Michigan, Ohio State Raising the Stakes for Big Ten Football Recruiting

With fewer than 48 hours to go until national signing day, the rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State has been very much renewed on the recruiting trail as the Wolverines and Buckeyes battle for the right to claim the nation's top-ranked class.

In the case of Michigan, the Wolverines currently tout the country's No. 5 class and are the favorites to land the nation's top prospect, 5-star defensive tackle Rashan Gary, according to 247Sports' Crystal Ball projections. Ohio State, meanwhile, possesses the nation's second-ranked class at the moment and could climb as soon as Monday evening with the impending announcements of 4-star athlete Jordan Fuller and 4-star cornerback Damar Hamlin.

It's also a safe bet that the Buckeyes are keeping an eye on their rivals to the north as the final days of the 2016 recruiting cycle approach.

"We do keep score against the rival in everything we do," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said on last year's national signing day, after beating out Michigan for 4-star running back Michael Weber. "They're great recruiters, they always have been."

But regardless of the results that come for both the Buckeyes and Wolverines on Wednesday, the real loser in all of this won't be the school with the lower ranked recruiting class—but rather the rest of the Big Ten.

If the original "Ten Year War" turned the Big Ten into the "Big Two and Little Eight," then a sequel to the most storied chapter in the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry—plus conference expansion—could transform the league into the "Big Two and Little 12."

The results on the field may not be there just yet—it was just two months ago the Buckeyes trounced the Wolverines by a score of 42-13 in their regular-season finale—but the recruiting trail currently paints the picture of a conference failing to keep up with its two pillar programs.

While Meyer's arrival in Columbus four years ago changed Big Ten recruiting forever, Jim Harbaugh's presence in Ann Arbor in the past 13 months has only upped the ante. Whereas Meyer seemingly shook the foundation of the league by (legally) recruiting prospects already committed to other programs, Harbaugh has take an an innovative national approach, which included a 10-city satellite camp tour last summer.

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Both coaches have been magnets for criticism: Meyer over accusations of oversigning and Harbaugh for unapologetically making room in his class whenever deemed necessary.

"We’re very much out there. We don’t hide how we operate and what we do," the second-year Wolverines head coach told reporters last week, amidst multiple public decommitments from prospects who claimed to have been told their scholarship offers were no longer valid. "We’re going to bring the finest student-athletes and character that we can to the University of Michigan. That process continues for the next three to four days."

The results for both schools speak for themselves. With two days to go until national signing day, no other Big Ten team currently possesses a class ranked higher than Michigan State's No. 12 class.

For Meyer, it's been a matter of success breeding more success, with the Buckeyes' 2014 national championship playing a prominent role in this year's impressive recruiting haul. Since coming to Columbus, Meyer has never signed a class ranked lower than seventh nationally and is currently in line to ink the Big Ten's top-ranked class for a fifth consecutive year.

In Harbaugh, however, Ohio State has found its first legitimate threat to its reign atop the conference's recruiting throne. Should the Wolverines land Gary as expected, Michigan could lay claim to the nation's top-ranked class, with 4-star cornerback Lavert Hill also expected to land in Ann Arbor.

The decision of Fuller, a New Jersey native whom Crystal Ball projections peg to become a Buckeye, could go a long way in determining whether it's Ohio State or Michigan who wind up with the higher ranked of the two.

But while the Buckeyes and Wolverines battle down the stretch, both have separated themselves from the likes of Michigan State and Penn State over the course of the past year.

After possessing the nation's sixth-ranked class as recently as last summer, the Spartans have failed to capitalize on this past season's Big Ten championship and subsequent appearance in the College Football Playoff. The Nittany Lions, likewise, started strong with a 2016 class that ranked fourth nationally in August but have seen a slip to No. 13 that's coincided with a lack of results on the field and a string of offseason departures from James Franklin's coaching staff.

"I don't think there's any doubt that we've been getting a lot of negative recruiting," Franklin said last week. "Has it been a challenge? Yeah, yeah, there's no doubt about it."

Meanwhile in the Big Ten West, no program currently possesses a class ranked higher than Nebraska's 29th-ranked haul.

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This isn't merely a one-year sample size, but rather what appears to be both the continuation of one trend along with the start of another. Meyer's resume on the Big Ten recruiting trail has already been well established, while Harbaugh turned in the nation's 37th-ranked class a year ago—which included the addition of two 4-star prospects—in just one month on the job.

With a full recruiting cycle under his belt, Harbaugh's ability to recruit for his alma mater at an elite level is apparent and only strengthened by his flipping of former OSU commit and 4-star running back Kareem Walker. And as far as 2017 is concerned, Michigan already possesses a commitment from 4-star offensive tackle JaRaymond Hall, while Ohio State can lay an early claim to the nation's top-ranked class—possibly for the second straight year.

Of course, a lot can change in the next two days—let alone the next few years. Michigan State's post-playoff bump on the recruiting trail may not appear until a year from now, and Franklin has already shown a prowess for recruiting top-level talent in his two years in Happy Valley.

But for now, it's Meyer and Harbaugh and everybody else when it comes to Big Ten recruiting.

"Big Two, Little 12?" We're not quite there yet.

But it also may not be too far out in the future if these recruiting results are sustained.

Ben Axelrod is Bleacher Report's Big Ten lead writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BenAxelrod. Unless noted otherwise, all quotes were obtained firsthand. All statistics courtesy of cfbstats.com. Recruiting rankings courtesy of 247Sports.