1) Everytime I see Cox run, I think "Ian Gold".....why not move him?
2) JB Fizgerald? Watched him a bit last last year.....he needs to be a defensive end
3) Move Roh permanently to linebacker...yeah...I know it isn't his natural positon, but geez, Ezeh? What have we got to lose
4) this was discussed in the off-season, make Ezeh a rush end...heck..it would simplify his reads
5) The team is VERY deep on the Oline...welll.....have some of them take some snaps on the Dline. Lord, Quinton Washington is build like a DT for christ sake! What have we got to lose if he takes one snap here and there.
6) Am I the only one who thought Vlad could move to Linebacker? Always felt he was stocky like one.
Finally, if all else fails, take Ezeh out of the game permanently, and go with more of a permanent nickel package....3 down linemen (including roh), Mouton and another safety, plus 6 db/safeties.....
Check out the depth chart, we're gonna be thin at DE and DT next year, and poss. in 2012 unless things happen soon. At Linebcker, once Ezeh,Mouton, and moundros check out, our linebackers wil be like the abbot and costelo skit "whose on first?
and, I saw purdue getting some push on them. If I'm BK, I come out with some heavy tightend formations, pound the ball a bit, then go downfield......and actually fatboy had luck doing this in 2008
Chris Perry was going to transfer also. He was whining to his mother about his playing time, and she almost gave in, as she latter said in an article, and then she said something like this to herself "if I let him quit, and move on right now, how is he ever going to grow up and be a man" It sounds like Mr. Tate is having the same thougts, based on his comments....lets hope so.
all the game from about 30,000 feet, never venturing to the treetops, like Brian does about Michigan. For example, he said "all of uconn's wr are back" as part of his prose. In fact, they are not. Their top two left, and the returning guy snared 22 balls last year. What is laughable is that he thinks the following is some how profound "michigan fans better not take Uconn lightly, this isn't some mac school coming in here....this is a good team" Duhhhh....like we havent talked about them, ad nausem, since Jan freakin one! Clearly, Espn's headquarters proximity to Uconn is part of this as well........
the growing pains of the michigan oline the last two years....Michigan has moved the ball VERY well, on the ground, vs. this group of ND defenders. So whatever that is worth...
that indy,purdue,minny,wildcats & illi are historically the 5 worst programs in the conference, then I'd say Wisky made out like a smirking little badger...why?
By deeding them Minny as their lock, permanent "rival" it guaraaaaaaannntteees....that the badger gets 4 of the said, historically weak, 5 teams EVERY year. Partner that with their general 4 out of conference pastries, and you have a program that need only steal a game from Psu or THE Osu university for a nice 9 game win season annually!
Kobeashi Morou (wrath of Khan) senario I have raged about on mlive and mgoblue...a month ago, heres how this scheme benfits the Klingon buckeyes, the nittnay lion Rhomulans, and the ferengi spartans:
1) Michigan and Osu is moved up to october....this marginalizes the SS Wolverine because
2) Psu and Osu slide THEIR game to the end of the season which is what they both want cause they don't think the SS wolverine will rise again
3) Michigan & Msu will slide to the last game of the regular season, which benefits sparty due to the enormity of attention rivalry weekend gets (I was way ahead of Drew Sharp on this one)
4) Now Michigan has Nebraska, Iowa, Msu, & Psu EVERY year. Then there will be years when Psu & Wisky get piled on top of the.....oh joy
5) Osu gets 3 pinheads, Psu, and Wisky (who is always up and down over the years) and us.
So, in the end Michigan is screwed all the way around, Psu enhances themselves by playing osu at the end, Msu gets a jump start bay playing us at the end, and Michigan's will be tough EVERY year. Now you know why Osu barely raised a finger about all this, and why Psu (my contention) Balked BIG TIME, behind the scenes about moving the west (whichis the easiest FREAKIN move for ALL concerned). And our AD thinks this is all worth it so we might play osu once every ten years....twice.
if he harbours those thoughts about tate....HE better perform on the field this year as well. HE was hardly the rock of Gibraltor himself last year. And twinkle,twinkle little 5 star who plays like 3, steve schilling better back it up as well .......
1) In the third Q, Now player fumbles the ball around the Nw35, and the ref says he was down. Now, if standing completely perpendicular is down...then he was down. Nw proceeded to drive down the field fro 7.
