Effect of moving OSU game?

doubt it.

First of all, Michigan is not a small school.

Anyhow, the game would be on Thanksgiving weekend once a decade or so anyway. Most recently, it happened in 2001. The stadium was still full, including the student section.

How do you figure Michigan is a small school? They have over 40,000 students.

U of M is anything but a small school, maybe compared strictly to OSU but that's about it.

It won't change anything except it'll be more likely to be cold. Neither school is in session for the 2 days before but it's still going to be packed to the brim because it's OSU-UM. It actually makes it more likely that I could go tho as I actually get some time off from work for Thanksgiving that I normally wouldn't.

UofM as in Michigan is a small school? There are over 41,000 students....

"Now I know Miami and U of M are both small schools"

Um...Michigan has north of 41K students. I don't think you could describe that as a small school. The campus definitely empties out for long weekends (especially Thanksgiving), but I'm sure there won't be any problem filling up the stadium for OSU. It's still OSU.

...people in Columbus get to shop, Friday in department stores that haven't been damaged or burned from the weekend before.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but past OSU games have fallen on Thanksgiving weekend. For instance, I believe the 1995 game was played after Thanksgiving. I remember because we had Thanksgiving with my dad, who couldn't make the game and wound up giving his tickets away.

The 1985 game might have been after Thanksgiving as well. I was going to Miami at the time but was home in 1985 to go to the OSU game.

This won't affect attendance for the game. Some student section tickets may become available though.

because of that. Everyone in the thread has said that they never had a shortage of takers for Ohio State games. Every year it's the most well-attended home game of the season, despite the temperatures/occasional non-competitiveness. And when it is competitive and means something extra (1997, 2006) it's even harder to get a ticket.

They played on thanksgiving night traditionally and moved to the day after for a while. Now, I think the game is back to thanksgiving nights for the 2nd year now. The game will always be a sell out, even if both teams have lost all games.

The Michigan and Ohio game will be the same way, they will always sell out regardless of the date and time. If they played at 3 am on Christmas day, a week long after all the students have left and forced out of their dorms, the game will still sell out.

So I will likely have to work for every Michigan/OSU game on the Saturday following Black Friday. I am going to have to break down and fork over the extra $10/month for the DVR receiver. Oh, and probably no more parties like I am used to as well.

Such is life......

It may well ruin my traditional Thanksgiving plans every other year, but attendance is never an issue. There are a long list of season ticket holders who have never been to an OSU game because they can fund next years purchase plus by selling them.

i live out of town and coming back to family in michigan and for thanksgiving on back to back weekends is virtually impossible. this will be a great new tradition.

michigan football + eating for two straight hours = nirvana.

I don't like the idea maybe the week after Thanksgiving would be better.

There's nothing on MGoBlue or on the Big Ten site that I see about any schedule change.

this really does is increase the likelyhood the game will be played in utterly crappy weather.

I was an out-of-state freshman in 2001 when the season was pushed back a week - I traveled back to make it up to the game, but many many other friends could not make it back, which is really unfortunate.

I know that students should know better, make every effort to attend, blah, blah, blah (I went back, and always would, but there are those who wouldn't or couldn't), but I think that scheduling a game just after Thanksgiving really sucks for non-local students. For many of those students, Thanksgiving is the only opportunity for them to see family prior to winter break. I'm opposed to the shift because it limits the # of students who can make it to the game.

However, I am more opposed to the shift for another reason...

The student section for the game in 2001 was absolutely TERRIBLE. By far the worst of my career as a student and of many returns to the student section since graduating. It was PACKED with buckeye fans who had picked up student tickets for next to nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was 30-40% OSU fans.

That said, it was before ticket validation and all that, which could reduce the negative impact, but anyway, the student section WILL be negatively affected by moving the game back.

Because of how the home schedules set up, this means that in odd numbered years, you will have the killer double header of Michigan/OSU at noon and Michigan/Wisconsin in the College Hockey Showcase at 8:05(ish) (unless they decide to move that game to Sunday, which could happen if BTN got involved.)

From my experience (which has not included a game yet this year) the student section was one of the only loud sections.

Do you guys think who replaces the students who do not attend because they went home for vacation will likely be more of the older alumni who dont stand or cheer unless their knees hurt from sitting too long, or your average fan who may actually make some noise - or worse yet, OSU fans buying up tickets from students just looking to make a buck?

A few things that may help the situation: (Most have been touched on in some way)

Everyone knows well in advance that the game will be Thanksgiving weekend. In 2001 I don't remember exactly when they announced how the schedule would change but obviously it wasn't until mid September making changing plane reservations more difficult.

The students have fall break now. So there is an additional 4 day weekend students can use to go home, making it more likely that people just take a quick Wed-Friday trip home the week of Thanksgiving. Or skip it all together. I know every family treats Thanksgiving differently, but during college it seemed like there was always at least one group of friends that tried to create their own Thanksgiving dinner so they could be like "Friends" the TV show.

As you already mentioned ticket validation will cut down on those fucking buckeyes in the section.

The big house will still be packed to the brim but there will be less students. At least a 1/4 of them are only going to the games because it's what you do on a Saturday without knowing anything about the team. I can see a lot of those kids just going home.

Michigan played Ohio State on Thanksgiving Weekend in 1918, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1950, 1951, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1989, 1990, 1995 and 2001.

Three of those years--1918, 1963 and 2001--the game was postponed from earlier for reasons beyond the schools' control. The other 16 were scheduled that way.

I don't think there was much "impact" on the game in any of those years, except maybe 1950.

Perhaps fewer students that attend U of M, but easily an equal number of AA area students who attend other schools and are home for break.

Watching my Detroit Lions get whipped on Thursday while I slip into a tryptophan-induced food coma, then waking up on Saturday morning to get ready for the ultimate party of the year? Beautiful! Better than Christmas morning!
Do it... Do it.

...at least it was fun while it lasted. RIP UM-OSU.