Moving "The Game"

Submitted by blue16 on

I have been reading on here about the possibility of moving The Game with OSU from the last game of the season if they end up in different divisions from Michigan.  I was actually shocked at how many people seemed open to the idea.  Am I the only one who thinks that this game NEEDS to remain the final game of the season (even if there were a rematch in the title game)?  If not, I just don't think it would be the same.  UM-OSU on October 9th or something? 

strafe

August 10th, 2010 at 1:06 AM ^

Honestly? Michigan and OSU bring their best game to every meeting. Regardless of when in the season it happens, its still going to be just as important, and its not like either team is going to put less stock in the game because its earlier in the season.

brad

August 10th, 2010 at 1:14 AM ^

keep it the last regular season game, keep them in the same division and give a two week gap to the conference championship game.  There is plenty of time for it if they play to the first week of December.

Flipping OSU and MSU on our schedule would lessen the OSU game, marginalizing the greatest rivalry in sports.  Where is the upside?

OU-Texas in 2008 gives a good example of how this can go bad.  UT beat OU and clearly looked better doing it, in October.  OU spent the last week of the season beating up TT instead of playing UT, made their way into the MNC game and Texas got screwed.  That Big XII season would have been best served seeing OU-UT in the last week.

Silly Goose

August 10th, 2010 at 1:45 AM ^

If we were put in the same division as Nebraska, I wouldn't be upset to see UM-OSU and Neb-PSU as the second to last games of the season, and then UM-Neb and OSU-PSU as the last ones. They can switch them around if they like, and have the division rivalry game first, but either way that's an incredibly important and exciting two weeks of football. It would be nice to keep The Game as the final game of the season and have it decide the Big 10 champ, but that is just not going to be the case anymore. As long as we have it on a nasty November day at near the end of the regular season, I'll be happy.

Kennyvr1

August 10th, 2010 at 1:59 AM ^

Game still last one regular season of course...2 weeks between last game and bt champ game...the odds they face off in champ. Game are about 1/4 that wouldn't take anything away from rivalry...would only make it better...

Edward Khil

August 10th, 2010 at 2:05 AM ^

The odds are lower than 1 in 4.  (More like 1 in 6.)  Bo v Woody divisions.  Last game of the regular season.  When there (finally) is a rematch, it will be...what is that word that begins with AWE?

That's it.  I'm done commenting on this subject until the AD's agree with the Big Ten Network that this is an obvious WIN.

Negaway.

The Mick

August 10th, 2010 at 5:00 AM ^

Isn't another  tradition of The Game that is is played the Saturday before Thanksgiving? I also wouldn't mind playing OSU as the second to last conference game on that traditional date and then playing Nebraska as a new 9th conference game a week later. This year The Game will be played after Thanksgiving which also seems wrong to me.

a2bluefan

August 10th, 2010 at 9:50 AM ^

A couple years back the conference made a decision to extend the season by one week, allowing every B10 team to have a bye week and perhaps to quell the notion that B10 teams dropped off the radar of BCS rankings because they finished their season early while everyone else played for 2 more weeks. (Other reasons, anyone?) The result is that the Michigan-OSU game is now scheduled for a week later.

Presently, UM/OSU is scheduled for:

2010 - Nov. 27

2011 - Nov. 26

2012 - Nov. 24



It's the Saturday after Thanksgiving in each case, but could obviously change again depending on how the divisional issue shakes things up.

HoldTheRope

August 10th, 2010 at 5:11 AM ^

I've got to agree with you, my friend. The Game needs to stay exactly where it is...the last game of the regular season, as it has been for ages! Amidst all this change, the higher ups need to realize that some things just need to stay the same; The Game is one of those things.

coldnjl

August 10th, 2010 at 8:14 AM ^

keep the panties on until something happens please. Another thread freaking out about something that hasn't happened yet, as well as no link suggesting it will happen. Its in talks and thats it

Don

August 10th, 2010 at 9:12 AM ^

I can't take the time to dig up his statement(s), but I think he has been pretty unequivocal about maintaining the status of the game as last of the regular season.

mjv

August 10th, 2010 at 9:49 AM ^

The Game needs to be played under a steel grey November sky.  The trees need to be bare. It needs to remain the last game of the year.  The Game really matters because of what has built up before it.

outside of ND being OOC, what makes the ND-M rivalry less important is that almost nothing other than pride is riding on it.  The Game matters because EVERYTHING rides on it. Everything that the teams have accomplished that season is "pushed into the middle of the table" and generally, it's winner take all.  That can't happen earlier in the year.  It only happens at the end of the year.