2) Before half Nw does an onside kick. Not only was ONE player clearly off side (and Keith Jackson called is AS it was happening it was so obvious), the replay showed in fact TWO kitties were off-side. 3 more for the kitties
3) Nw, third and about 25 from own 35, kusack chased from pocket, and with one foot CLEARLY in bownds 10 yards down the field, Michigan flagged for 15 yards, auto kitty first down, they drove the length for 7
thats7+3+7=17......even a buckeye can add that up...er...maybe
and I met at a bar in atlanta, in 2004 while watching Smith go wild during the Osu-Michigan game. He told me this story:
The day after the Iowa Punt in question, he went real early to the stadium, and the only person he found there was Jim the punt coach. He said jim was seated behind a desk starring at the wall like a transfixed zombie. Dave said "Jim....Jim...Jim are you alright". Dave said Jim was completely unware of Pearson's presence, and his face was a strange shade of green/yellow.....all of sudden, according to Pearson, there was this awful sound from Jim and BLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH he throws up all over the desk, on to the floor, and I think he said it even caught part of the wall. And Pearson confirmed the obvious, he wasn't let go for "personnal reasons" as Carr stated in the paper...he was canned. Clearly though, based on the story, the pressure/guilt was Emence!
if for no other reason than that the defense is bad. If he can make the zone read work, while keeping defenses honest with an improved passing game, the defense will spend less time on the field (oh please god!), will have fewer short fields because michigan is running more which equals fewer turnovers, and the defense will have better overall field positon vs. other offenses. This is what I believe RR is mulling over in his head....
Having lived in SEC country (atlanta) for 24 years I have seen and heard it all from this these self centered, childish SEC clown fans. When they get nailed by the NCAA it's like they have this Chatty Cathy doll string they pull that goes "everybody does it". They are so isolated that whenver I tell them how big the enrollments are in the bigten, bigten academic standings etc. I get this my mama just died, dropped,gapeing, jaw effect. When the USC thing went down, an Auburn guy was telling me they should get the 2004 Nat Title Trophy......but he got upset when I said the old glass housed, stones thing of a ma jig line.
The creme de la crem is from the three clowns who played for bear bryant , in three different decades....who all said (ring you local class bell, drum roll please) "guaranteed passin' grades"!
Osu, Msu, Iowa, Wisky, Uconn are run first teams....that to me means the linebackers may be key. If you cant stop the run with these teams the passing part is academic. But, dont get me wrong, the secondary is still a BIG concern.
ps- I think, given their potential weaknesses, ND may be running a lot more this year....
gimme a freakin' break "though I played with roh & lewan, I don't know them well enough to ask about Michigan" .....oh c'mon....HS football players are always tight with each other. Perhaps he should just say the truth "I'm really not very interested in Michigan"
(like the current administration does). It shows the osu & michigan ave ranking as only 3.7 to 3.17.......but Osu has TEN 4 or 5 star committments, while michigan has ONE. Its only Osu' larger overall number of recruits (17) that makes things seem closer than they are. We better win this year, or lessor recruiting classes will be the norm, and less talent will be a self fulfilling prophecy....
...the great shadow of american militaristic monolithic football fast approaches! I see the dark clouds approaching...soon it will be (to borrow from Judas Priest) "SLAMMING THE WORLD LIKE A BATTERING RAM"
Have all the teams schedule an extra conference game, BUT don't count it in the standings!
Example: Ohio State is in the "east", and nebraska is in the "west".....they aren't on the regular schedule in say 2012. So, they schedule an "out of conference" game with each other early in the year, in one of their out of conference slots. My solution solves serveral problems:
1) Because you get some better match-ups for the TV folks, they can kick up more money
2) Becasues the game doesn't count in the standings, nobody will have any inhibition to schedule these games
3) The bigten could let the teams schedule some of the games in neutral places that would expand the conferences appeal, ie. Sch the game in Atlanta, or New York etc. to start the season
4) You can do the "home n home" thing easily
5) it improves each teams strength of schedule...but the games would still be part ot the national title debate
Man, some people must either have short memories, or haven't been around very long. For YEARS colleges ran option offenses, and PLENTY of guys ended up being great qb's coming out of that system. In fact, in the old option days, one of the benefits of guys not throwing much in college, was it forced NFL teams to put them an the bench for a few years to observe and learn. Now if a guy has 1000 pass attempts in college they throw him to wolves and you get what you get. In fact, I see just as many busts now, from guys who have thrown a lot more in HS & College, as when they hadn't thrown much in the option days.
both florida and georiga LOST to Miami of Ohio in the tangerine bowl in the 70's. In fact, I think Ole Miss lost to them also.......and the other omission was the the SEC CHEATS THEIR BRAINS OUT...
taking a redshirt are looking at him in the context of starting. Not, which I think will happen, as part of a Leak-Tebow arrangement that florida had last year. So, you use Tate as the starter, then bring in Gardner as the changeup. Gardner bring something that Robinson and Tate lack...the ability cut it up fied, off the zone read, with speed AND power....
