The Detroit metro crowd calls that area "down river". It sort of has this lower class perception which may be accurate, but that is the sort of label the people in the Detroit burbs would give as that is the kind of people who live in the Detroit burbs. I know a lot of good people from that area actually.
I agree with your assessment and could get into why but I don't want to go too deep down the worm hole on that. I will say your observations are pretty crazy with how accurate. I'm glad Michigan won, I don't care for Ohio State or most things to do with the state of Ohio, but I'm not a Michigan fan either. One game a year I like Michigan. If people ask me who my team is it's always the same answer, the Bills. I do think it will start to get pretty crazy once they merge the divisions. I can't imagine B2B games with Ohio State. Just weird.