scheduling

Paint It Blue? Comment Count

Brian

In 2010 Michigan has an open slot on its schedule September 4th and a spanking new set of luxury boxes and club seats to fill. Boise State has an open slot the same date and an athletic director who's looking for benjamins above all:

"Right now, I'd go where I can make the most money," Boise State athletic director Gene Bleymaier said. "If I can play at home and make that much money, then I'm going to play at home. But it's difficult to make that much money in our stadium size. ... I've tried to avoid those [guarantee games]. Now they're much more of a reality going forward."

Boise State isn't USC but neither are they Delaware State. If not Boise, that post above has a useful list of other teams with a free date, and NationalChamps.net has a compilation of future schedules.

Teams with open dates are in groups below, with existing opponents and teams that appear to have been listed erroneously in the Boise post (GT and Miami are full, for two) excised:

NOT HAPPENING WITHOUT AN UNLIKELY RETURN GAME

  • Alabama
  • LSU
  • Arkansas
  • Cal
  • Georgia
  • Oklahoma State

WHY BOTHER

  • Baylor
  • Duke
  • Kansas State
  • Mississippi State
  • Washington State

EH… MAYBE?

  • Maryland (would have to move Navy game)
  • NC State
  • Pitt
  • Virginia
  • Oregon State
  • South Carolina (would have to move Troy game)
  • TCU (they'd have to move their Baylor game)

Would any of the teams in the last category go for a pure guarantee game? I kind of doubt it, especially the teams that would have to futz with their existing schedules to open up a slot. Would Michigan or any of those teams go for a 2-for-1? That I also doubt given Michigan's scheduling practices of late.

Boise State looks like the only program out there with the right open date who would accept a guarantee game and build any pregame hype.

Comments

Number 7

June 19th, 2009 at 4:25 PM ^

I'd vote for Alabama, or another SEC team. On the challenge side (1): It would be great to have a marquee matchup right out of the gate. (Plus, let's face it: there's a good chance Notre Dame will be second tier competition once again anyway, so don't get too pantybunched up about that.) On the challenge side (2): When it comes to the BCS, early big non-conference wins are bigger pluses than early non-confernce losses are minuses. A loss to Alabama won't matter if we win the Big Ten. A win over Alabama is a trump card over some other 11-1 team, if it came to that. On the challenge side (3): We'd visit this school the next year, but in a year when ND, OSU, and PSU were at home. On the challenge side (4): Balls, laddies. Let's have some balls! On the money side: wouldn't it be possible to negotiate something relating to TV revenues, so that the return would be a net plus (if Michigan would get a portion from CBS it otherwise would not?)

Joined: 06/09/2009

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Ell

June 19th, 2009 at 5:50 PM ^

Sadly, the Tide has filled that slot. Alabama will play San Jose St on Sept 4, 2010. But a Bama-Michigan series would be sweet. The whole Rodriguez jilted Bama at the last minute storyline would make for good ESPN obsession also.

Joined: 09/03/2008

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BeefZerkie

June 19th, 2009 at 8:32 PM ^

Boise State is expected to go undefeated this year and maybe get in another BCS bowl. Plus they only have 5 seniors on this team and only 2 that are starters so they will return nearly everyone for 2010. If they have a great year as expected and return everyone they very likely would be preseason top 10 and a very attractive team to open with if you want hype.

Joined: 06/19/2009

MGoPoints: 1

jdberkley

June 19th, 2009 at 11:08 PM ^

I'm pretty sure one of those schools would strongly consider a guarantee game-- Oregon State. They need the money. Their athletic department is in the middle of a severe budget crisis. They've openly discussed the prospect of cutting sports. They just took a guarantee game last year at Penn State, and they have home-and-homes scheduled with Minnesota and Wisconsin, so they're committed to playing Big Ten teams. I've got to think if Bill Martin is willing to write them the check, Oregon State will show up. I don't know that they're necessarily the best possible choice, but Oregon State would certainly be a quality choice, and they might be the best realistic option available.

Joined: 07/07/2008

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mgovictors23

June 20th, 2009 at 10:07 AM ^

It's pretty disheartening to hear people don't want to schedule a team because "they might beat us". I want to see a high profile team in the opener of the "new" Michigan Stadium. I think either Virginia or Boise State would be good.

Joined: 05/03/2009

MGoPoints: 99

miatamich

June 21st, 2009 at 6:21 PM ^

Can you imagine the Razorbacks and a certain QB by the name of Ryan Mallett opening the renovated Big House? I'll be over 18,000 tickets could be sold 8-)

Joined: 06/21/2009

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