1)Money. Whatever it takes to get the best coaches, paying the assistants, paying the players they are all for it.
2) Ncaa. Isn't any coincidence that the SEC has had their best decade, at a time when Ncaa enforcement has been lax (see reggie bush)? I talk to SEC fans all the time, their programs are just as bad as always
3) Black athletes. Many of the Big Ten states just don't have many black athletes. In the states that do, they are in large/medium large cities. In the south, they are all over, rural, city, suburbs etc.....and
4) General population shifts in general have brought a lot more people into the south over the last 25 years
5) Alumni...big SEC alumni are VERY involved the programs down here and breath down the neck of the administrations.
6) Academics. Not only are the sec schools academics, for their general student populations, low (compared to the big ten), the grauation rates for the athletes is mostly horrible. In addition, the SEC schools do whatever it takes to get any transcript in...(juco's)
7) Oversignage. While Big ten schools are limited, the SEC schools have had no such restrictions. This has allowed them to take a lot more chances on academically shaky players. Now, that being said, the SEC just puts some limits in on this stuff, so we will see how that works out. But, they just did it prior to theis year.
8) Bowl game sites. hey, they just dont have far to go for bowl games....nearly all are in region.
Brian you hit on something that has been nagging me all year. while it is obvious that michigan has expericne/talent issues in the back 7.....I'm starting to wonder about the line, specifically the guys who came before the 2008 class. In fact, I think it negates the arguments of "if lloyd stayed", or "if one of lloyd's assistants were hired", or "if we hired someone who didn't run a gimmick offense". In fact, someone was flapping their gums about Mallet head in another forum, ie. "if he stayed" and I said "yeah...but who was going to block for him"?
if we keep our heads together, don't panic, and encourage other not to panic. Especially we must stop all the negative talk...it hurts recruiting potentially...
Gardner and tate like Florida used tebow and leak 3 years ago....concerned a bit about offensive tackle (hopefully Huyge & PD get pushed hard)....somebody must step forward as a consistent deep threat at wr....linebacker is probably the biggest unknown (tons of 4 star guys though, cant figure why they not better)....I think Michigan goes with a 4 man Dline....
Have to beat Uconn in opener, cant go to SB 0-1....
has membership in the nations most favored Minority class. You know the civil rights movement was about the need to give minorities equal opportunities...not opportunities created by white guilters who plug in guys like Sharp at their newspapers and allow them to blather on and on, make any outrageous comments, etc. (steven smith is another example) so their newspapers can be "hip".
I feel kind of Masada. The romans (starring the buckeyes) are about to storm the fortess (played by the big house), defended by the jews (played by the michigan team)....and we will probably committe sucide (turnovers, penalties)
7-5 season, which breaks down like this
1)a 3-1 out of conference record (I'm assuming a loss to ND as they will have lots of people back, and M sucks in southbend)
2) a 4-4 conference mark with...
3) One of those wins required to be vs. MSU (he cant lose 3 years in a row to sparty)
6-6 or worse, I'd say he is gone...
Many have said "Carr never had a losing season"....but boy he came REAL close in 2005. Michigan went 7-5, but two of those wins came in overtime, and a third on that last play vs. PSU.....
I have had the same thoughts with regards to Carr.
1) Michigan blocks the kick in the rosebowl vs. Texas (shazor said it grazed his hand)
2) Michigan goes for it on 4th abd 4 vs. Osu in 2005 at the osu 37 instead of punting, or makes one play on osu's last drive
3) Michigan makes one more play vs. Osu in 2006....
IF all those had happened 1) Herrman would not have been let go 2) Carr has more say on who is the next head coach/maybe it is Herrman......thus the coaching transition would have been smoother....
we cant have a crooked coach that lets player go because they skipped practice, classes, and study halls! With that kind of heavy handedness...Michigan will not be able to keep up with the Osu, SEC teams of the world. Lets hire a NEW coach, preferably form the SEC, who knows how to treat players properly, and let them do what they want...so long as they perform on Saturday!
