12th Game Announced

Submitted by PaulVB on

Michigan has announced its 12th opponent for the 2009 season. The Detroit News is reporting that Delaware St. will fill the remaining open spot on the schedule.

Luckily, it's not Delaware. Way too confusing with helmets. Delaware St. is a FCS school known mainly for the controversy of Delaware not scheduling them for a regular season game.

While a part of me wants to express outrage over scheduling a middling FCS team, a less indignant part of me would prefer a win by any means necessary. Western Michigan could be a tough game to open the season, and Notre Dame, in spite of horrible coaching, has solid talent. If Rodriguez can't up his win total a significant amount there will certainly be a bunch of business at Ann Arbor Torch & Pitchfork. I'm coming down on the side of this being a necessary evil and another easy $4 million for the Athletic department.

What do you guys think? Is Michigan at a point where it should try to be above the fray or should the schedule reflect the fact that this is still a rebuilding process?

There will be an informative update in a bit. There's actually a blog that covers Delaware St.'s conference. Awesome.

Comments

Colt McBaby Jesus

February 6th, 2009 at 12:36 PM ^

In the future I would prefer teams like Delaware St. not be on the schedule, but think it is fine for this year. Like you said, it's a rebuilding year and we will take the wins however we can get them. We really need to make a bowl game this year and this will help get us there.

jsimms

February 6th, 2009 at 4:38 PM ^

i demand either:

that i get a huge government grant to buy my season football tickets, plus parking, plus pre and post game food and drink as part of the stimulus package

or that WLA steps up and provides the funds through the Free People's Revolutionary Vanguard Ticket Collective

in return, i will renounce my standing as a lifetime running-dog lackey of the capitalist oppressor class

BlueFab5

February 6th, 2009 at 12:39 PM ^

I have no problem with D State on the schedule this year. We aren't going to compete for a national champ or the B10 so the game is pretty meaningless. Unless we lose......

RR needs to get as many wins as possible this year. If for nothing else to help the confidence of this very young team.

I think after this year we need to get back to scheduling tougher opponents.

MinorRage

February 6th, 2009 at 12:45 PM ^

for this year only we need to get to any bowl game at an absolute minimum. I'm glad we scheduled a real weak team. In a normal year this is a lose-lose situation. You beat up on them and you were supposed to, you lose and app st revisited. But who knows exactly how much we will improve and especially for as young as we will be any sort of confidence they can get is a great long term accomplishment.

New Kid On The Blog

February 6th, 2009 at 12:47 PM ^

BM knows how to turn a profit but not how to be an AD. If you guys don't mind paying $60.00 to watch Del. St. or whoever he'll come up with next than go ahead. I hate the way Bill schedules and I hate the ND for the next 25 years too. You know why ND doesn't join a conference? Because the Big Ten keeps giving them one for free!

casmooth

February 6th, 2009 at 12:51 PM ^

I like the scheduling of this opponent. However, over the next few years it would be nice to see a this 12th game gradually improve in terms of the opponent. Having a solid win over a non-conference top 25 vs. a FCS team team may be the difference from being left out of a potential NC game. Ahhh, all in due time.

MichiganAggie

February 6th, 2009 at 12:53 PM ^

Scheduling cupcakes has been shown to be a good way to rebuild programs. It instills confidence in your young players and at the end of the day the fans/media/recruits give more weight to your record than your SOS. Some argue that scheduling tough opponents is necessary to gain exposure and TV time, but that's not an issue for Michigan. Once RR has this team back in BCS bowls, I think UM should only schedule one FCS team per season

Tater

February 6th, 2009 at 1:00 PM ^

I'm in the "schedule as many wins as possible until the roster is stabilized" corner here.

When it is 2010 and RR and UM have a legit chance at a BCS bowl, then it will be time to schedule someone tougher to keep the computer happy. In the meantime, they need to schedule teams that aren't much more than live bodies for the inxeperienced QB's to play and develop confidence against.

The bareness of the cupboard at the QB position last year caused the "schedule" to be delayed a year. This year should be more like the transition year that many of us envisioned last year. And if we get surprised by a 3-9 to 9-3 turnaround, great.

I think scheduling what should be an automatic win was the right move for this year. Besides, the game will have intrigue because of the Appy State game; "David" Delaware State will be percieved as having a much better chance to knock off "Goliath" UM than they would have had UM not allowed Appy State to win in '07.

