Kelly says of UM - ND "We're going to make it happen"
He offered this as a time frame:
“We want to do it as soon as we can,” Kelly told the South Bend Tribune. “We’ve got Michigan State home-and-home the next two years (2016-17), and then we’re hoping to. We want to get in on the schedule as quickly as possible after that.”
Sorry Sparty.
So in 2019, we would play 2 road nonconference games?
By then, no game will be considered a road game for Michigan.
Uhh...yeah I'm pretty sure @Arkansas and @ND will still be considered road games in 2019.
As I'm not a season ticket holder and typically only make it to one or two games per season (at most), I no longer care where we play our rivals.
We used to beat the piss out of OSU, MSU, and ND in their own stadiums pretty regularly. If we're going to be a truly elite program again, where we play the games shouldn't matter.
That said, it would be nice to get the schedule reblanced re:MSU/OSU, or at least have ND at home on the years the other two are on the road. This of course assumes that MSU stays strong, which I don't think is going to go on for much longer.
I'm not expecting them to go back to 6/6 seasons, just to lose to us, OSU, and another good team most years. I think that's a reasonable expectation, especially since their recruiting appears to be collapsing now that we have a winning program and a coach that recruits like an insurance salesman on PCP.
I agree. They became a good program mostly because we sucked for the majority of the past 8 years. That's it. Mark D. is a good coach but without UM's fall they would not have been able to rise.
I will get neg'd to the end of time for saying this, but I think this is seriously disingenuous. It's not like MSU has been winning with a boatload of blue chip recruits. They have won because they have been opportunistic on the field and like it or not, they have become a better team under Markie D.
You can talk all you want about the kinds of wins they have eaked out from time to time (Rutgers last year comes to mind) but they win, and have continued to win.
When Michigan fans say MSU is only good b/c Michigan has been down, it sounds as full of our own self-righteousness as when MSU fans complain about a Michigan fan base that didn't all attend the school. It's not a full representation of what has happened in the landscape of college football. MSU beat Ohio State too, remember. That team that kicked the shit out of Michigan last year.
Give them some credit. They did the winning. Let OUR winning take the wind out of their sails.
I don't have to give those goat fucking couch burners credit for anything. You ever see a State fan rushing to defend Michigan?
I don't know why so many of our fans feel compelled to defend State's honor all the damn time.
is not a matter of defending State, it is a matter of avoiding delusions. It can be dangerous as fans to misrepresent the state of affairs and have to continue recalibrating. Like, there were people, many people, on this blog last year who thought we were going to blow State out. They had convinced themselves of that because of a false narrative they had created in their heads and the meltdown that resulted when that did not happen was so complete and comprehensive that it was only settled down by a direct plea from the Athletic Director. Michigan State has built a program with some staying power brick by brick and it is foolish of us to continue to expect that they are just going to fold.
As they always play us tough (and dirty) even when their team sucks, but I was pretty confident we were going to beat them. Even their own fans were pretty sure they would lose.
I guess I just disagree with your premise. MSU hired a good coach and he's had some success. But they will always be a regional program that plays 2nd fiddle to Michigan, even if they do have a good decade every once in a while. Once Mitch D'Fiorina retires (or starts to decline), their program will fall back to the mean.
This... this is the epitome of what drives me nuts about sports fandom.
MSU is the one game a year I want to win more than anything. I just hate this unashamed ass hattery (see what I did there?).
into his counterart at ND's pocket, telling him: "We'll get back to you. You need us far more than we need you right now." Hand written of course.
no evidence that their recruiting has suffered yet. That is not to say that it won't, but State's recruiting profile did not change at that much during this stretch so I don't expect it to "collapse" from its fairly modest position at this point. I mean, yeah, the difference betweeen a 40ish class and a 30ish class has some significance but it is not like State was cleaning up on 4 and 5 star guys the last six years. Their class this year looks about the same as it has for some time.
Mark D is a good coach and State hasn't had the elite elite recruits. They will continue to be good even if they have one more loss every year now that Harbaugh is righting the ship.
I think it is great having State be good and am glad it won't be the Big Two. The Big Ten can be the best conference again and we can quit hearing about the stupid SEC.
a lot of instate players that would have gone to Michigan in the past. I think the whole Pipeline 9 thing is going to put a screeching halt to that. They're once again going to be relegated to getting the players we (and OSU) don't want and they don't appear to be making much of an effort to recruit nationally.
Although after what everyone saw Alabama do to them on NYE, I think their out of state recruiting efforts would probably be in vain.
As of right now their class is ranked 32, behind 9 other Big 10 schools (including Rutgers) and Western Michigan. They were ranked ahead of us at this time last year IIRC.
http://247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/CompositeTeamRankings
got some, no question, but we consistently still "out-recruited" State even during The Long Night although the talent we were getting was admitted not the same we were used to. Additionally, it is not though State never closed on any big time talent even when the sucked, they always had some players. I don't expect this to go back to an easy "expected" win quickly at this point. Mick Nob-toni' is insufferable, but he is a really good coach and they consistently develop talent. Long term, I see Michigan being the unquestioned power in the state, but these next few against them are still going to be brutal, knockdown drag out affairs.
as other people are I guess. He's a great coach, but not elite. If not for a miracle they lost the game last year. And that was in year one of Harbaugh.
