OTish?: Coming To A Stadium Near You! (North Of The Mason/Dixon Line)

Submitted by phork on

ND has finalized a home and home game with Georgia.  Georgia will come to SouthBend on Sept 9, 2017 and ND will travel to Athens Sept 21, 2019.  

Great inroads to have the SEC come north, no?

LSAClassOf2000

June 25th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^

The series likely will affect Notre Dame's four-game scheduled series with Texas. The Irish are scheduled to host the Longhorns in 2015 and 2020 with games in Austin in 2016 and 2019. With a commitment to play five games each season against ACC teams, along with annual series with USC, Stanford and Navy and the annual off-site Shamrock Series game, bringing Georgia into the window where the Irish are scheduled to play Texas is a tight fit.

It definitely gives ND a chance to revisit the same part of the country that gave them players like Stephon Tuitt and Darisu Walker, of course, and as I recall, the first game in the series would be only the second time that these teams have met. Indeed, it would be the first since some dude named Herschel Walker ran all over them in 1981. 

That being said, reading the quote above, I have to wonder if you'll see a lot of schedule juggling in the hope that SOS becomes a significant thing with the selection committee for the playoffs. 

ThadMattasagoblin

June 25th, 2014 at 11:50 PM ^

We play UCLA, Arkansas, Florida, and Virginia tech in the future. The bad non conference schedule is really a one time thing and I'd rather we ease our new OL in this year then try to play Alabama or Florida State in the opening game.

DrewGOBLUE

June 26th, 2014 at 6:14 AM ^

After our previous neutral site game against Bama down in Arlington, why the hell did they choose the same damn place for the Florida game? I made the trip down there in 2012 and Dallas was okay, but I'm not itching to go back.


So for the love of God, does Dave Brandon not at least understand that people might prefer visiting a different city? Nashville would have been a very good choice, IMO. Really fun city and it's f***ing located almost perfectly between Ann Arbor and Gainesville.

cutter

June 26th, 2014 at 9:11 AM ^

Michigan had its home-and-home series schedule with Arkansas (2018/9), Virginia Tech (2020/1) and UCLA (2022/3) in place by the time the neutral site game with Florida was contracted.

UM put together the two game series with the Razorbacks while the scheduling agreement with Notre Dame was in place.  That agreement allowed each team to take a hiatus provided it gave the other program enough lead time.  I rather suspect that Michigan agreed to play Arkansas because UA Athletic Director Jeff Long has long-standing ties to the UM Athletic Department.  At that time, Notre Dame would have been a Michigan home game in 2017.

When the Notre Dame arrangement got cancelled, Brandon set up the home-and-homes with Virginia Tech and UCLA.  He also got Brigham Young to fill in as ND's replacement for the 2015 season.  With the Big Ten going to a nine-game conference schedule in 2016, he didn't need to have a fourth non-conference game because Hawaii, Colorado and Central Florida (who replaced Miami-Ohio and beat Baylor in last year's Fiesta Bowls) already in place.

That left Brandon with a handful of options.  He could find an opponent willing to do a home-and-home for the 2017 and 2024 seasons.  He could rejigger the 2016 schedule and perhaps find a team willing to do a home-and-home in 2016/7.  Or he could fill in that one open schedule slot with a neutral site game.  It would seem to me that he selected Option #3, or perhaps more accurately, that was the only option that worked because he couldn't find opponents that could fulfill the timing of the other scenarios above.

It would have been nice to put this game in another city and there were reports that Atlanta was a possibilty--the Chick--fil-A Kickoff Games (there are two schedule this year with Missisisppi v. Boise State and Alabama v. Virginia Tech) may have been a possible destination.  But for whatever reason--money, the ticket sale success for the game against Alabama, the venue, etc.--Michigan and Florida opted to play in Dallas instead.

Speaking of money, I think one of the reasons why they've become popular is that programs don't have to give up a home game and get paid quite substantially to play at these alternate sites.  Alabama has been playing neutral site games quite regularly now in order to help balance the athletic department budget (especially when the university is helping to subsidize the $70 student football tickets).  While that might support the bottom line, it means one less non-conference game every other year in Tuscaloosa (that list would have included Michigan State before that home-and-home was cancelled).

With the Big Ten having a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2016 and since Michigan has booked its major home-and-home non-conference games through 2023, I doubt we'll see another neutral site game for awhile (and I also expect there will be no controversy surrounding the band in the 2017 game in Dallas either).  

I would like to see Michigan do regular home-and-home series with major opponents vice neutral site games from 2024 onward.  College football is clearly undergoing change and reorganization largely through external forces, so it's hard to know what CFB will be like ten years down the line.

That said, having a home-and-home with programs like Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, LSU (probably have to be post-Les Miles--UM has never played the Bayou Bengals), Tennessee, Georgia or Florida State would be great (although FSU is also looking very hard at playing neutral site games as well).  Who knows?  If UGa is willing to play ND, perhaps they'll do a home-and-home with UM in 2024/5.

 

 

 

umbig11

June 26th, 2014 at 6:40 AM ^

I went to the Alabama game. Great venue. Been there done that. Oh, and it was like 811 degrees that day in the shade tailgating! I would also prefer a new venue or just schedule a damn home and home with anyone like LSU, Tenn, FSU or Texas. People will go to those games!

cozy200

June 26th, 2014 at 7:21 AM ^

I loved the stadium and surrounding areas a lot. The game experience however was really a pain in the ass. Weather, traffic, etc. I can not figure out why DB is such a push over. Treat the big house like it is. A landmark that others should be honored to play in. We don't need to go anywhere else.

jmdblue

June 26th, 2014 at 8:06 AM ^

for Toledo and Appy State and WMU and every other (supposed) pushover we bring in here for one-offs to help load the coffers without risk of loss, need for a trip to their place, or giving the paying customers a show worth seeing.

poseidon7902

June 26th, 2014 at 9:08 AM ^

Loving this.  Life in Atlanta right now and my director is a big ND fan.  Going to go to that game.  Of course that's assuming that I'm still working and living here when that happens.  I plan to go to the Ark MI game when it is down here as well.  I wish there was more cross country games like this.  It would do wonders for strength of schedule.  

Avon Barksdale

June 26th, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^

It may be just because I am located in the state, but I would love to see a Michigan vs Tennessee home and home. Both stadiums are 100,000+, they genuinely hate Michigan, I hate their fans, and we would get to see clips all day of Charles shaking Peyton's hand, and they would have clips of Cato June(?) chasing Jason Witten.

aratman

June 26th, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^

As far as I am concerned they cease to exisit after this fall.  I want no stories of who they play,  who they recruit or which coaches career they are ruining. I don't care if they ALL have dead make believe girl friends, I don't even care if they have real dead girl friends.  I don't care about South Bend outside the exit is a convienent rest area when driving from Chicago to Ann Arbor.   I most definitely don't need to hear from there fans on a Michigan blog like we are some kind of Northern family, we aren't.  Not a rival, not a team we play, there is no fun in hearing there fans hyperbole.  For all off this I am very thankful.   Dana Jacobson was right.