As for those who think WMU will beat UM this year: uh-uh. Ain't gonna happen. I know that last year's Toledo game has made it look like MAC teams are now a threat to beat the UM's of the world, but all it did was give RR something to hang in the locker room and make them watch film of during the week of games vs MAC teams.

I am guessing the Toledo game will be required viewing before playing MAC teams and the Appy State game will be required viewing before playing Delaware State.

And I am guessing that UM will never take anyone less than seriously again.

jvocke

February 6th, 2009 at 1:06 PM ^

... I'm clearly in the minority here, but I'm in general not in favor of D State. Doesn't matter what I think anyways, it's done.

I just see games vs. FCS teams as non-win situation. We've already hashed what happens when you lose ala App. State. But even when you win, it's not like those wins count for anything. I'll give tater and aggie credit on their points about confidence.... but nobody else is going to give us "credit" for a win.

Maybe I'm thinking too narrowly about it, but I don't see how a win over D State is going to help us get into a bowl game. They don't even count towards the win total for bowl game eligibility, do they?

Tha Quiet Storm

February 6th, 2009 at 1:30 PM ^

but I believe that you are allowed to count 1 win against a 1-AA (I refuse to use FBS) team towards your bowl eligibility but not 2.

As far as the game itself, I have no problem with it at all because we are in a rebuilding phase. If we do this in 2011 or later, I won't like it at all.

Bottom line, there are schools (cough Kansas State cough) that schedule 2 1-AA teams and 2 1-A cupcakes for their non-conference schedule every single year, so it's no big deal if we play a 1-AA team once in a while.

CipASonic

February 6th, 2009 at 1:07 PM ^

I don't know how comfortable I am with this game. On one hand, we desperately need to win at least six games next year to put a stop to the negative recruiting. However, if we actually did lose this game, then that would just lend credence to the negative recruiting...

No matter how you slice it, this is a MUST WIN, and maybe we would have been better off scheduling some one like UConn, where we don't look like complete idiots if we lose.

B Ready

February 6th, 2009 at 1:10 PM ^

Western loses a bunch on defense, and a couple of their WR's. Hiller is a good QB but is just a traditional drop-back passer. I know about Toledo and App State, but I gotta think we win that game. ND will be interesting. They are stacked on offense. No two ways about that. Defensively, though, they are pretty weak. Our D really needs to step up in that game. We will find out a lot about Robinson in that game.

NYWolverine

February 6th, 2009 at 1:16 PM ^

When you're in the process of developing players and learning, not even mastering, the playbook...you play teams you can have success against and learn from. You have to be very careful not to disenfranchise the young men who are brought in and asked to do everything immediately. Show them they can have success with this system. You can't do that if you're putting freshmen and sophomores up against 5th year seniors of BCS-caliber teams in the trenches. When Michigan has players who've been under the RR tent for 3 or 4 years, then the marshmallow schedule will be offensive. For right now, relax and enjoy watching Michigan put together the pieces.

matty blue

February 6th, 2009 at 1:28 PM ^

to those complaining about "the computer" and being "left out of a national championship game:" quick, name one bcs team kept out of a major bowl because they loaded up on d1aa schools. seriously. name one.

i can wait.

jblaze

February 6th, 2009 at 1:43 PM ^

We can count 1 win against an FCS team to become bowl eligible. Delaware State is our only FCS school, so if the rules allow, and we need wins to get to a bowl, I say good job BM and RR!

"The NCAA allows one victory per season over a Division I FCS (formerly I-AA) team to count toward an FBS team's bowl eligibility, so long as the FCS team has supplied financial aid for football averaging out to at least 56.7 full scholarships (90% of the limit of 63 allowed to FCS schools) over the preceding two years. This prevents teams from scheduling multiple games against FCS teams in an effort to pad their win total."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_eligible

northmuskeGOnBLUE

February 6th, 2009 at 1:43 PM ^

I like where it comes on the schedule. If this were game two of the season it would piss me off a bit. However, by mid-October this team will have the usual bumps and bruises and having this game at that time might afford the team the opportunity to rest some folks to recover from some of these minor injuries to get ready for Penn State the following week. Yes, I know we need to win the game and after App. State and Toledo there is no longer such a thing as a "gimme". However, we should be gelling a bit by this time in the season and we should, SHOULD, be able to put this team away in the first half and allow our starters to rest a bit for PSU.