Give it a few years and Michigan will be mentioned in the same sentence with Alabama and OSU every year. No one will be talking about MSU.
the same way you did for a couple of years, but State has won games like that for a while now. I finally came to the opinion the last couple years that it is not all luck but that this Mitch D-elvechio guy knows what he is doing.
last year we didn't have a big class and hoke scared most of the talent away. Years prior, we actually recruited very well, better than them by most measures. It's just we had shitty coaches, whereas they exceeded expectations with solid coaching
2011: Michigan State - No. 32 (21 signees, no 5-stars)
2012: Michigan State - No. 33 (23 signees, no 5-stars)
2013: Michigan State - No. 35 (19 signees, no 5-stars)
2014: Michigan State - No. 25 (22 signees, one 5-star)
2015: Michigan State - No. 22 (21 signees, no 5-stars)
they're been getting the players we don't want all along. This will be a dogfight as long as dantonio is there
i doubt there's many worth pursuing. This isn't the lloyd carr years, and even then far more talent came from ohio. Harbaugh had a solid first year and got the #3 rated class and there is exactly...3 players of 28 from michigan. Why on earth do you think we want more?
During Michigan's period of self-destruction, Michigan was an auto-win for Sparty. Now that Michigan is back and Sparty is finding it harder to recruit, I am guessing some regression toward the mean is in order: two Michigan wins for every Sparty win.
As for winning on the road, Sparty "won" both of their rivalry games on the road last year. Home and road doesn't mean nearly as much if your team is competent and can play good defense. Michigan was undefeated on the road last year.
Right? Cause Utah was a road game as I recall..
wut...
michigan 17 - utah 24
very close calls at minny and indiana too
i will grant you about good defense being an equalizer, but all you have to do is look at records over time and it's clear home field is an advantage
The main strength of MSU the past few years has been thier defense. I wonder if we are forgetting that Narduzzi is gone now? It's hard to tell who is more responsible for the defensive strength...Narduzzi or D'Antonio. The next few years will tell a lot.
FWIW I have not seen a change in MSU's recruiting. If anyting it's getting better, but I also find it hard to believe they will continue to get as much production from average recruiting classes. I can only think of a handful of players that UM really wanted that MSU got like Josh King, Corley, & McDowell.
My response was to a point that MSU during the D'Antonio era took advantage of UM during the RR/Hoke eras. So, we are talking about 2007 up until last year. Here is where MSU ranked in total defense during that time. So, 4 of the last 5 years they have been in the top 10 of total defense. FWIW I would not call the 26th overall total defense and the 11th best defense against the rush "hot garbage".
2015: 26th
2014: 7th
2013: 2nd
2012: 4th
2011: 8th
2010: 46th
2009: 87th
2008: 59th
2007: 39th
They can win the rest of their games every single year, so long as we give them a loss.
I don't think he was serious
He meant that Michigan will be so good, that playing on the road usually won't be an issue like it was under RR and Hoke,
no...not one bit, actually.
I think what he was insinuating is that by then the team will be fully armed and operational, therefore road games won't matter for shit.
There are already 6 road games that year. The only way it works is to have Michigan be on the road in 2018 when there are only 4 current road games unless they move other games around.
The problem with 2018 is that we already has all our rivals on the road. OSU and Rutgers are road games. And the MSU game is also.
Then you are right back to the joke schedule of playing Ohio State, Notre Dame, and msu all on the road again.
Looks like you added that part before I submitted.
we aren't going to add another. Even if it starts in 2019, we have 5 B1G road games in 2020 and Washington on the road.
Hopefully Manuel will fix the OSU & MSU scheduling problem, but without that I'm fine playing all three of them on the road for a season (2018). The two objections are (1) it's silly not to play at least one rivalry game at home and (2) it could be a rough schedule.
- With (1), if the alternative to playing ND, OSU, and MSU on the road is playing OSU and MSU on the road (without ND), then nothing is lost as far as the home games go.
- With (2), the only other road games in 2018 are Northwestern and Rutgers (basically home games with how our fans travel), our other nonconference games are Arkansas and SMU at home, and MSU could return to form in the next three seasons. The schedule would look tough but fine.
So I'd be okay with scheduling 2018 in South Bend and 2019 in Ann Arbor, then holding off for a few more years.
Since MSU is in the exact same situation as we are (OSU and the other Michigan school both at home one year, and both on the road tha next year), why don't we just agree to switch between ourselves?
Pick a season and play it in the opposite loaction as scheduled. From that point forward, we will both be in sync (OSU at home and the other Michigan school on the road one year, and OSU on the road and the other Michigan school at home the next year).
The first year we do it, somebody will get to play the other Michigan school at home two years in a row. Since MSU already got this benefit, it should be us. But I'm sure Sparty will whine about that. So, I'd even settle for a coin flip to determine it.
Just make it happen. We'd both be better off.
Dantonio won't give up a home game to us, and we already did soo....
Indiana switches home and away with both UM and MSU, then all three teams will retain the same mix of home and away. Of course it would have to happen during an even numbered year so that Michigan regains its lost home game to MSU.
Yeah, MSU is in the same boat as us right now. They play us and OSU at the same location every year. You'd think it would be easy to have Michigan and MSU swap home locations and have a more manageable schedule every year for both teams.
Where do we play Illinois? That's really the only one that matters.
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