2010 Home Opener
I sat with Bill Martin at lunch today. He said that he tried to get Minnesota (as a non-conference game) for the opener in 2010 but they declined. Aside from that he said it will be a BCS school but still yet unknown.
When asked about recruiting RRod said that he does not really put much stock at all in what Rivals or Scout says. He mentioned that he has to do his own evaluation based upon his needs for a position.
It was the I-94 tour today with Beilien, Red, RRod and Martin. Breakfast in Jackson, lunch in Kazoo and dinner in Battle Creek.
That was a creative thought, too bad they couldn't get it done. BCS conference team with a ton of history between the two schools would have been a great way to "re-open" the Big House.
I'd love to see Colorado back in the Big House.
Seconded.
You know if Colorado came in we'd be absolutely bombarded with 1994 for a whole week.
The media hype wouldn't hurt.
I could not take a week of Slash & Westbrook babbling about The *Pitch & Catch.*
I can still picture Ty Law trying to make the interception rather than knocking it to the ground. Kills me everytime.
I don't think Law ever got a hand on it. I'm pretty sure he was covering Westbrook, not the receiver who tipped the ball. I think it was Chuck Winters who was covering that player.
my dad was furious about that play, because he'd been bitching for the past ten minutes about the typical Michigan method of holding a slim lead - run up the middle run up the middle run up the middle punt. He swore it'd come back to haunt us. Damn if he wasn't right.
...after my first bender as a freshman at college, and watched the game. I saw the pass, almost threw up, and then took a 3 hour nap before drinking that night away too.
we should schedule the steelers for the opener. we'll sell some extra ads to pay for it.
Michigan 2009 vs. Michigan 1997. Book it!
would be sweeeeet along with roasting those Ducks.
Patience.
would be cool. First of all, GERG vs. Shafer. But more importantly, I still want payback for the beating we took against Donovan McNabb in the 1998 home opener. That was the first home game after the renovations that expanded our stadium by 5,000 seats, thus making us the biggest stadium in the country again.
(side note: That was also the only time Brady faced McNabb until they rematched in Superbowl XXXIX)
They got payback in 1999
I'd like to see Hawaii... for some reason. I guess they're just a pretty well respected school these days, but should be beatable, and they'd have pretty much no fans in MI, so the crowd wouldn't be maize dotted with another color like most games. Just beautiful waves of Maize.
another blog someting about Texas Tech thats something I would like to see.
I would like to see Arkansas (Ryan Mallett) or ASU (if Threet is supposed to be the starter in 2010).
With all the recruiting were doing in FLA wouldn't it be nice to start with one of the two. Maybe even the Gators as they won't have "the greatest human on the planet" playing QB anymore. Oops forgot that the SEC OOC is even weaker than ours.
anything other than a MAC, WAC, MWC or non-BCS conf school would be great.
They currently have a date open on September 4th, 2010.
They also play Oregon at home a week or two later. I don't know if Kiffin will be willing to play two BCS teams in one year. Hard to predict, Kiffin is. FWIW, the SEC plays notoriously weak non-conference schedules, Kiffin may or may not wish to be like that, I don't know.
I think they've gotten a lot better lately. Tennessee has done home and homes with Miami (FL), Cal and UCLA. Arkansas has done home and home with USC and I think they've renewed their rivalry with Texas so they play two years in a row and then take two years off. Georgia went to ASU last year and is going to Oklahoma St this year. Florida has had the same thing happen to them as Michigan - their big non-conference rival fell on hard times. ND-UM used to almost always be a battle of ranked teams, if not highly ranked teams. Ditto for FSU-Florida.
Alabama has done home and home with UCLA, Oklahoma, just played Clemson on a neutral field and is playing VaTech on a neutral field to kick off the year. Auburn did a home and home with USC and is doing a home and home with West Virginia.
