Rutgurs and Iowa Confirmed as Night Games
The Big Ten Conference Office and its television partners announced Monday (May 2) the primetime games for each of its platforms, with two of the University of Michigan's four conference road contests selected for an evening starting time.
The Wolverines will play its Big Ten road opener against Rutgers on Oct. 8 at either 7 or 8 p.m. EDT. This will be the team's second-ever appearance at High Point Solutions Stadium in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The Scarlet Knights won the inaugural meeting in primetime, 26-24, on Oct. 4, 2014.
The final primetime tilt on Michigan's regular-season schedule will be played at Iowa on Nov. 12. The Wolverines and the defending Big Ten Western Division champion Hawkeyes will battle at 8 p.m. EST/7 p.m. CST from Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. This will be the second time that the two schools have met in primetime, with Iowa winning the match-up, 30-28, on Oct. 10, 2009, at Kinnick Stadium.
The television network for the Rutgers and Iowa games will be selected at a later date. The games could be shown on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2.
The Wolverines have compiled a 29-20 all-time record in night games.
Obviously.
And Ohio State!
And Florida! Oh, wait . . .
If they get stuck having to mostly throw the ball, snow and wind and freezing-ass temps would be a bitch.
The Iowa game makes me nervous.
They won't be the toughest team we play, but it may be the toughest game we play.
On the road at Kinnick, at night, sandwiched between MSU and OSU, could be windy and cold/snow, we could be undefeated with a big target on our backs.
It is a classic trap game scenario.
No matter what Iowa looks like the rest of the season, it won't be the Iowa team we face that night.
is why I kind of like it at night. There will no way the team will be looking past it. At noon I think it would actually be more tricky. I worry about fatigue by the time of The Game more than anything. That is a for real 3 game gauntlet.
MSU is the week before, we might have 1/2 the team suspended for Iowa!
We have a week between games. Maryland at home. As cupcake as a Big Ten game can be.
Can we veto these night games? They have no right to schedule us as night games.
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Really bothers me how we gave up the advantage of a night game last year and this year. Wisconsin at night would've been fantastic.
can't figure out the downside. The previous night games went so well that I would have thought it would have been a no-brainer.
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I can't believe PSU or Wisconsin is not at night.. it was such an obvious decision, and if you look at next year's schedule there really isn't one on that schedule that makes a lot of sense. I wouldn't be surprised if we go 2 years now without one. Score a victory for the blue hairs lol.
That would have been a great night game this year. It still baffles me how it is not a night game.
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Because many Michigan faithful believe night games in the Big House should be considered "special" and "against a worthy opponent," which is the dumbest argument ever. Yes, Wisconsin and PSU are "worthy opponents," but I don't see anything wrong with playing some shitty team at night in the Big House. I don't think it's a bad thing seeing Michigan kick a team's ass on national TV.
It doesn't have to even be an argument. There is always at least one opponent each season that is worthy enough to play at night. It does not have to be a choice between Ohio State or UNLV.
It's weird that we have to even consider what our one night game per year could possibly be. It seems like similar situations at Wisconsin and Penn State and it feel like all of their games at home are at night. I'm tired of the traffic and weather excuses.
I guess WD is going to be pretty happy about it.
This is a case of where the old time traditionalists are still getting what they want. "If Bo said games should be played at noon, that's what Michigan should do from here to infinity."
This is one of those times where I say to hell with tradition, and to hell with what Bo said. Do I want to play a night game against UNLV or Ball State? No not really. But please tell me how Wisconsin or Penn State are not worthy of night games. What the hell was the point of installing permanent lights if you're going to use them once every 2-3 years?
I'm so sick of the traffic, weather, and safety excuses. If places like Happy Valley, Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, and Columbus can all host at least one night game a year, so can Ann Arbor.
with the early games in the season, why not? I am not saying have like 3 night games per year, but if there is not a conference game that really screams night game, why not just make an early season game novel. Other teams don't need a "reason" to have night games, they just have them. A perfect example is Colorado this year. Kind of a ho-hum looking affair against a middling PAC 12 team. A snoozer, right? Throw that same game at 8:00 PM and we would have some terrible towels going and the place would be rocking. I just don't get why we really won't just commit to the entire concept.
I'm so sick of the traffic, weather, and safety excuses. If places like Happy Valley, Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, and Columbus can all host at least one night game a year, so can Ann Arbor.
This^ There are no legit excuses. We are no different than any of those places. Period.
If you don't want to have a night game, just come out and say the real reason. Don't blow smoke up our asses with fake excuses.
