It’s been a very lousy streak for Michigan football against Ohio State. If the Wolverines win that game this year, it’s going to be worth a couple wins.

The last team Michigan football beat Ohio State was in 2011. That was the season immediately following the Buckeyes losing head coach Jim Tressel, and they limped to a 6-7 record with interim coach Luke Fickell.

The last time the Wolverines beat a legitimate Ohio State team was in 2003. That Buckeyes team finished 11-2.

And then the last time Michigan beat the Buckeyes in Columbus was in 2000.

With each passing season, each one of those accomplishments moves farther back into the pages of history. Michigan has lost 12 of the last 13, culminating in last season’s absolutely torturous double-overtime loss to the Buckeyes.

(J.T. was short.)

So when I say beating Ohio State this season would be worth more than a single win, I obviously don’t mean that literally. Although the NCAA may award the Wolverines a bonus win sometime in the future if this losing streak continues, what it means for this year is that Michigan could drop an extra game and still be praised.

We’re just getting ready for the summer months, but the indication seems to be that the Wolverines are being counted in to win another 10 games this season, and nine seems more likely than 11. All things considered, that wouldn’t be a bad 2017. Disappointing, perhaps, but not bad.

But let’s say Michigan drops a couple (two, maybe three) games before meeting up with Ohio State. The Wolverines could, without a doubt in my mind, beat the Buckeyes and we’d all forget that Michigan lost to Purdue earlier. (Just kidding, that could never happen.) But you know what I mean: Beating Ohio State would make up for some past transgressions.

I’m fully aware this is how unstable, desperate people talk about sports, but that’s where I am with Michigan and Ohio State, to say the least.