Poll? It's a shaft for Michigan, which is '2' good for sixth

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Since John L. Smith became its coach in December 2002, Michigan State has been interesting only when he's slapping himself in the face or when the Spartans are folding against Notre Dame or, jeez, when Smith is still coaching Louisville without telling anyone he's actually been hired by the Spartans.

John L. Smith has the dazed look of a man whose team got drilled by mighty Michigan. (AP)

None of that happened Saturday. Michigan beat up Michigan State 31-13, and while that mattered to the 111,349 at Michigan Stadium, it was of national relevance only in the bigger picture, and that picture is this:

After wearing out its sixth consecutive opponent, No. 6 Michigan is better than No. 6. Several spots better, possibly all the way to No. 2.

Do you have any idea what that could mean?

It could mean -- if Top 25 voters would fall out of love with overrated Southern California, if they would ask themselves what West Virginia has done to be ranked ahead of Michigan, and if Florida would lose one of its brutal SEC games -- that Ohio State and Michigan would be ranked No. 1 and No. 2 when they play in Columbus on Nov. 18.

Finally.

Michigan and Ohio State have played 102 times, but never as No. 1 and No. 2. That kind of matchup, anywhere, has happened just 36 times in 70 years -- usually a marquee nonconference game in September or a bowl in January.

In November or December? Between conference rivals? In the history of college football, that has happened just three times, and only in conferences that don't exist anymore -- twice in the Big 8, once in the Southwest Conference. Two such Oklahoma-Nebraska games, in 1971 and 1987, were billed as Game of the Century I and II. And the 1969 meeting between No. 1 Texas and No. 2 Arkansas lured President Nixon away from the Vietnam conflict.

It's big, this sort of No. 1 vs. No. 2. Now imagine it featuring Michigan and Ohio State.

Going into Saturday, the polls said the Buckeyes were five full slots better than the Wolverines. What do the polls know? No less a football mastermind than John L. Smith suggests Michigan is college football's best in 2006, not Ohio State -- but OSU is close.

"They," he said of the Buckeyes, "are probably just as good as these guys (Michigan)."

That was a nice thing for Smith to say about his in-state rival. But that was him Saturday, Mr. Congeniality. After two consecutive weeks of tough love from the media, Smith showed the other cheek after the game, waiting placidly for the interview room to fill up, sipping a Diet Pepsi and then moving a reporter's tape recorder closer to the microphones.

"We have everybody? Are you ready?" Smith asked, making a steeple with index fingers.