Michigan-Alabama In Dallas In 2012
You probably dismissed the idea of Michigan playing a huge nonconference game against Alabama in two years in Jerryworld as crackpot rumor-mongering of the sort the internet specializes in. Michigan's on the road against ND, leaving a maximum of six home games, it's transparently silly to play a college football game thousands of miles from either college, and Michigan hasn't played a neutral-site OOC game basically ever. It seemed instantly implausible.
But apparently it is happening. The contract is being signed Monday. Which is tomorrow.
The following details are unconfirmed but of interest since they come from an established source:
- Game is happening because a desperate Jerry Jones "overpaid."
- Michigan will be the nominal home team (important mostly for TV rights) and receive more money.
- There's no additional game scheduled and there may not be.
- Jones might be well-positioned to provide some advice on HD scoreboards.
This comes with a set of crazy conflicting emotions. Hurray awesome nonconference game, boo that it's in fricking Dallas in a corporate death star of an NFL stadium and not a home-and-home in Ann Arbor and Tuscaloosa. I guess that's what it takes for a lot of actual nonconference games to get done these days, but awesomeness of trip to Dallas to see M play 'Bama <<<<<< awesomeness of M-Bama home-and-home. On the other hand, awesomeness of M-Bama Dallas >>>>>>> awesomeness of M-BGSU anywhere.
[Note on sourcing: in this case I am going with one source, but he is a very established one.]
I sure wasn't blogging on sports pages when I was on the internet at the age of 15...
I love the maize and blue sir
Wow same with me, except I just made an account, glad to see I'm not the youngest
August 10th, 2010 at 12:14 AM ^
Hopefully they still don't know how to kick extra points against us.
August 8th, 2010 at 11:44 PM ^
It would also be awesome to have Tom Brady and David Terrell as honorary captains for this game.
This is my first post, I read the blog faithfully all the time. I currently live in Dallas, and have to jump threw hoops to see a BLUE game, I am so happy that I will be able to see Michigan play in Jerry's world. And someone said there is nothing to do in Dallas. As a Detroit Native, I find so much more to do down here… People are just weird thou.
I have a few good friends in Dallas, and they seem to like it. Hell, I don't care where Michigan and Bama play. Could be in the fricken Kibbe Dome and I'd be there.
+1 for Kibbie Dome reference
Michigan playing at the Kibbie Dome would make my life.
i just do not see us beating Alabama anytime soon and I am a pretty big Michigan homer.
Its two years away. Two years is like an entire generation in college football, nothing is predictable this far out. Besides we have all of the Summer of 2012 to fret over the ramifications of the actual game. Right now, it is just good to see Michigan acting with confidence, imo.
My first reaction to your statement "Two years is like an entire generation in CFB..." was a skeptical guffaw. Then I realized that the two teams involved in this discussion had RADICAL changes in fortune over two years.
In 2006, UM was 11-0 getting ready to face OSU in one of the most hyped games in recent memory. Two short years later, we were watching UM lead by Threetidan doing its best impersonation of a high school JV squad.
In 2007, Bama finished 7-6 including a loss to Louisiana-Monroe in Tuscaloosa. Two years later, they were hoisting the crystal.
Let's hope UM can "get it in gear" by 2012.
August 8th, 2010 at 11:07 PM ^
I love this move. It hearkens to the days of scheduling FSU and Colorado and UCLA and Washington and Oregon. Sure there were some real gut wrenching heartbreaks, but there were also some miracles. And they were nationally important games--like Michigan should have.
I believe we will beat Alabama since we ( on average) own the SEC.
"Us" as in Forcier, Robinson and Gardner as SR, SR and JR, respectively? Or "us" as in Death Roh and Big Will as SRs? (Let alone the dearth of Seniors that year that will feature: Vincent Smith, JT Turner, Jeremy Gallon, Je'Ron Stokes, Cam Gordon, Roy Roundtree, Isaiah Bell, Fitz Toussaint, Jordan Kovacs, Ricky Barnum, Rocko Khoury, Patrick Omameh, Quinton Washington, Taylor Lewan and Brandon Moore... will all these guys turn out stellar? Maybe not. But that is one heck of a roster to back up the nation's best future trio of QBs and Roh/Will on DL!)
