Nebraska and Oklahoma have announced a home and home series for the 2021 and 2022 football seasons, renewing their rivalry.  (LINK)

Now that teams are setting up games that far out, who would you like to see Michigan try and schedule a home and home for in the Big 12?  We haven't really played too many teams from that conference in a long time.  I personally would love to see us take on Texas in a home and home series, I've always wanted to travel to Austin.  Any other ideas?

I posted this over at a blog for which I occasionally write, but it's not a Michigan-centered blog and I don't get much feedback there so I thought I'd share it with the MGoCommunity.

Salty Sam Throws You on a Railroad Track

Being born in 1983 in Ann Arbor to a pair of Michigan alumni was the perfect storm for hating Notre Dame. For my entire life as a minor, Michigan State and Ohio State would occasionally jump up and bite the Wolverines, but they were largely just fodder for Michigan whether the coach was Schembechler, Moeller, or Carr. Notre Dame, however, was in the midst of selling its soul under Lou Holtz who was himself in the midst of getting his second of three straight schools at which he coached in hot water with the NCAA (Minnesota before and South Carolina after ND). Ethics aside, Holtz was a darn good coach which made his bizarre personality and speech pattern all the more obnoxious. At least John L. Smith has the decency to be nothing but comedy relief.

Holtz took the reigns in South Bend in 1986. After losing his first game against Michigan (and debut as Irish coach), 24-23, Holtz then led the Irish to 4 straight victories over Michigan, a stretch that included the 1988 national title for the Irish as well as the "stop kicking it to Rocket Ismail, please" game in 1989 when the Irish and Wolverines were ranked 1-2 to start the year. During this time I ranged in age from 4-7 and my father, like any true Wolverine would, grew an intense distaste for Holtz and the Domers, which I of course fully absorbed. I needed no other reason to hate Notre Dame, but then NBC made it even easier with their absurd TV contract. Half of my Michigan-Notre Dame viewing experiences have featured Tom Hammond (honorable mention in terribleness to ABC/ESPN for subjecting me to Brent Musberger for the other half)

Anyway, 1991 rolled around and in came the Irish to Ann Arbor looking for an unfathomable fifth straight win over the Wolverines.  Michigan fans are rightfully (much of the time, anyway) noted for their arrogance, but in 1991 if there was one fan base that could out-smug the Wolverines it was Notre Dame.  I was already destined to be a Wolverine slappy, but this cemented me for life:

That play and Remy Hamilton's winner in 1994 are the two that most stand out to me in my early Michigan football memories (of the positive ones, anyway. Don't even mention Miami in 1988. Crap, I just did). Holtz "retired" following the 1996 season. There still isn't a stated reason why. Holtz said "it was the right thing to do." Irish aficionados will tell you it was because the school's brass didn't want Holtz to surpass Knute Rockne's all-time wins record of 105. The likely reason became clear in 1999 when the Irish were hit with probation by the NCAA for failing to report improper benefits and academic fraud during the tenures of Holtz and his successor, Bob Davie. In any case, Holtz was gone and the first of many mediocre coaches to roam the sidelines in South Bend had taken over, so life must have been dandy for the Maize and Blue, right? Not so.

The Irish kept managing to defend their home turf despite fielding lousy teams and despite things like the hilarious hiring gaffe of resume doctor George O'Leary.  The "Return to Glory" and "Field Goal Jesus" jokes were always funny, but not as funny as they should have been because Notre Dame still found ways to maintain some relevance by beating ranked Michigan teams.  It wasn't until Charlie Weis' "decided schematic advantage" and then Brian "Grimace" Kelly that Michigan was able to put more than one consecutive win together against the Irish.  The three most recent saw the Wolverines snatch victory in the waning seconds (I think the first two were by design; Rich Rodriguez didn't know how to win any other way) and the two most recent saw jaw-dropping offensive numbers from Michigan's quarterback, Denard Robinson.  The 2012 game brought an opportunity for Michigan to win four straight against the Irish, matching the Irish's streak at the end of the 80's.  Notre Dame is Salty Sam, always up to no good until, just when you thought all hope was gone, along Comes Jones in the form of Denard Robinson.  There are three verses to the song.  This would be Robinson's third and final game against the Irish.  The thought of a third thrilling victory for Robinson was just delightful.  The idea for this post came to me on Thursday, but I didn't dare say anything about it for fear of the jinx.

This game would be played in South Bend, however, and other than a couple blips on the radar South Bend has been the Bermuda triangle for Michigan.  Whether it be an errant pass somehow still completed in 1990, Carlyle Holiday fumbling on the 1 and still getting a touchdown in 2002, or the 2008 slop-fest, good things don't often happen for Michigan in Notre Dame Stadium.  The Ghost of Irish Past reared its ugly head again on Saturday and Robinson, with a little help from his friends, had the worst day of his Michigan career.  5 interceptions and a fumble and Michigan still only lost by 7 points.  You can make a case that the better team has lost in this game for four straight years now.  I was mad, but if you've watched enough of Denard Robinson it's impossible to really be upset with him.  He's seen more in his 22 years (oh yeah, Saturday was his 22nd birthday) than most will in their lifetimes.  His humility is equally evident in victory as well as defeat.  So, instead of seething over this game for two weeks (Michigan has a bye on Saturday) like I would do pretty much every other year, I'm going to try damn hard to get past it because there are only 8-10 opportunities left to watch Denard Robinson in a Michigan uniform.  Sure, he's a feast-or-famine kind of player, but when it's been feast I haven't had as much fun watching football since Charles Woodson donned the Maize and Blue.

