Michigan and OSU in the title game is never good!
Personally, I hope that Michigan and tOSU never meet each other in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game. So, it's obvious that I am opposed to the basic philosophy for putting the two schools in different divisions. As soon as I read what Brandon said, I thought ... "but I don't ever want to see tOSU in the title game any way.
My reasons:
If Michigan and OSU are playing each other every year, then one of the teams will have already beaten the other during the regular season. That seems to me like a lose/lose situation. I want to play OSU once a year - that's it! If Michigan beats OSU during the regular season, then we're supposed to beat them again - what have we proven? Simply, we've further glutted ourselves ... but haven't really proven ourselves. If we go into the game after having lost to OSU, if we win it ... well, that doesn't automatically put us into the nat'l championship game, because we obviously have (at least) one regular season loss. Considering this, I'm not sure what the advantage is for UM fans wanting to see both schools in this matchup.
Secondly, it seems like there is the assumption that this game will be just like the one played during the regular season. It won't be anyting like it. It's going to be played in a climate controled stadium - on neutral turf. That right there rips the vast majority of the heart out of the game. Watch any conference championship game, and it's obviously lacking the college atmosphere - the atmosphere that we all love. True, it's a celebration - and a must win situation. But, the heart and feel of college football is not in the air. To think that UM-OSU in the championship game is the same rivalry over again - can't possibly be the same, because much of the heart of the game is ripped from it.
All that to say, even though I love the Wolverines dearly and can't stand the school to the South, I have no desire what so ever to see this matchup, and cannot fathom why any Michigan fan would want to see it - other than the more empty feeling of joy that would come from a victory. But, it will have no meat to it - and we all know it.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
You must have been on the Urban Meyer bandwagon in 2006 right? The climate controlled neutral field should go though, you are right about that.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:35 PM ^
Both are reasonable points. I agree with you about not being interested in playing them twice a year. For the fact of taking the game away from the final week and knowing that we are not gaining much more other than another win ( or loss :( ) in a championship game that may not have any NC implications. Yes, it will be for the granddaddy of them all (Rose Bowl), but I would rather have to prove to OSU and another Big Ten team that we are worthy of going to it or the NC.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:46 PM ^
...what? You're not gonna watch it if it happens? You won't watch UM/OSU in October? You will. Let it go. It's not that big a deal. Tradition is overrated. How many wins is tradition worth each year? You're gonna be just as hyped about playing OSU if we play them 4 weeks earlier.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:49 PM ^
I will agree with you that we will all watch whenever it is played and how many times they play. BUT tradition is everything, not necessarily with the game, but with all traditions. If you think that tradition is overrated, then you are not a true fan.
August 26th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^
I can't not watch the game. Of course, I'll watch it. I'm just saying that wrecking The Game for something that's not all it's cracked up to be seems to be a poor decision. I'd far rather watch Michigan play another ream in the championship game - after they beat OSU during th regular season.
August 26th, 2010 at 5:25 PM ^
because when you play in the last game of the season, then even if your season has sucked, a win is something you can savor all winter. knocking the Bucks out of a national championship game or the Big Ten crown when they are one step away from one or the other is exceedingly sweet--or have people forgotten how that feels? you will never get that in October. a loss is a loss, but beating osu in an upset with a lot on the line for them is so much sweeter than beating them in October with half a season to go. further, you can never have a repeat of the 2006 game under the new scenario, with two undefeated teams at season's end squaring off.
I would be happy to stay in the same division, play them the last game of the season, and let the winner play someone else for the championship, assuming no one else finished ahead of both teams.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:34 PM ^
If you think tradition is overrated, than you are a fan of the wrong team, in the wrong sport. College football in general is packed with tradition, and the University of Michigan is the school most loaded in tradition!
Also, I think you are missing the main point of the argument. It isn't that we wouldn't watch, because we most definitely would! It is the fact that the heart would be ripped out because most of us would not BE THERE to watch it. There would not be 100,000+ rabid fans packed into the Big House or that other stadium...with large/crazy student bodies, a neutral site game would not have the same atmosphere.
I really hope they keep Michigan and OSU in the same division. They play once a year in late November...and the winner plays PSU/Wisc./Iowa/Nebraska in the Big 10 Championship.
August 26th, 2010 at 3:52 PM ^
Michigan vs. Ohio State in Indianapolis...it doesn't even sound right.
August 26th, 2010 at 4:04 PM ^
will be good prep for bowl games.
August 26th, 2010 at 5:34 PM ^
Im ready for some football. All this talk makes September 4th seem so far away still.
August 26th, 2010 at 5:40 PM ^
I'd argue the Red River shootout does it pretty well.
That aside, the success of the OU/UT matchup and the failure of the OU/Nebraska rivalry is about the best argument for keeping OSU/UM in the same division.
That said, the success of the OU/UT is also best argument for a mid-season matchup not meaning doom for the UM/OSU rivalry.
August 26th, 2010 at 7:48 PM ^
were played the last week of the season, it would be epic.
It's a big deal now in the middle of the season because both teams are at the top of their game. When one of them falls off, it won't be any bigger a geal than say Tennesee-Georgia.
August 27th, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
but, Pretty well is nothing compared to the campus stadium in a college town. Sure, it will be nice. Yet, thinking that it will be UM/OSU part 2 is insane ... it will have nothing like the same feel.
August 26th, 2010 at 7:03 PM ^
I'm not at all happy about it, but I see it coming.
Traditions are great until expansion, money and Big Ten Championship game are thrown into the mix. Suddenly traditions are just not as important.
August 27th, 2010 at 7:06 AM ^
August 27th, 2010 at 10:59 AM ^
No matter how you cut it, at some point two teams will face one another in the regular season and again in the title game. Putting OSU and UM in the same division guarantees that those two won't but the posibility of a team that never faces OSU and UM could go to the "Big 10/12" championship game and Rose Bowl even though they could be the 3rd best team in the league.
The whole thing reaks. It's all about the money.
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