Johnnybee123

February 26th, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^

For once, I wish we'd schedule a solid home-and-home with a solid team from down south. We've done it a few times with PAC-10 schools (didn't turn out too well), but it'd be sweet to do what Ohio State did with USC (and Va. Tech and Miami over the next few years) and what Penn State is doing with Alabama the next two seasons. Once RR has us at full speed, it would be sweet as hell to see Florida, Texas, etc. in the Big House in September.

Relying on ND blows, as ND blows.

MaizeAndBlueManGroup

February 26th, 2010 at 6:59 PM ^

I remember when I was watching "The U" on ESPN they did an interview with him and he said whenever he went to the house of a recruit he really wanted, he would leave his pipe there and say something like "Give it back to me after you commit" and it almost always worked...
That's pretty awesome

Raback Omaba

February 26th, 2010 at 5:39 PM ^

If I were in a position of power, I would go for the gold - schedule a home/home with Florida, Miami, FSU, Tennessee, LSU, or Bama. Pick your poison.

We've got to start proving to the South that we're on our way back to the top, and beating them in the regular season would do so. Also, it would help our recruiting down there as well, seeing as RichRod has made it a point to recruit the south (Florida in particular) very heavily.

Can you imagine the thrill that guys like Odoms, Dorsey, Denard, Emilien, Ricardo, D. Hart (hopefully) etc. would have when faced with the prospect of being able to play down in Miami against the Canes or at the Swamp against Florida? It would be a great recruiting pitch to give to kids down there.

Notre Dame is a good game, and I understand that we need to keep the schedule relatively soft because it doesnt make sense to play all the heavy hitters if you're Michigan, but I'm sick of playing teams like Bowling Green.........let's bring out the big dogs guys.

the_white_tiger

February 26th, 2010 at 7:56 PM ^

If I were in a position of power, I would go for the gold - schedule a home/home with Florida, Miami, FSU, Tennessee, LSU, or Bama. Pick your poison.

So you're saying we should get our teeth in as we're stuck in our worst stretch in program history? We shouldn't schedule like a video game, we should schedule like the SEC.

formerlyanonymous

February 26th, 2010 at 7:48 PM ^

Yeah, I could see people not knowing their SunBelt teams too well if they aren't [overly] avid fans of NCAA as a whole or NCAA video games. That was the beauty in the statement. Even those who knew who they were, it's really "who the hell are they?" anyway, as they are no one of import like we wish they were.

ZooWolverine

February 26th, 2010 at 8:32 PM ^

Thanks for the clarification; I was reading your comment as a "who doesn't know who that FAU is Florida Atlantic?" I missed on the sad commentary for Michigan football that I had inadvertantly made.

I'm actually not too disappointed with scheduling a nobody; I don't like that football so highly rewards a win over nobody versus a loss to a great team, but I blame football, not Michigan for playing it that way. Particularly when the program is under fire, I'm happy for a win, however we get it (although that will hopefully be less of a concern in 2012).

WolvinLA2

February 26th, 2010 at 6:21 PM ^

LOLOMG. This happens every year. Like it or not, ND is our "tough" non-con game every year. Half the time it's home, the other half it's away. And stop saying how much ND sucks because they've beaten us about half the times we've played them for the last decade or so. It's not like we roll over them ever year.

Not many schools, at all, schedule home-and-home non-cons with more than one high level BCS school. Penn State is doing the Bama thing, but they don't have a ND team that they play every year, and if they don't play Bama then they basically play EMU 4 times. Same with OSU. It doesn't seem as sexy to play ND because we play them so often, but it's a major OOC rivalry, one we all get fired up for.

Take a look at most team's schedules, indluding the top teams. If they play more than one ND level OOC game a year then I'm surprised.

