Harbaugh was one who advocated for adding Notre Dame ASAP
That’s fine, but couldn’t they have waited one more year so we don’t have to play all three rivals in their stadiums?
always confused me. It was back like 6 or 7 years ago that we played State in East Lansing in back to back years that caused this. I always thought that was a dumb move.
That happened when the divisions changed from Legends/Leaders to East/West. The B1G prioritized Penn St ahead of MSU, so it was designed t o have OSU/PSU be our home away split every year.
During Harbaugh's time here, his teams have played their rivals better on the road and have a better record...
Still haven't beaten a ranked team on the road...since something like 06 if I remember correctly.
It just is!
Since the start of the 2007 season, they have been 15 opportunities. Yes, we probably should've won at least one. But every one of those I'm pretty sure would've been an upset if we had except maybe 2011 MSU...
Harbaugh has only had 3 chances, was an inch away on one, and a TD not called a TD from making one very interesting on another.
I just hate when people use stats like this to imply that Michigan seems to have a specific problem, like playing good teams on the road. In case you didn't know, Michigan football sucked from 2007-2014. That's why they didn't beat any ranked teams on the road. But from my eye test, they've never had a problem playing on the road. Two of the Hoke era teams' best performances were @ OSU, even if they didn't win.
Do bowls count? Cuz they're against ranked teams on the road
What about last year vs Florida? They were ranked no 17. It was a road game in Dallas.
they are neutral site games with no home/road designations.
Yeah that 47 to 21 dismantling of #2 ND
That was one of my favorite games ever! Go Blue!!
That is not easier than playing at Notre Dame.
Oklahoma 2 years prior. They have a history of scheduling a really tough P5 game each year.
MSU has stepped up too in some recent OOC games like Oregon. And of course they play ND a lot too.
Wisconsin played LSU.
Let's stop whining.
As has Alabama. Obviously FSU had their problems, even without Francois, but it's not like that was Alabama being scared to play top teams.
That perception of Alabama is just that. Of twelve games, 4 are OOC. Of those four, they play one legitimate game and the rest are ridiculously easy. That is a significant advantage vs a Michigan schedule which tends to schedule 1 good game and 2 (used to be 3) games against teams which are at least competent. If you took the teams Michigan plays OOC (minus the marquee game) against the teams Alabama plays OOC (minus the marque game) Michigan's OOC opponents would win a significant majority of games against Alabama's OOC opponents.
I've posted this a few times on the blog and I'm not going to look it up again.
Also upon further analysis, and completely out of Alabama's control, they have been very lucky with their marquee match ups.
2017: FSU (#3) - starting QB gets hurt and the team was in turmoil regardless.
2016: USC (#20) - That was the year USC started awful and turned it around (can't remember if this was the Helton partial season or not)
2015: Wisconsin (#20) - The very first game of Paul Chryst's head coaching tenure at Wisconsin
2014: West Virginia (NR) - WVU finished the season 7-6 (5-4 in conference)
2013: Virginia Tech (NR) - Beamer was on the down turn of his career. Va Tech finished 8-5 (5-3 in conference)
2012: Michigan (#8) - let us never speak of this again
2011: Penn State (#23) - This was Bama's second game of the season and PSU was a paper tiger that year
In the past seven years, Bama has played a ranked team OOC 5 times. Of those 5, only two have been in the top 19 at the time. These games are early, so ranking is solely based on what "experts" expect the quality of a team to be.
Here's Michigan's marquee games in that same period:
2017: Florida (#17)
2016: Colorado (NR) Finished the year 10-4 ranked #17
2015: Utah (NR) Finished the year 10-3 ranked #17.
2014: ND (#16)
2013: ND (#14)
2012: Alabama (#2)
2011: ND (NR)
Not that big of a difference. The point is, it's not like Bama is playing a top 5 team in their OOC schedule every year.
Big Ten is responsible for all conference games, Michigan is responsible for all out of conference.
That is why the schedule is tough, but it’s a round robin in each division. One competitive cross-over game per season should be expected.