1) RR's comments about the center position, already confirm what I have been thinking....mooseman does NOT like playing center..and is uncomfortable doing it....great
2) Finally a public admission about something that has been hinted at by RR, his staff, and even third party folks (nielhans comments at the WVU banquet.....there are talent shortages...and..
3) they quote "will address those in the next TWO recruiting classes".....this confirms a thought I've had since the Psu game ended, this rebuilding job is much bigger than we thought
4) The difficulty in JC transfers means Saban is out as a potential successor to RR (big shot at saban by evilempire..ha..ha)
5) Nothing wrong with Robinson as DC....schemes are fine...we are just short on bodies....duh
crap! I live in Atlanta, so we get all the tech games....1) Tech had the qb to run the system. I watched them several times last year and thought "man if Michigan had a guy like that the offense would hum 2) Whereas LOTS of teams run the spread, Johnsons offense is EXTREMELY rare so it is very difficult for teams to prepare for it in one week....
1) because the team will not beat osu and wisky
2) a bowl loss will mean the season ended with 3 straight losses
this will set everybody into major grumble mode
3) Next year, what do Psu,osu,msu,Uconn,ND,Iowa,wisky all have in common? They bring back the bulk of their teams,and most/all of their key personnel.
4) Michigan will open with Uconn( Very losable game),and then ND (Jimmy,Floyd, and tate will all still be there)....so..
5)....Michigan may open the season 0-2, with road games at Psu, and at Osu on the dockett..and
6) There will be a new athletic director, which is a HUGE wildcard at this point (esp. for RR)
7) ....and if there is no patience by the FAM (fans, alumni,media)....RR will get fired...and
8) Michigan will start the coaching carousel that has caused long dry spells at many big time programs.
First of all, there just isnt that much talent in the state, consistently. Michigan is NOT one of the 5 best states. For years, starting with Moeller, Michigan has gone all over the country...it just isn't the problem. Mike Hart was from New York, Chand Henne- pennsylvania, Breston-Penn, Forcier-
Cali.....the real problem is that Carr left the cupboard bare in some spots, and RR is paying the price. In particular the the back seven, ie. linebackers and Db's I, and MANY have be dicussing that since the middle part of this decade.
is that if a skill position guy doesn't see the field his freshman year (ie.db, running back, wr) he probably isn't ever going to be anything special (YES...there are exceptions, but mostly it is the case). Which is why the empire is REALLY concerned about Turner. Ty Law played ALOT as a frosh, Woodson played ALOT as a frosh, Jackson ALOT as a frosh, Warren A LOT as a frosh. So, I think you get my drift...the odds are greater that Turner will be anyting special.
No the cupboard wasn't "bare" but it DEF had bare spots, or was undercoached.
1) How many years have we been talking about the poor DB recruiting? Umm....before Brian ever started his blog! And, Brian has covered the lackluster recruiting in this area for some time
2) Take our linebackers....please! Nuff said.
3) Despite Michigan's HUGE pedigree with qb's one has to ask WHY in Chad Henne's senior year, his backup was a true freshmen
4) Now for the coaching part. Moeller was doing a rotten job developing The Oline. Schilling, as a not ready for prime time freshmen, roared past most of the upperclassmen (who are stil on the Michigan roster) to start. So, clearly, Frye has done an excellent job......and Carr's staff had like TWO linemen recruits about 4 classes ago (3 star molk, and 2 star Hyugle)
Recent Comments
Some ideas
1) Everytime I see Cox run, I think "Ian Gold".....why not move him?
2) JB Fizgerald? Watched him a bit last last year.....he needs to be a defensive end
3) Move Roh permanently to linebacker...yeah...I know it isn't his natural positon, but geez, Ezeh? What have we got to lose
4) this was discussed in the off-season, make Ezeh a rush end...heck..it would simplify his reads
5) The team is VERY deep on the Oline...welll.....have some of them take some snaps on the Dline. Lord, Quinton Washington is build like a DT for christ sake! What have we got to lose if he takes one snap here and there.
6) Am I the only one who thought Vlad could move to Linebacker? Always felt he was stocky like one.