The big tens non-conference schedule isn't anything great usually - especially with ND falling off and UM, MSU and Purdue playing them almost every year. Wisky rarely plays anyone with a heartbeat. PSU went to total cupcake route last year. Iowa rarely plays anyone in non-conference. And now, OSU and UM seem to be dipping into 1-AA to fill out their non-conference slates.
UT-Martin on 9/4 of 2010
My head is spinning. Would have been incredible to have the Gophers in. It's the 100th anniversary of the first game that the teams actually played for the jug. Did Martin give anymore details?
....Minnesota is hosting USC on September 11, 2010. They also have a brand new stadium (me = season ticket holder) and like everyone else, are experiencing budget issues at their University.
They have two open non-conference dates to fill, September 4 and 25. They probably want a first home game over Labor Day weekend to coincide with the Minnesota State Fair, to get a crowd, and to get an easy win, rather than get bludgeoned at the Big House.
Still, I don't like the 2 year lay-off of this game and it would have been nice to resume it a year early. (and I should have said, this (2009) is the 100th anniversary of the first game for the jug in 1909).
I completely agree with you. I went to Minnesota and my Dad went to Michigan. We hate that this is one of the selected rotation games for these teams.
jd2112 - I think you pretty much nailed it. Here's the AD's words:
http://mvictors.com/?p=3868
...on the interview...
who is the avatar?
Actually, this season is the 100th anniversary of the first game in which the Jug was the trophy. (EDIT: D'oh, I should have scrolled down to see that you noted this already.)
by my calculations...
ALABAMA, ARKANSAS, BOSTON COLLEGE, GEORGIA TECH, OKLAHOMA STATE, OREGON STATE, PITT, SYRACUSE, VIRGINIA, & WASHINGTON STATE. If I missed any please let me know and who is ur fav of them all?
I vote for Oklahoma State...
That's got hype machine written all over it.
I vote Virginia, things turned out pretty well the last time they came to Ann Arbor...well except for Tiki running all over us.
All those teams would be possibilities, excpt for 'bama. I wouldn't mind any of them, except maybe Wazoo and 'Cuse, as they'd almost assuredly kill Michigan's SOS.
I'm 99% sure our SOS won't matter in 2010.
Does scheduling a really weak D1 team hurt the schedule more then scheduling a 1-AA squad?
IMO, UM's best bet for getting a better non-conference strength of schedule is ND getting back on it's feet. With the recent contract ND and UM signed, you know UM's non-conference slate is going to be ND, two MAC schools and then a 4th team, and as of late that 4th team seems to be a 1-AA squad.
Ignore
Scheduling a Big Ten team as a "non-conference" game is dumb. Either you play them in conference so it counts in the conference standings or you don't. The round robin rotation of missing teams is part of the imperfect system we are stuck with.
As far as who to play in the first game of the renovated stadium? It will be whichever BCS team Martin can find that doesn't demand a return game. That list has to be pretty short and might include heavyweights like Duke and Vanderbilt.
I'm already anticipating having to unload my UMass tickets.
There was a rumor few months ago which stated that Ole Miss might come up to Michigan to play. Also another sec team rumored to come up was GA TECH.
Georgia Tech is ACC.
Not the Right Reverend! Seriously Ole Miss is good, and Snead would be a senior....
I would like to see Boston College there was a 4 game series in the 90s I beleive, or Tennessee or UCLA
I am from Piscataway and was recently having a conversation with a few of my friends who stated, and I quote "If Rutgers joined the big 10 this season they would be top 3 and would beat Michigan by at least TD's." I almost laughed up my "beverage" and couldn't stop laughing. I remember when I was in middle school, they had a cannon they would shoot off for every offense TD scored at home. I went to every game, and the cannon might as well have been broken. They didn't shoot it off once (at least in my mind). This is the team that quick kicked on 3rd down and kicked the ball backwards. I would love to see us absolutely annihilate them and show them that 3 years of semi-success doesn't constitute gloating.
Greg Schiano would have been a way worse hire than RR. That is all.