According to recent 5-star Stanford commit Josh Garnett:
"Football-wise, [Michigan and Stanford] are almost the same exact school."
Look, I hate Michigan as much as the next Buckeye, but even this has me raising my eyebrows. I mean, Michigan and Stanford are in no way the exact same school "football-wise." Michigan is the winningest program in college football history, and even without Garnett and other high profile whiffs, is about to sign maybe the 5th-best recruiting class. Stanford is the Northwestern of the Pac-12.
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/26/2000551/vikings-garnett-chooses...
Well they're definitely above Northwestern. They had some great teams over the years, and put some high quality players in the NFL. Northwestern hasn't won a bowl game in, what, 60 years? I'd say they are closer to being the Michigan State or Wisconsin.