Irish

February 26th, 2010 at 6:52 PM ^

USC has impressed me with their OOC scheduling, really quite a few teams from the pac10 have good OOC schedules most years. This past season:
Oregon played both Boise State and Utah
USC played ND and OSU
UW played both ND and LSU
As for other ND opponents from last season,
Nevada played both ND and Missouri
Purdue played both ND and Oregon
Pitt played ND and Navy
Ucon Played both ND and UNC
Its definitely doable to schedule ND and another stronger OOC team

formerlyanonymous

February 26th, 2010 at 7:05 PM ^

FWIW, we had Utah on the schedule last year, so it's not like Oregon's scheduling is that much different. I would also point out that several of those smaller teams, or to an extent, the BigEast, aren't playing our same schedule either. The BigEast not necessarily because of less talented teams on their conference schedule (debatable), but because they play one less conference game per year, so they almost need another BCS opponent to make up for the media/popular bias about their weak conference.

Basically, I respect them for not playing 4 tomato cans and one team, which I feel like Michigan would do if they got the chance.

WolvinLA2

February 26th, 2010 at 7:29 PM ^

USC is the exception to the rule. Most years they beat everybody, so they schedule tough teams. This really only started happening, though, after the Pac Ten was so bad outside of them and they got snubbed from the BCS NC game.

I'll give it to UW for scheduling ND and LSU, but other than that...

Most of the posters here are saying we should schedule game with an elite team, and I don't think Missouri, Navy and UNC fall into that category. UConn is in the same ballpark as those teams, essentially.

I agree with FA's assessment of the Big East teams. They have a weak and small conference, so they need another BCS level team just to break even.

We've played Oregon, Utah, this year it will be UConn. Last year was probably the easiest OOC schedule we've had in a while, but we needed it.

Irish

February 26th, 2010 at 7:54 PM ^

Yeah USC was definitely trying to make themselves look better for the NC game, I think they have a home and home scheduled with Minnesota starting this season. Carroll kept trying to get more TV time in eastern time zones to help their ratings.

Hopefully last years OOC schedule isn't a preview of the future, FAU is certainly not DSU but it certainly doesn't look like Oregon or Utah either.

WolvinLA2

February 26th, 2010 at 8:41 PM ^

I doubt last year's schedule is a trend, since this fall we start the season off with UConn, an above average BCS conference team. They're no world beaters, but they are a certain step up from WMU last year.

And if FAU is the worst team we play in 2012, that's not that bad. At least they're FBS, most teams nowadays play at least one FCS school.

The other big reason for all of this is money. If you play a home and home, you give up a home game every other year, whereas if you play a MAC or Sun Belt team (or equivalent), they won't require a return game.

In one scenario, you play a tough team, but it's more likely you lose and you give up money by playing away (do you realize how much 110,000 fans pay between tickets and parking and concession food??). In the other scenario you get a more likely win, but you lose out on the hype and excitement of playing a big name team.

Kind of an aside, but another reason USC plays big name teams is that it's the only way they fill their stadium, which is basically 20k fewer than the Big House. Generally, the only games that USC sells out is ND and UCLA, which is essentially one game a year. I've been to a handful of USC Pac Ten games, we always paid below face value and the stadium was never full.

Irish

February 26th, 2010 at 9:44 PM ^

"And if FAU is the worst team we play in 2012, that's not that bad."
I fully agree with you, if FAU is the worst UM does then that isn't bad but if it is an FAU, MAC and another DSU it will be pretty disappointing.

I have heard the coliseum has been needing some renovations for a while now so I always wondered if that had something to do with their lack of attendance.

WolvinLA2

February 26th, 2010 at 10:13 PM ^

The Coliseum is certainly behind a lot of the other major stadiums in the country, but let's be honest, if the Big House (or ND's stadium in your case) were in the condition that the Coliseum is in, we would all still go and probably say nothing about it. It doesn't have fancy bathrooms or luxury boxes, but the majority of people attending those games don't need that. Also, it's smack dab in the middle of about 15 million people. Oh, and it's the best team in the country for the past decade. The last couple of years Michigan sucked, our state is broke, half the fanbase hated the coach and we still packed 100k in every game.