You are right. Michigan gets ranked high for a couple of reasons. Tradition most of all, they haven't had a losing season in 40 years and they usually finish somewhere up in the polls so the voters can usually be sure that UM at least competes for a while. And Michigan did "own" the Big Ten until Tressell came along.
But they are usually way over rated and underacheive as they often fall early. They can't win on the coast and usually lose their bowl games (although a lot of Big Ten teams do, it's a road game after all).
They are all black except at QB the offensive lineman tight end and a few linbackers/d-lineman, typical caste set-up.
I think UM draws most of the high ranked black talent in the midwest so OSU and Iowa are somewhat forced to recruit white players instead. Lucky for them.
You're right the high ranked recruiting classes which as we know are high ranked because of all the black players do nothing for them. At game time OSU, Iowa, Purdue, MSU, are just as likely to beat them as not.
But I don't care anymore I'm a Iowa or Wisconsin fan now (still can't bear to cheer for the Buckeye's yet
)