If you've been paying attention to college football headlines at all this summer, it's extremely likely you've seen Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines pop up occasionally. And by occasionally, I mean at least once or twice a week. If you're Buckeye crazed, like me, I'm sure you're just as tired of it as I am.

Do I respect them as a school and a football program? Absolutely. It would be foolish to not consider them a blue blood of college football with the likes of Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma, and so on. However, it is nationally recognized that they have hardly been a relevant power in the college football landscape since the mid-2000s. I'm fully convinced that the 42-39 loss at the hands of the No. 1 Buckeyes, led by Heisman winner Troy Smith, in 2006 put the nail in the coffin for that program for years.

However, since Jim Harbaugh took over the program, everyone is under the impression that Michigan has returned to its former glory in just one short year. Sure, I'll agree that they're no longer the pushovers that they've been for the last ten years, but are they truly back?

Being a (semi-objective) Buckeye fan and lover of college football, I cannot fathom the immense hype the team is receiving before the 2016 campaign has even begun. The team is returning 14 starters from last year's 10-3 squad (eight offense, six defense), but what did this group accomplish exactly that makes everyone so sure that they're easily playoff bound?

I've always been of the mindset that strictly looking at the box score of games never tells the whole story, and that's what I'm going off of here as well. 10-3 is certainly good for a coach in his first year at any program, let alone at Michigan. But those three losses were in the three biggest games of the season (at Utah, Michigan State, and Ohio State). They simply beat up on the little guys of the Big Ten along with three easy non-conference games against a Pac-12 bottom feeder, a Mountain West team, and a team without its starting quarterback. And while this team did win its bowl game, it was over a hapless Florida team that shouldn't have been there, to begin with.

And, so, I refuse to buy into the hype that Michigan is rapidly generating. Mark Schlabach, an ESPN writer, has already penciled Michigan into his playoff prediction for the season. I'm giving Ohio State's biggest rival the same treatment I'm giving to the Tennessee Volunteers: I'll believe it when I see it.

Michigan was absolutely throttled at home against Ohio State last year 42-13, and people seem to believe that they're just going to waltz into Ohio Stadium this year and walk out with a win like it's nothing. The Wolverines haven't won in Columbus since 2000 and have only won three games in the rivalry since the new millennium kicked in, one of which was a narrow victory in the midst of Ohio State's controversy-ridden 2011 season.

Until Michigan proves otherwise, and that means beating Michigan State and Ohio State (both of which are on the road for them this year), the Big Ten still goes through East Lansing and Columbus.

This conference is still Ohio State's to lose as long as Urban Meyer is around. Don't buy into the hype. We can have this conversation again if Michigan beats the Buckeyes in November and wins the conference (don't count on it).