Granted, I am definitely a homer, but 2012 is when all of these FR who were forced into playing time last year will be Seniors... depth and experienced talent will not be an issue. Now, let's just hope we are able to keep our coach so as not to be caught in transition.
http://www.rollbamaroll.com/2010/8/8/1612269/alabama-vs-michigan-in-201…
Cant wait for michigan to prove the wrong
I live in Dallas and can't be more pumped to watch the game. Plus, I ran into Jerry and he said it was cool if we wanted to bring bottled water into the stadium.
Yeah - Jerry lied to you.
Because you are not allowed to bring your own food and drink into the stadium, be prepared to pay the following prices if you decide to purchase food/drink from concessions.
Drinks: bottle of water $5; bottle of soft drink $5; soft drink in a souvenir cup $6; beer (Miller Lite, Coors, Bud, MGD) $8; Cowboyrita (margarita) $14
Food items: Cowboys cheese steak (very popular!) $10; chopped BBQ beef sandwich $8.50; chicken breast sandwich $8.50; pulled pork sandwich $8.50; Angus hamburger or cheeseburger $8.50; Nathan’s hot dog/chili dog $5.50; chicken fried chicken sandwich $8.50; chicken tenders $8.50; Ultimate Nachos $8.50.
Snacks: French fries of chili cheese fries $5; soft pretzel $4; popcorn $5.50; peanuts $5; ice cream bar $5.50; cotton candy $5.50; potato chips (Lay’s, Baked Lay’s, Doritos) $3.
Farmer’s Market fruits: red grapes or green grapes $3 per bag; dried cranberries or dried banana chips $3 per bag; apples, oranges or pears (2 pieces of fruit) for $3.
August 8th, 2010 at 10:56 PM ^
Now I have reason to respect Mr. Jones
I expected Michigan to take over the college football world by 2012. This reaffirms my thought process. Also, in 1997 Michigan had the most difficult schedule in the country. No one in the media thought anyone could traverse the Big Ten gauntlet undefeated. The stars are aligning.
Wheee, they are already excoriating Brian over on the Bama boards!
Note to impenitate Bama visitors: you may not like what the estimable Mr. Cook has to say about your program and oversigning, but I have yet to read one cogent rebuttal, outside of ad hominem attacks.
Let's be honest, they're not even gonna understand what you just said.
Done purposefully. Thought that a few 3 dollar words would cause the entire fanbase to go lookin' for the state's dictionary.
Michigan arrogance in action, baby!
And the fact that one of them isn't really a word makes it even funnier.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:21 AM ^
Mispellling - I am impenitent for the error.
August 9th, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^
Holy cats. Doubleplusungood. Doubleplusimpenitent.
December 10th, 2010 at 12:36 AM ^
move along nothing to see here
If i cant find a way to stay an extra couple days in my home down here in Dallas before heading back to school i am going to be soooooooooooooooo angry
I love that we are manning up and playing a real team. We need to do more of that. Big games are fun for everyone. This should be awsome.
However, as a season ticket holder, I am really not happy about the venue. I've sat through, and paid for, Baby Seal U and more MAC games than I want to talk about. Now they finally schedule a big time program OOC and its in freaking Texas. (Nothing against Texas other than its not Ann Arbor.) I really hope that they give the ticket holders an option to buy this ticket at close to a normal price. Otherwise, they are just taking a home game away. I just refuse to accept that this is the only way that a real OOC game can happen. (Maybe I'm just an old guy refusing to accept that things have changed. So, yeah, get off my lawn.)
Its possible that the nine game Big Ten schedule is up and running in 2012, and that M will get five home conference games. Its not Alabama, but its something. Maybe Nebraska is our fifth home game, who knows?
Look on the bright side FannMan, this is a strong long term move for the program. Also, they have to sell those tickets to somebody, I would be shocked if season ticket holders did not get first dibs at face value.
August 9th, 2010 at 10:10 AM ^
I agree that we will have to wait and see. If we still end up with six home games and a chance to buy the Jerry Jones Bowl tickets at face, I will be very happy and booking my hotel in Texas.