If they came out and said: "Jim Harbaugh does not like night games. So we are not having night games. Deal with it", I would shut up and deal with it.
You have to take the good with the bad with Harbaugh. He marches to his own beat. We all knew this when they brought him in.
More night games mean more TV viewers and national exposure to potential recruits.
I just don't understand how/why people have such strongly held opinions on what time a game should start. You're getting to watch the University of Michigan Football Team play, who the hell cares what time the game starts?
/OSU should still be an early game though, because tradition. And by early I mean not a night game. Unless they're forecasting rain and/or snow, in which case the game should be moved to coincide with the storm.
Two other problems besides start time you are ignoring.
They were winning for the entire first half too. The halftime score was 14-10, which was close, but they led 14-3 for a very large portion of the first half and then we scored a touchdown right as the half was ending. They were winning the first half too, even though it ended close.
The amount of seats our annoying, money-hungry season ticket holders give up to their fans really decreased the amount of fans there to make noise.
But also, a ton of Michigan Ohio State games have been incredibly loud. The first half last year really was loud and 2011 and 2013 were both very, very loud.
I'm glad about Rutgers. Allows us non-NYC Eastern Seaboard alumni to go without having to take off work Friday or get up at the ass-crack of dawn on Saturday.
Great -- a night game in New Jersey on my birthday. I can study for a few hours in the morning, start getting highly intoxicated by noon, and then not remember any of the game while watching it at a Oregon District bar in Downtown Dayton. Go Blue. Go Flyers.
Love the Oregon District.
Do they still have that massive Halloween block party? I went one year as an ATM. I gave out fake money and everything. Won a bunch of "best costume" contests.
However, as people got more drunk, they started banging on the side of it (with me inside) demanding real money. It got a little out of hand. I had to have 3 of the bigger guys in my group be my bodyguards so I could make it to the end of the block.
Good times.
Molto bene. Night games are a good thing, though I prefer a game such as at Iowa to be at noon. Night games in Iowa are usually tough, but we can do it. I no longer fear being outcoached.
Rutgers needs to fill the stadium and beat us to slow down the NJ railway to Ann Arbor.
Iowa needs to win period.
The MSU/OSU games are OUR priority...................
Winning the B1G East is our #1 priority. Which means all games against East teams are of equal importance.
Beating Rutgers is as important as beating MSU, OSU, PSU, IU, and Maryland.
Iowa (or Wisconsin) are the only games we can lose and still come out alright in the end. Losing one of those two games does not derail us from winning the B1G East. Losing both could, however.
The most important games are the ones that are likeliest to serve as a tiebreaker. There is a 0% chance that Rutgers ties for the East title. So of course it's more important to beat a contender like OSU.
Divisional record is only a secondary tiebreaker after head-to-head. So, for example, if U-M, MSU and OSU all tied at 6-2—and Michigan beat them both—it would make no difference whether U-M's losses were in the division. The divisional stuff only becomes relevant in a three-way tie in which the tied teams split against each other.
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That point means nothing if we drop games to Rutgers or Maryland. What are the chances OSU or MSU lose to anyone else in the East?
Head to head doesn't matter if we have more divisional losses than MSU or OSU.
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3 sacks for Peppers
2 picks for Gary
And we won't have to look at that huge fence around the Garden State that Coach Ashe promised.
Is Rutgers purposely misspelled?
with calling them Rutgurs from now on. They seem more like a Rutgurs.
The Iowa game will be very difficult, but honestly, it hopefully won't matter that much.
Beating OSU/MSU should be all we need to win the Big Ten and reach the CFP. A loss to Iowa doesn't threaten that unless we have another huge upset loss elsewhere.
Also, Iowa seems by far the most likely* to reach the title game from the West, and I'd feel good about a Harbaugh revenge match in Indy.
* Iowa plays both Wisconsin and Nebraska at home. We are the only team from the top of the East they draw and they also get us at home (Iowa misses MSU and OSU). On the other hand, Wisconsin has to play @Michigan State, @ Michigan, Ohio State at home. Nebraska has to play @Ohio State and has to go to both Madison and Iowa City. Iowa has an easy schedule to begin with in terms of crossovers, but literally all of their hardest games are at home. Their worst road game is at Penn State. Their second hardest road game is at Minnesota.
Even if last year was a fluke for them, Iowa 2016 will be better than Minnesota 2015 and we almost lost a night game in Minneapolis in a much easier stadium to play in.
I recalled the 1985 game between No. 1 Iowa and No. 2 Michigan (J. Harbaugh, QB) as a night game, but the records tell me it was a 3:30 start. It was certainly dark by the time it ended with a tight loss for the good guys.