On the other hand, lose this game, and we will all be lining up to jump from the top of the new luxury boxes.

Callahan

February 6th, 2009 at 1:45 PM ^

I view it as necessity more than anything. They can't NOT play a 12th game because of the money the AD will lose. I just hope this doesn't become the norm.

Big Boutros

February 6th, 2009 at 1:52 PM ^

Florida played the Citadel in Week 11 and that didn't make Tebow any less Jesusy.

Plus, as long as we're scheduling a I-AA team, I'm glad to see it's an HBCU. I have no idea if their band travels with the team but I desperately hope so. I went to a Howard-Hampton game two years ago and I've never experienced anything else like it. Not at a sporting event, anyway.

2 of the last 3 BCS National Champions have played I-AA teams en route to the crystal football.

BleedMaizeNBlue

February 6th, 2009 at 1:59 PM ^

We went 3-9 last season. I think this cupcake game is what we need this year if we want to make a bowl game. Our recruit class is nasty, but they're going to be freshmen. We're going to see freshmen mistakes on both sides of the ball (remember McGuffie, Odoms, Koger? We all groaned at dropped passes and fumbles this year). RR and BM cannot afford another sub .500 season. Smart move scheduling D State

Noah

February 6th, 2009 at 4:30 PM ^

That's the kind of BS logic that gets these kinds of games scheduled in the first place. Playing FCS teams is a lose-lose situation. If you win, you were supposed to win and it's not a big deal; if you lose, you're the laughingstock of the country (c.f. The Horror). Don't buy into the "WE MUST WIN NOW" mentality that says RR can't *afford* a sub-.500 season. It's going to take time, and beating up on an FCS team isn't going to teach anybody on the team anything. The only thing that's going to make us better is playing quality opposition.

bhallpm

February 6th, 2009 at 2:13 PM ^

FOR ONE YEAR ONLY.
Get the necessary 6+ wins. Fill in that ridiculous 12th game.
After that, true blue fans should boycott the 12th game if it is patently absurd, such as a team like Delaware State (or Wofford --- never heard of them, but they're the UW Badgers 12th game).

Crap. Just set up an alliance to play even the basement dwellers in the Big 12. Might help recruiting and they'd probably go for playing only at Michigan.

Tacopants

February 6th, 2009 at 2:49 PM ^

Wofford is the team that beat App. State the season that App. State beat us.

Also, how would a system to play basement dwellers in the Big 12 work? That's just absurd. You want to assign teams in reverse order of finish from the previous year? How would that in any way be competitive? Why would a conference agree to let their bad teams get beat down by top teams from another conference?

If a deal like that would be worked out as you proposed, Michigan (#10 Big Ten) would play Texas (#2 Big 12) this year on the open date (which isn't even open for Texas).

mhamberg

February 6th, 2009 at 4:11 PM ^

We should stop scheduling 1-AA teams period. Didn't we learn our lesson against App State? I'd rather risk losing to a terrible FBS team like Kent State than risk losing to this embarrassment of a team. Bad idea, Athletic Dept.

jg2112

February 6th, 2009 at 2:21 PM ^

...of taking an ugly girl to the dance, or not going. We have to dance - we only had 11 games. There were hardly any teams left with open schedule slots, I think Youngstown State and Coastal Carolina were two availables.

And please, after last year, wouldn't you enjoy a 40 point victory? The last blowout victory this team had was against Minnesota in 2007 and even that was a struggle for a half. I want the Blue to beat up a team and get some confidence.

Tacopants

February 6th, 2009 at 2:42 PM ^

Why exactly is everybody unhappy with the decision? From this we get:

1. (Hopefully) A win
2. (Hopefully) A week where we can tune the offense against relatively week opposition.
3. Money
4. Parents Weekend!

Look into scheduling bottom feeders. They want increasing cuts of the money and/or home and home deals. A situation like getting Vanderbilt in 2006 probably won't be able to happen again. Bottom feeders from BCS conferences just demand too much money.

So yeah, its going to suck to pay $60 to watch UM vs. Delaware State, but how much different is it than UM vs. EMU?