However, I am concerned that we will get five games and a price increase so we end up paying for six games. Meanwhile, we wil only get a change to buy Jerry Jones Bowl tickets as part of a costly travel package. This will make tons of money for U of M, but will piss off the season ticket holders who faithfully send in their money year after year.
Admittedly, I have nothing upon which to base my fears. This is something of a test for how Brandon will treat the ticket holders. I hope he does right by us.
Kind of bummed that it means we'll only play six games at home that year. Interesting game, though.
Those 'Bama fans are asshats, but they claim we are the arrogant ones? They talk like they are gods gift to football even though they were having their fair share of troubles not too long ago. Oh well, we'll see in 2012 I guess.
Neutral game v. Alabama, at Notre Dame, at OSU, neutral v. big ten conference champ, neutral national championship game. Talk about a great schedule! But really, I'm planning on making it down there one way or another. I wonder if A. This will open the season and B. if this will be a night game. Night game v. Notre Dame next year and big time non conference the year after, nice job Michigan!
It will only be a 7 hour drive for me! By 2012 UM should be ranked in the top 20 if not the top 10. Who knows it could be an early #1 vs #2 game! I will be looking for tickets!
A UA source is denying that the agreement is imminent.
http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/08/alabama-michigan_in_dallas_pos.html
Let's have a source-off!
This is not meant as any disrespect toward Michigan's program, but my question is this:
Given that there is considerable doubt that your current coach will still be there in 2012, and the fact that no one at this point has a clue who your new coach would be if RRod leaves, on what basis are Michigan fans so confident that they would do well in this game?
We're a young team. In a few years some of our most talented players will be juniors/seniors. Hence, we should be more competitive than we are today, regardless of who the head coach is.
I realize your not trying to hate, but people outside of Michigan really don't know what's going on. Do you not see a pattern? We're just going to get better every year he gets his own guys.
Obviously everyone hopes for the best for their program. UM will have a senior (whoever it may be) or a highly rated junior at QB and four years in the system (assuming Rodriguez survives this season). I don't think you will find many people around here assuming UM will win this game, but being competitive at that point is not out of the question.
That being said, I think the positivity is more of a reaction to taking a chance, staying up with the big boys, and not having another season of ND, two MACs and a FCS team. The last two years have been ridiculously tough, but you won't find many UM fans who back down from a challenge.
disprespect toward you, but the answer is this:
Part of it is optimism as Michigan fans, but most of it is that those of us who have been following Michigan closely know more about the program than those who believe there is "considerable doubt" that Rodriguez will still be here. Is there some doubt? Yes. But there is also some doubt that Saban will still be in Alabama in a couple years. If offered a bet on whether Rodriguez would be coaching Michigan in 2012, I'd take the bet without too much thought.
Though I agree with you, I don't think the Saban situation and the RR situation are as comparable as you make them. There is some doubt for many things going on this world. Rich Rod is on the hottest seat in the country, Saban just won a national championship (though obviously he is a school-jumping, probably player-paying scumbag)
August 9th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
just pointing out that there was some doubt in each case, and that I didn't believe the doubts about Rodriguez are really "considerable" -- although that does depend on how much confidence you have in the progress the team is making.
Well either we have Rodriguez with a large and experienced senior class and an extremely talented group of QBs.
Or, we get rid of Rodriguez this year and have a new coach starting his second year in 2012.
And we've seen a lot of good things out of second year coaches at big name schools ( Lloyd Carr, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Bob Stoops )
And we've seen a lot of good things out of second year coaches at big name schools ( Lloyd Carr, Jim Tressel, Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban, Bob Stoops )
(Rich Rodriguez... er...)
August 8th, 2010 at 10:33 PM ^
I thought we all agreed that 2010 is Rich Rodriguez's second year. Tsk tsk, Tim.
I took that as a reference to Rich's second year at WVU.
Lloyd's second year kind of sucked (except the OSU game). Lost to Bama in the bowl game that year, actually.
His *third* year though, that was fantastic.
Comments