OK, so you can’t accuse the guy of humility, and when you think of it, anyone saying that his rivalry ought always to be for all the marbles in the game is taking a short view of life. But he’s paid to have that opinion, so we’ll let him.

By the same token, we’ll allow others to say the same thing, whether it’s any coach of Florida’s collegiate triumvirate of Miami-Florida-Florida State or Mike Krzyzewski of UNC in hoops or even Pete Carroll of USC-UCLA, despite the unequal match that’s been of late.

The reality is that other rivalries have ebbs and flows with one team or the other going through dry spells. Michigan and Ohio State, too, go through brief spells of lesser strength. But for consistent dominance in a conference, it doesn’t get much better than these two teams.

Thirty-two of the past 40 Big Ten seasons — that’s 80 percent — have ended with either Michigan or Ohio State — or both — as the conference champion, including the 15 consecutive seasons from 1968-82.

In the past 10 years, one or both of the teams have held the title seven times, including the past four years. The conference may be called the Big Ten, but it’s really the Titanic Two and those other nine teams.

College football Two-man race with Tebow, McFadden

Michigan has been the better of the two teams of late, even though Ohio State is the last of the two to win the contrived national championship served up by the BCS. That was in 2002. But in the 20 seasons before this one, Michigan has held or shared the conference title 11 times while Ohio State has done it just six times.

“Bar none, the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry is the greatest rivalry, not in college football, but in all of sport. The one reason it carries on is the significance of the game,’’ Greg Skrepenak, an offensive tackle for the Wolverines who played four years ending in 1991 told a newspaper about the game. ‘‘Normally it’s either a Big Ten championship or Rose Bowl berth, national ranking for a national championship. It’s one versus two. Baring anything happening, it should be one versus two.”

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There he goes, talking like Tressel, assuming that his rivalry not only is the best, but ought to be that way. But that’s part of the reason it’s the best: players sign on to one school or the other just for the chance to play in The Game. It’s not just a rivalry, it’s a recruiting tool.

It’s the Game. Accept no substitutes.