Summary: even a Columbus Dispatch columnist suggests Ohio State stop calling themselves "THE Ohio State University."

www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2014/03/25/ohio-state-should-eliminate-the-boast.html

A lot of Michiganders flat out can't understand the distinction between Ohio and Ohio State.  Even when you explain it their eyes just glaze over.  And they don't understand why Ohio isn't the Buckeyes. 

Last week, my mother was calling Western Michigan "Michigan".  Guess it works both ways.

Blundo is not unfamiliar with OU, having sent at least one son through Scripps.  He (son) interned at The Dispatch, I think, and I remember reading at least one column of his somewhere with appropriate OU refereneces.  He (Joe) has clearly been properly schooled in name etiquette.

In a way, Michigan calling them OHIO works for us because it shames them into emphasizing the word STATE. And shame is the most effective tool for getting them to drop their Ohio references. Ultimately though it will take us raising OUr profile to the point that they are readily mocked by anyone who witnesses one of the many uses of the word Ohio without the word State. I would say we've made significant progress on this front in the last 8-10 years.

I find people perceive degrees from Ohio and Ohio State to be roughly the same quality as they would Michigan and Michigan State. The state name and from a big population state. New Hampshire or West Virginia in people's minds is questionable because it sounds like a smaller time school.