Question about the back-to-back MSU away games.
Not likely.
by this suggestion, but not quite sure about the logistics. Do you mind putting together a flow chart?
I believe a "flow" chart would require a third hand.
Not sure why they would. I was under the impression that the only reason they're getting back to back home games is so that they can change who gets the home game in even/odd years.
So, why don't we just get the home game this year? That would put everything on track for how they want it.
They would want the new scheduling pattern to take effect the same year Maryland & Rutgers join the conference & shift everything around. It wouldn't make sense to do it now.
Of course not. It's the B1G.
trends for both teams translate into on-field performance I think we have a good chance of making the '14 game a default home game.
SPARTAN STADIUM TAKEOVER '14!!!!! CRISLER 2001 SHALL BE AVENGED!!!!!
By the time the second game comes around, the Sparty fanbase might have turned on Dantonio, just as they have every coach since Duffy Daugherty. They aren't going to be able to blame the OC for a terrible offense this year.
I hope Dantonio is there long enough for Michigan to even the record aganst him, but he might be smart enough to leave after this year. He knows that his only two double-digit win years were a direct result of Michigan's infighting sabotaging Michigan's recruiting, allowing him to get the players that he is no longer getting.
Now that everyone is on the same page and everyone from Michigan is helping with recruiting, Mark Dantonio is watching Brady Hoke pull in consecutive great classes, and watching players he used to get decide that Michigan is once again the "destination school" in the state.
When Michigan beats Sparty this year, the record against Dantonio goes to 3-4. He has to see the writing on the wall. I am guessing there will be plenty of openings this year, as there are every year. It wouldn't take much for his agent to start putting out "feelers" if he starts to feel the Sparty fanbase and Trustees turning against him.
Best-case scenario: Michigan beats Sparty about the next ten years in a row, and Dantonio stays around long enough to be 4-5. Sparty hires Dan Enos, who proves to be overwhelmed running a Big Ten program in the shadow of the Michigan Wolverines, floundering for five years before "Sparty Nation" turns on him, too.
This is a VERY interesting theory. and I agree about the quality of the MSU team: they will be good this year but this will be their last chance at a 10+ win season, IMO.
They have a very good D and a returning RS Sr QB. Solid STs. the rest of the O is a hot mess, but I think they will be 9-10 W team, w/o diving into their schedule.
"...Most of the guys he got in on with the help of high school coaches who didn't like Rich Rod failed out of school..."
I know that there are a few high school programs in Detroit/Michigan with ties to MSU, who don't like any Michigan coaches, no matter what their last name might be; Carr, Rodriguez or Hoke. But were there really any significant high school programs where the coach[es] held a personal grudge against Rodriguez?
I spoke with one of Mario Ojemudia's coaches at Framington Hills Harrison once. He was a delightful guy. And the first thing he told me was that the notion that Harrison was a historically determined MSU feeder school was always overblown. The Harrison staff would always have been delighted to send kids to Michigan if that is where they wished to go.
The second thing he told me was that the myth that high school coaches in Michigan felt disrespected by Rodriguez or otherwise had a feud with him, was even more overblown. He categorically denied that he was aware of anybody in h.s. coaching, anywhere in the state, who felt that way.
No the B1G won't compensate for Michigan. It is going to be used as a "oops, we have to do this to make future schedules work" kind of thing.
With the direction this program is headed with the coaching staff and recruiting I am looking forward to beating Sparty on the road twice in two years. That is what Michigan will gain out of this scheduling.
And to be fair, it's gone the other way for us before. We played PSU at home in 2002, took a two-year hiatus, and then played them again at home in 2005. They did not get two straight at home after that.
It does particuarly suck when you're talking about a 100-year series, though. They've got to fix this at some point or we'll have a terrible home schedule every other year.
It's not the same, though. Penn State is a big opponent but not a rival. I looked up the series in the modern era of college football (last 40 years) and not a single team has traveled to a rival school's stadium two years in a row until this scheduling clusterf*ck.
And the thing with Penn State does get back on track. We traveled to their place in 2010, took a two year hiatus and then travel to their place again this year.
This does need to be fixed. There have always been scheduling breaks with Notre Dame, as there will be again soon. But we've always been assured of either OSU or MSU at home every year. Now we don't get that.
I think you're correct about PSU, but not sure about the second - I hope so, though.
Especially since it is increasingly likely that the 2014 game will be played at night: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/77863/msu-to-consider-hosting-…
I believe we were the last team to get 2 games at home in a row in this series in 67-68. Before that 44 out of the first 50 meetings were in Ann Arbor so I think we can let them have two home games in a row.
I care. Not so much the specific detail of playing two straight in East Lansing, but that our home schedule is going to be totally unbalanced from odd to even-numbered years. Whether it's 2014, 2016, 2018 or any other even-numbered year, you can pretty much predict it'll be a terrible home schedule. Maybe we'll get a big-name nonconference team in September, but the conference home slate will still be awful.