This keeps being asked. Harbaugh wanted to switch ND for Arkansas and Warde Manuel wanted to have 7 home games in 2019. Honestly, I would have taken a home game against Arkansas this year.
I’m not sure but damn it hurts seeing OSU at Spring ball and recruiting DFW while Jimmy is eating croissants
I’m not sure but damn it hurts seeing OSU at Spring ball and recruiting DFW while Jimmy is eating croissants
Yeah, while Urbz is having his team play a meaningless spring game, Jim is taking his team to France to explore culture and creating greater team unity. On top of that, Jim landed a commitment and Skyped with two 5* recruits.
From a high schooler perspective, what is cooler, Spring game or a week in France? A spring game or the opportunity to go to New Zealand, Japan, etc. once you commit to Michigan?
What is cooler? Football coach or tour guide?
College football with student-athletes or NFL-lite with guys who ain't come to play skool?
How about football coach AND tour guide?
What happened with that?
Winning is more fun than both!
Meh, once you get past the part of your life where you played sports, looking back the wins and losses don't mean as much as the experience. I have more memories from practices and other team functions than i do from games and wins/losses. Win or lose, the experience for a player is going to be great. Not the same for a fan.
As a guy who played sports like you...I cherished those moments as well, but nothing beat the joy of walking in the locker room after a win with your teammates. When you’re grinding at practice that’s what the payoff is for. Yes of course the relationships I made with coaches and my teammates will last a lifetime, but as a competitor during that part of my life you wanted the wins, not just for you but everyone on your team. Plus he was talking from a recruit’s perspective. Yes! Going overseas is awesome and I laughed at other pundits and coaches who tried to minimize it. However, I believe if you ask the top recruits in the nation what would they value more in their decision? Most would take the victories over the trips.
Spot on. Any sport, any level. For me, club rugby. Of all my greatest memories, maybe 1 in 10 is game related.
I ran track and cross country at a small college. Had a small scholarship but the real reason was being able to go to somewhere for meals, movies and whatnot after the meet. Yes. I ran for big macs... When you're in a small Iowa town and the nearest McD's is 50 miles away and you have no car after growing up in Utica Michgan, you'd be surprised at how much sense running track for big macs makes lol
Wanted to win every race. No doubt but wanted the trip even more
how come they had to play at state 2 years in a row the? thats complete bs if the Big 10 is responsible
Thank Dave Brandon for that one.
what did dave brandon do?
Not GOT Geoffrey but the long neck dude.
I think Geoffrey was moved to hospice once Dave Brandon took over Toys R Us.
existed.
between the B1G and Dave Brandon and you'll have it about right.
To be fair the first like 40 games in the series were in Ann Arbor...
So we're supposed to give them 40 games in a row in that E Lansing cess pool? If that's not what you're espousing, then your comment makes no sense... They weren't even part of the Big Ten during most (if not all) of those years, anyway!
Haha....no. Of course the next 40 shouldn't be in East Lansing. It just seems easier to forgive one back-to-back if you look at context. Going forward it should obviously rotate.
Has been in charge of scheduling since the dawn of this age...
For shit sure, checks out
I told that fucking kraut a thousand times
Is this your homework, Larry?
Besides us, the conference currently has four legitimate top 15 teams. I want a schedule in which we play all of them. The best teams in our conference should play every year.
We have 2 teams at home, and 2 teams on the road. Seems decent.
That said, I prefer it if we played Ohio State and Michigan State at home in alternating years.
Nobody can explain why we play Wisconsin so many times in a row when they are good. The Big 10 did that. Other teams in our division do not play them so many times.
Michigan and Wisconsin didn't play from 2011-2015, a period in which Wisconsin played in 3 B1G title games and won it twice. Michigan always plays Wisconsin when they're good because Wisconsin is always good. There are two real atrocities here: 1) Michigan went 5 years without playing Wisconsin, and 2) Michigan has not not been nearly as good Wisconsin.
https://www.landof10.com/big-ten/big-ten-not-ready-to-announce-football…
...in four-year blocks. IU/Purdue never changes. The rest do.
MSU draws up Michigans football schedule, with some input from Barry Alvarez.