Finally, if all else fails, take Ezeh out of the game permanently, and go with more of a permanent nickel package....3 down linemen (including roh), Mouton and another safety, plus 6 db/safeties.....
Ok....perhaps some of my ideas suck...but Ezeh?
Check out the depth chart, we're gonna be thin at DE and DT next year, and poss. in 2012 unless things happen soon. At Linebcker, once Ezeh,Mouton, and moundros check out, our linebackers wil be like the abbot and costelo skit "whose on first?
So, was michigan, coming back to win at the end, Luke Skywallker this time in Return of the Jedi?
and, I saw purdue getting some push on them. If I'm BK, I come out with some heavy tightend formations, pound the ball a bit, then go downfield......and actually fatboy had luck doing this in 2008
Chris Perry was going to transfer also. He was whining to his mother about his playing time, and she almost gave in, as she latter said in an article, and then she said something like this to herself "if I let him quit, and move on right now, how is he ever going to grow up and be a man" It sounds like Mr. Tate is having the same thougts, based on his comments....lets hope so.
all the game from about 30,000 feet, never venturing to the treetops, like Brian does about Michigan. For example, he said "all of uconn's wr are back" as part of his prose. In fact, they are not. Their top two left, and the returning guy snared 22 balls last year. What is laughable is that he thinks the following is some how profound "michigan fans better not take Uconn lightly, this isn't some mac school coming in here....this is a good team" Duhhhh....like we havent talked about them, ad nausem, since Jan freakin one! Clearly, Espn's headquarters proximity to Uconn is part of this as well........
game...I have one request......PLEASE ...OH GOD...PLEASE....NO 5 QUESTIONS FOR THE DEFENSE...I CANT TAKE IT!
the growing pains of the michigan oline the last two years....Michigan has moved the ball VERY well, on the ground, vs. this group of ND defenders. So whatever that is worth...
that indy,purdue,minny,wildcats & illi are historically the 5 worst programs in the conference, then I'd say Wisky made out like a smirking little badger...why?
By deeding them Minny as their lock, permanent "rival" it guaraaaaaaannntteees....that the badger gets 4 of the said, historically weak, 5 teams EVERY year. Partner that with their general 4 out of conference pastries, and you have a program that need only steal a game from Psu or THE Osu university for a nice 9 game win season annually!
Kobeashi Morou (wrath of Khan) senario I have raged about on mlive and mgoblue...a month ago, heres how this scheme benfits the Klingon buckeyes, the nittnay lion Rhomulans, and the ferengi spartans:
1) Michigan and Osu is moved up to october....this marginalizes the SS Wolverine because
2) Psu and Osu slide THEIR game to the end of the season which is what they both want cause they don't think the SS wolverine will rise again
3) Michigan & Msu will slide to the last game of the regular season, which benefits sparty due to the enormity of attention rivalry weekend gets (I was way ahead of Drew Sharp on this one)
4) Now Michigan has Nebraska, Iowa, Msu, & Psu EVERY year. Then there will be years when Psu & Wisky get piled on top of the.....oh joy
5) Osu gets 3 pinheads, Psu, and Wisky (who is always up and down over the years) and us.
So, in the end Michigan is screwed all the way around, Psu enhances themselves by playing osu at the end, Msu gets a jump start bay playing us at the end, and Michigan's will be tough EVERY year. Now you know why Osu barely raised a finger about all this, and why Psu (my contention) Balked BIG TIME, behind the scenes about moving the west (whichis the easiest FREAKIN move for ALL concerned). And our AD thinks this is all worth it so we might play osu once every ten years....twice.
Hee-Haw! "if it weren't fer bad luck we'd have no luck at all"
say?
if he harbours those thoughts about tate....HE better perform on the field this year as well. HE was hardly the rock of Gibraltor himself last year. And twinkle,twinkle little 5 star who plays like 3, steve schilling better back it up as well .......
that things like this go on at a school from the SouthernEthicsConference)
...The refs gave Nw 17 points
1) In the third Q, Now player fumbles the ball around the Nw35, and the ref says he was down. Now, if standing completely perpendicular is down...then he was down. Nw proceeded to drive down the field fro 7.