As for Notre Dame, they've decided to opt out of the rivalry after 2014 due to joining the ACC scheduling issues.  The good news is games like Saturday's won't happen so much, but I'll still miss the rivalry.  To me Notre Dame will always be Salty Sam, trying to saw Michigan all in half.  It sucks when they succeed, but there's nothing sweeter than when Jones comes along and saves the day.  Michigan-ND was a game I looked forward to more than any other; it was better when it was the first game of the year, but sadly Lou Holtz put and end to that by scheduling warm-up games in the early 90's.  There's no doubt Bo was right ("To Hell with Notre Dame!"), but it was always truer when Michigan sent them there.

I am curious about your thoughts as to what the current biggest rivalry game is for the men's basketball team . . .

Back in my day (1993-97), I think the majority would say that the Duke game in December was the biggest rivalry game.  (It seemed to get the most attention and draw the biggest number of students sleeping out and lining up to get first-come, first-serve seats.)  After the Fab Five left, it seems like the Michigan State games became the biggest rivalry games.  Now, being further removed from the program, I'm not sure as to what the general sentiment is on campus.  Is Michigan State the biggest rival?  Ohio State?  I'm interested in reading your thoughts.

Thinking Outside the Vertical Split

So I'm sitting here reading how the Big Ten is going to split up the conferences and I'm noticing something. The way that most people have it set up is for a east-west alignment. Which makes sense. Its a lot easier to split up. I personally like the 4 division set ups better. But that does get complicated and if the Big Ten will not use a 4 division set up. Why not go North-South? This way, you get to keep the Michigan-OSU rivalry and have a chance at having a UM-OSU Big Ten Championship Game. We all know that would bring in the most money and definitely the most T.V. air time. The way i look at it, we could split the divisions up like this.

Now with this setup, the first thing you will notice is that this is not at all even. North has Arguably 1 mediocre team while the south has 2-3. The only way i can think of to make sure that this evens out is to make each division play the other division. This is very different but could completely even things out.  ALL the teams in the North would play ALL the teams in the south, and vice versa.

 How Will This Work?

Whoever has the Best record against the other division, is the winner of the division, and will get to play in the Big Ten Championship Game. This way. OSU and Nebraska (the presumable winners of the South) have to play the exact same teams, and you can compare the records equally and will have no dispute over who had a weaker schedule. Now this only leaves 6 games, which means we have 3 left. 3 divisional games, 3 random teams within the division. (Assuming that we move to 9 conference games for this setup)

What If They Both Go 5-1?

 If two or more teams have the exact same record against the other division, then we look at record within the division. If that is the same, then we look at if the two teams played each other. If they did, then the winner of that game goes to the Big Ten Championship Game. If they didn't, then we see what the average points that the teams won by was(against the other division). Whoever won by more points is that divisions winner.

 In addition this also ensures that UM and OSU play EVERY year, and that UM-OSU Big Ten Championship Game is possible every year..

Pros

• The UM-OSU rivalry will take place every year, no matter what
• There is a chance at a UM-OSU Big Ten Championship Game every year
• There will be no reasonable argument for someone winning there division with an easier schedule
• Not too complicated

Cons

• The South will more than likely be an easier division every year (if people really want to argue about that)
• Some rivalry's may not take place every year
• People will still argue someone having an easier road to the Big Ten Championship Game
• It is out-of-the-norm for divisional splits

Why Not Have South Play Teams In The South And North Play Teams In The North?

Thats thinking in the box, not out of the box, which is the point of this post.

This problem is getting out of hand. Most everyone knows what I am talking about: Threads that ask the same tired questions over and over again.
Like: How many wins will we get this year?
Or: Will Devin Gardner start as a true freshman?
It is now only February and the frequency of these threads will only increase the closer we get to September. We need to stop the madness.
We do not need another discussion. We need a poll. A place where every joe-six-pack with an opinion about who will start at quarterback, can make their voice heard without bogging down the best message board in the universe.
I doubt this will put an end to the problem completely. But if it stops even one more thread from being created about how many wins it will take for R.Rodriguez to keep his job, then it will have been worth it.

So I was wondering what the general feeling is amongst the MGoUsers about the rivalry games this weekend. I'm torn as to the USC-ND game but don't really have a rooting interest in the UT-OU game (other than my girl being a UT fan I guess that answers that question).

As for the USC-ND game I'm obviously conflicted (I think most are) on one hand we have ND and we hate them and they suck and *insert we hate rival verbiage here.* However, on the other hand, should ND win that means Front Butt might not get fired (woo!) and, almost as important, Clausen might be viewed as one of the top QB prospects in the land and considering the rookie salary cap starting next season (most likely) would be likely to leave and that would be awesome so we don't have to deal with him next year.

Thoughts?