3rd Protected Rivalry

Winning coach of the PSU game gets a Nobel Prize.

let me do this for you since it seems nobody is putting batteries in their sarcasm-meters these days:

"Delaware State
or UConn
/sarcasm"

Notre Dame still isn't in the Big Ten

We already have a contracted series with them for the next 20 years.

Your last paragraph doesn't even make sense. We have usually 2-4 big games, 3-7 "good/mediocre" games, and 3 tomato cans. That's not any different.

I realize the whole in my idea to schedule Penn State. We get the circle of death where each of us defeats the other, then Minnesota goes undefeated to win the BigTen. Must never happen.

so (#teams * #games) has to be even.

Since this is hypothetical, I'll go with PSU.

The other problem with increasing the number of rivalry games would be the increased likelihood of a mid-tier team getting a cake-walk to the B10 championship.

"I've got NU with no one to play."

Eh, I'm pretty sure they could just cancel that game and not too many folks in Evanston would notice.

I've never heard this idea before, but I think it is great. I would love to have the flexibility to schedule bigger OOC games.

Nice Idea but Notre Dame worked very hard so that during the course of one season they either play USC or Michigan at home.

They moved around us and USC to make sure they only had one tough away game a year.

So they wouldn't be a fan of this.

In the age of gimmick schedules, scheduling byes before the biggest games, yes I'm looking at you Florida and Alabama, I wish we could avoid the 3 road triumvirate of OSU, PSU, and ND all in the same year. Although PSU will get moved off again soon enough.

I'm pretty sure that under our current deal, we play Notre Dame every year until I die with no breaks.

All this Gofer$ talk is making my blood pressure spike. If we EVER lose to those RODENT$, heads need to roll. I will be first in line to sign the petition to fire the coaches and AD, take away scholarships, etc. That would be UNACCEPTABLE.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

I will never forgive or forget. Those filthy GO-Furs did not even win that game in 1903. They simply tied the score late in the second half. There was still plenty of time for Michigan to come back and score but NOOooo...the brains of the Minne$ota fan base was infected with rabies. In their fevered little heads the game was OVER! They stormed the field as if they had just WON! The referee had to call the game a tie because of the chaos. Eff THEM! That jug is OURS!

KILL THEM ALL!

That sure would make things interesting... though there are plenty of problems with it. For example, depending on the proximity of the games, some players might be inclined to injure an opposing player intentionally at the end of the first game in order to gain advantage in the second game. Among other things.

all things considered, who would you rather be playing this week, Delaware State or say, Auburn.

even if it's wishful thinking. It is pretty annoying that 11 teams create that scheduling break on occasion. Winning a B10 title (or a share) without having to play 1 or 2 of the top teams in the conference cheapens that title.

It's annoying in basketball, too. Can someone enlighten me why there can't be a 20-game B10 bball schedule? I assume there's a good reason. Is it just because there aren't enough days between early Jan. and the conference tournament to get two more games in? I'd almost prefer to ditch the tourney, if that was the case.

So with all the national titles we've won in our lifetime, some have been more meaningful than others? I think any national title is meaningful enough, thank you very much.

We don't need to beat each of those teams to have a legitimate national title, just the team we play in the BCS championship. But, in a perfect world, we would never ever lose to any of those teams. Just thinking about it makes my sciatica act up.

The last time Michigan did not play Wisconsin was in 2003 and 2004.

I am not so much in favor of another protected rivalry game. Outside of the logistical problems Formerlyanonymous points out, the schedule would just get even more set/rigid with ND/OSU/MSU plus another team every year.

And the more Michigan plays another team every year, the less often the team plays Iowa, Wisconsin, etc. And I don't think that is a good thing.

Welcome back to sanity.

Minnesota would be my third protected game. And it would be a very close contest between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Nobody has mentioned our other state-neighbor, the one to the west; Wisconsin. Another original Western Conference / Big 10 rival. Michigan is, by far, the biggest game on Bucky's schedule when we are there.

Penn State? That's in Pennsylvania, right?

Somebody also mentioned Notre Dame, in a thread about Big 10 conference scheduling and protected rivalries within that schedule. I'm going to be nice, and just say, Hmmmm. Matter of fact, I think that Notre Dame and Penn State ought to find themselves a nice league and just, uh, be together in it.