Leave the Game where it is.  

michgoblue

August 10th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

I remember the 1997 UM-OSU game (my senior year!!).  The campus was electric during the week leading up to that game.  Students were signing The Victors in lecture halls before class, before compus concerts and at frat parties.  It was like a week-long pep rally.  It is, to this day, one of the most exciting weeks of my life.  What made that week so amazing was that we were going into the final game of the season with a shot for the Rose Bowl, B10 Championship and National Championship, and it was against our most hated rival.  That week would have been great regardless of who we were going to play, but playing that most meaningful game against OSU made it that much more insane!

One memory of that week:  The Friday night before the game, my friends and I got tickets to the Adam Sandler concert at Hill Auditorium. (This was back when Sandler was hugely popular amongst the college crowd).  Sandler was about an hour late showing up to the concert, and the crowd (consisting almost entirely of students) was chanting The Victors over and over again for amost the entire hour.  All of a sudden, the lights went down and Adam Sandler came on over the sound system singing, to the tune of his Thanksgiving Turkey song, "Love to eat turket, 'cause it's great.  Hope you kick the shit out of Ohio State."  The place went berserk, and there was another 10 minutes of The Victors before Sandler could start his routine.  Probably one of the 5 best memories I have.

ijohnb

August 10th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^

My second favorite football rivalry, Maimi v. FSU, has been played at various times during the season. I kind of like that game being spread throughout the season at different points.  I think Michigan v. Ohio State could benefit from a shake up anyway, perhaps it is because it has been one sided lately, but for the last few years (even before Football Armagedon), the instensity and significance of Michigan v. Ohio State has felt a little bit forced to me.  Change it up, have them open the conference schedule with each other, I with it. 

michgoblue

August 10th, 2010 at 11:04 AM ^

"Forced" lately?  2006 was only 4 years ago.  Do you not remember the build up to that game???  There was a freeking ESPN countdown for like a week, the game was broadcast to the International Space Station, there was a dude up in the Himalayas who brought in a satalite just to watch the game, the US bases in the middle east (in war zones!!!!) got special video hook up, and the Game was viewed by the largest television audience for a regular season college football game since 1993.  I wouldn't call that forced. 

The only thing that needs to change about The Game in recent years is the outcome.

ijohnb

August 10th, 2010 at 11:10 AM ^

was badass, but that had more to do with the position of the teams at the time than necessarily the rivalry itself.  Look, Michigan v. Ohio State is the best rivalry in sports, period, I am not taking a position otherwise.  I just don't think it would be the worst thing in the world for it to define the seasons in different ways in different seasons.  Seeing Michigan and Ohio State meeting at the beginning of the fall, both 4-0, and in their conference opener would be cool.  I love it at the end of the year, I just think I could also love it somewhere else depending on the year.

COB

August 10th, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^

I just think that playing in September or early October would feel all wrong.  Not much support to bring to the table but I really, really do not want The Game to be moved.  I think OSU and UM should play in the same division and just deal with the possible lopsidedness.  I would rather The Game remain as the de facto CG rather than be played twice and be the actual CG.    RABBLE RABBLE TRADITION RABBLE 

mjv

August 10th, 2010 at 2:01 PM ^

Traditions are developed through consistency.  It doesn't flourish by changing material aspects of the actions that define the tradition.  The Game became what it is by being at the end of the year and being the defining moment of the season.  The Game benefits the rest of the season by logically building intensity throughout the season as The Game gets closer.  

Let's assume that the Game does move from late November.  What happens the week after the Game?  Both the winner and loser now need to recover and regain focus.  I assume that you understand "anticlimactic"?  That work doesn't apply when the most significant game of the season happens at the end.  

Moving the Game has many negatives and no positives.  It would minimize the Game and make the likelihood of a loss the following week higher.  I suspect there is a reason why most teams play their major rival the last week of the season.  

ijohnb

August 10th, 2010 at 2:55 PM ^

Now the most significant game happens the week after in Indianapolis.  And while I fully expect Michigan to regain its past form sometime soon, right now "The Game" really doesn't decide a whole hell of a lot except for if OSU is going to win the Big Ten title outright or share it with Iowa or Penn State. 

 And what happens after "The Game" if it is held earlier in the season, well, I guess I would expect the same thing to take place the week after Miami v. Florida State, Oklahoma v. Texas, Florida v. Tennessee, Florida v. Georgia, Notre Dame v. USC, Michigan v. ND, Michigan v. Michigan State  ..............., teams move on and play the rest of their season with the same intensity as they did before.

Further on that note, when Michigan is back to past form, I sure hope they can recover from "The Game" fast enough to beat Iowa, Nebraska, etc the next week in the Big Ten Championship Game in order for a victory in "The Game" to make a damn bit of difference.