The Value of the DSU Game

Submitted by Meeechigan Dan on

There has been an enormous amount of unhappiness over the years for scheduling games like the DSU game. I, too, have objected.

I am rethinking this. As I have been sampling the OSU pain on various toxic OSU blogs, one theme besides Pryor sucking has stood out: a lack of team unity and leadership.

I think the DSU game gives an opportunity for players to play who would otherwise never see the field. The major theme from Saturday's game was the excitement of the front-line players at seeing their mates get extended PT. These types of games are unity games, effectively a week off for key personnel, but a week where one can stay sharp because Appy State always lurks in the background. Games where reps can be had for key backups.

I have no problem with such games anymore. I would like to see this continued with one of the other games upgraded: one ND, one CT style opponent (that will be a challenge next year), one MAC and one "scrimmage" in the middle of the season.

Wolverine In Exile

October 19th, 2009 at 8:40 AM ^

I have no problem with a game like this, especially smack dab in the middle of the schedule. Give the chance for the coaching staff to get some game experience for young back-ups, see how they'll do in reacting to playcalling in a real time situation.

I'm all for making sure we have a quality schedule, but in this age, this is what our I-AA opponents should be. The goal is to win a Big Ten Championship and position ourselves for a national title run. Cupcakes while detestable from a competition standpoint, do serve a purpose in both 1) giving our regular guys a breather in a meatgrinder season, and 2) allowing the coaching staff to build some depth. Both these purposes go toward the ultimate goal of going after a big ring.

PIJER

October 19th, 2009 at 8:45 AM ^

In my opinion this was great scheduling for this year only. We knew we would have a very young team coming off of two road games. This was a chance to get(stay) healthy for PSU coming in. In the future I would like to not see a FCS team in this position. We should be far enough along as a team, so that this type of "BYE" isn't necessary. If we are going to compete with Florida and USC and other programs where the national love flows, we are going to truly have to be the "Leaders and Best" and schedule that way, because we won't be given much respect.

Meeechigan Dan

October 19th, 2009 at 8:50 AM ^

But Florida played Charleston Southern and Troy this year and USC played San Jose State. They did it early, which I think is a mistake...I was arguing for the value of this type of opponent mid-season. I don't think there is any negative consequence to this type of game any longer given how common it is.

MH20

October 19th, 2009 at 9:00 AM ^

Troy is a 1-A team (though they have only been that way for 10 years I think). I'm unsure if you implying that they are a 1-AA or just an example of a poor non-conference opponent.

It should be noted that Troy, while a Sun Belt team, has gone to a few bowl games in recent years. Yes, they are in the Sun Belt, and definitely don't have the kind of talent to match most middling BCS teams, but they aren't exactly EMU or Rice.

PIJER

October 19th, 2009 at 10:47 AM ^

We haven't had true media love since way before the App State loss. I'll go as far as to say we didn't have much love perod in '97 when we split a NC with Nebraska even though they had one loss, and should have loss to Mizzou seeing as though an intentionally kicked ball can not be caught by the receiving team. That should have been considered at the time!

BlueFish

October 19th, 2009 at 12:12 PM ^

I saw a stat within the last couple years that, in addition to UF's annual lineup of OOC tomato cans, they haven't gone on the road for an OOC game in something like 10+ years. I'm too lazy to do the research right now, but I suspect it's still true.

That really bothers me, if only because that's where U-M appears to be focused as of late. Thankfully, the increasing "return game" scheduling pressure, as well as the ND rivalry, should prevent that from truly happening.

MH20

October 19th, 2009 at 8:51 AM ^

In the future (2010 and beyond) we should have a bye week because the Big Ten schedule begins a week later than it has in recent years. In 2010, we have a bye on 10/23, between Iowa (home) and Penn State (away).

Looks like 2011 and 2012 will yield bye weeks before the Big Ten schedule begins.

Future schedules

Erik_in_Dayton

October 19th, 2009 at 9:37 AM ^

I pretty much hate these types of games for various reasons, first being that if you don't destroy the other team it looks like a failure...That said, I think OP makes very good points about team unity and depth. My aversion to these games is slightly less than it was before Saturday.

Brother Mouzone

October 19th, 2009 at 10:47 AM ^

We don't realize how fortunate we are. My respect for those kids @ DSU and those programs that are similarly situated grows. The payday helps keep their program afloat.

The "restful scrimmage" is a better alternative to a mid-season bye. In fact I think placing our most tasty cupcake in the middle is preferable to the early part of the schedule.

The benefits have been stated:

Rest
Fine Tuning
Depth
Unity

Two special benefits of this game.

1. A once in a lifetime opportunity for many players that bust their ass in practice for their families to see them on the field.

2. "The Approaching Storm" as a challenge to how MMB leadership thinks about the entertainment value to the casual fan.

IF we need to fill a gap I hope we schedule a HBCU school again as a mid-season game. FAMU, Southern, or Grambling would be ideal.