2) Before half Nw does an onside kick. Not only was ONE player clearly off side (and Keith Jackson called is AS it was happening it was so obvious), the replay showed in fact TWO kitties were off-side. 3 more for the kitties
3) Nw, third and about 25 from own 35, kusack chased from pocket, and with one foot CLEARLY in bownds 10 yards down the field, Michigan flagged for 15 yards, auto kitty first down, they drove the length for 7
thats7+3+7=17......even a buckeye can add that up...er...maybe
and I met at a bar in atlanta, in 2004 while watching Smith go wild during the Osu-Michigan game. He told me this story:
The day after the Iowa Punt in question, he went real early to the stadium, and the only person he found there was Jim the punt coach. He said jim was seated behind a desk starring at the wall like a transfixed zombie. Dave said "Jim....Jim...Jim are you alright". Dave said Jim was completely unware of Pearson's presence, and his face was a strange shade of green/yellow.....all of sudden, according to Pearson, there was this awful sound from Jim and BLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH he throws up all over the desk, on to the floor, and I think he said it even caught part of the wall. And Pearson confirmed the obvious, he wasn't let go for "personnal reasons" as Carr stated in the paper...he was canned. Clearly though, based on the story, the pressure/guilt was Emence!
if for no other reason than that the defense is bad. If he can make the zone read work, while keeping defenses honest with an improved passing game, the defense will spend less time on the field (oh please god!), will have fewer short fields because michigan is running more which equals fewer turnovers, and the defense will have better overall field positon vs. other offenses. This is what I believe RR is mulling over in his head....
Having lived in SEC country (atlanta) for 24 years I have seen and heard it all from this these self centered, childish SEC clown fans. When they get nailed by the NCAA it's like they have this Chatty Cathy doll string they pull that goes "everybody does it". They are so isolated that whenver I tell them how big the enrollments are in the bigten, bigten academic standings etc. I get this my mama just died, dropped,gapeing, jaw effect. When the USC thing went down, an Auburn guy was telling me they should get the 2004 Nat Title Trophy......but he got upset when I said the old glass housed, stones thing of a ma jig line.
The creme de la crem is from the three clowns who played for bear bryant , in three different decades....who all said (ring you local class bell, drum roll please) "guaranteed passin' grades"!
me of a movie sene:
1st person "I'm Shocked...SHOCKED to see gambling at Rick's"
2nd person "here's your share of the winnings"
1st person "oh..thank you"
If you said "pulp fiction" you were wrong......if you said "casablanca" you are correct...and probably middle aged like me....
Osu, Msu, Iowa, Wisky, Uconn are run first teams....that to me means the linebackers may be key. If you cant stop the run with these teams the passing part is academic. But, dont get me wrong, the secondary is still a BIG concern.
ps- I think, given their potential weaknesses, ND may be running a lot more this year....
quick hitters on the scheduling calling Uconn's defense "solid" (and so was the third reich's has the pig farmers from the ussr closed in)
and that Uconn is seen as an "inferior team" as they march into Ann Arbor...umm by whom Matt?
gimme a freakin' break "though I played with roh & lewan, I don't know them well enough to ask about Michigan" .....oh c'mon....HS football players are always tight with each other. Perhaps he should just say the truth "I'm really not very interested in Michigan"
Ohio State.....TEN 4/5 star recruits......
Michigan....ONE
10 and 1....go play with those numbers
(like the current administration does). It shows the osu & michigan ave ranking as only 3.7 to 3.17.......but Osu has TEN 4 or 5 star committments, while michigan has ONE. Its only Osu' larger overall number of recruits (17) that makes things seem closer than they are. We better win this year, or lessor recruiting classes will be the norm, and less talent will be a self fulfilling prophecy....
...the great shadow of american militaristic monolithic football fast approaches! I see the dark clouds approaching...soon it will be (to borrow from Judas Priest) "SLAMMING THE WORLD LIKE A BATTERING RAM"
playtime is over, back to work in the empire of the american football god!
Have all the teams schedule an extra conference game, BUT don't count it in the standings!
Example: Ohio State is in the "east", and nebraska is in the "west".....they aren't on the regular schedule in say 2012. So, they schedule an "out of conference" game with each other early in the year, in one of their out of conference slots. My solution solves serveral problems:
1) Because you get some better match-ups for the TV folks, they can kick up more money
2) Becasues the game doesn't count in the standings, nobody will have any inhibition to schedule these games
3) The bigten could let the teams schedule some of the games in neutral places that would expand the conferences appeal, ie. Sch the game in Atlanta, or New York etc. to start the season
4) You can do the "home n home" thing easily
5) it improves each teams strength of schedule...but the games would still be part ot the national title debate