, 34-24.

The 2015 team, the defending national champion, lost its only home conference game thus far under Meyer to Michigan State, 17-14, which won the Big Ten and got trampled by Alabama in the CFP.

The 2016 team lost the East Division tiebreaker to Penn State after a 24-21 defeat, made the CFP without it anyway, and got trampled by Clemson.

Saturday's high noon showdown with Michigan State at the Horseshoe will give the winner the inside track to the Big Ten Championship Game against unbeaten and only lightly tested West Division leader Wisconsin.

The Five-Year War?



After getting trampled at Iowa, resulting in all sorts of "worst ever" categories for Meyer, the Buckeyes face the only Big Ten team to have beaten them twice under Meyer. How close has it been?

Michigan State is 2-3 against Ohio State in the Meyer years.

Ohio State twice has won, 17-16, including last year at East Lansing.

Michigan State spoiled two perfect OSU seasons (2013, 2015).

It took one of the best games of quarterback J.T. Barrett's career at Michigan State in 2014 for the Buckeyes to win, 49-37.

The aggregate score in the Five-Year War is Ohio State 121, Michigan State 120.

No Roses, only thorny problems

I understand the season-making/season-breaking nature of rivalry games.

Furthermore, Ohio State will never say anyone but Michigan is its top rival. That is because of the Woody Hayes-Bo Schembechler 10-Year War and their mutual dominance of the rest of the Big Ten.

Also, regrettably, in the new world of the CFP's Final Four domination of college football, the Big Ten champion won't get to play in the Rose Bowl this season, unless it's in one of the CFP semifinal games. Only Wisconsin has a CFP chance.

Still, Michigan State-Ohio State has a retro feel and appeal, not least because Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was once one of Jim Tressel's top OSU assistants, as was Schembechler with Hayes.

Some of the nostalgia might not be that old or that pleasant, however. Dantonio likes trick plays, as does Iowa. Dantonio has used them to win games, not to humiliate opponents.

The latter was the case at Iowa with "Polecat," a term for a skunk, as well as for the Hawkeyes' version of the "swinging gate" play used to good effect against Ohio State.

But if the Buckeyes get skunked (shut out), or if they stink it up at home, the Michigan game will be reduced to a consolation prize, as a Big Ten championship never should be.