The Rest of College Football

[iam416]

I know I'm going to regret this, but what would M's schedule look like w/o OSU? I can't think of another team that makes as big an impact on M's schedule.

[lineygoblue]

lol .. I really need to go buy a fishing license someday ... I even got that old fart Stan to respond ...

Michigan's schedule would doubtless take a downgrade. The series is a trademark to both programs.

I just think ohio folks would have a harder time finding another team to vent all their pent-up hatred on if we were gone ..

With Michigan, we could easily vent our left-over hatred on ND and MSU ....

[UMStan White]

"I just think ohio folks would have a harder time finding another team to vent all their pent-up hatred on if we were gone .."

I agree with that. I guess I misunderstood your point.

[iam416]

OSU-PSU is vitriolic and they've won enough to be irritating. I love watching OSU rail those clowns.

[The Oracle]

lol .. I really need to go buy a fishing license someday ... I even got that old fart Stan to respond ...

Michigan's schedule would doubtless take a downgrade. The series is a trademark to both programs.

I just think ohio folks would have a harder time finding another team to vent all their pent-up hatred on if we were gone ..

With Michigan, we could easily vent our left-over hatred on ND and MSU ....

LOL, I'm gonna start doing that after posting dumb shit while drunk..."Fishing License"

[lineygoblue]

If for some reason OSU fell off our schedule due to:

a. Big Ten Brandon-like idiocy

b. NCAA death penalty

c. OSU going to the SEC for "better competition"

d. All of the above

....

I think all Michigan would have to do is move MSU to Week 12, and the "end of the season big game" would still be there. MSU would probably like having Michigan on that part of their schedule anyway, seeing they've been looking for a "big" opponent to finish with for many years now. Alabama saves their in-state rival for the end of the season, as do many other in state rivalries.

But relax, guys. Nothing is going to change. We'll be playing MSU every year, and OSU will always be waiting at the end of the season. And that's the way it should be.

[WM Wolverine]

We obviously need each other and are better because of each other. Us kicking the Buckeyes butt early in the rivalry built up their hated, jealousy of us and they became a better program from the competition.

[hack]

And then they started cheating, kicked our butts, and we hired Dave Brandon and Brady Hoke.

[entropy]

They won't move MSU out of the East unless there's a way they can play Michigan every year. MSU would insist upon it.

Ummmm... Wasn't that my point of guaranteed cross over games?


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[Jeff Buchanan]

With respect to osu/M .......

The rivalry goes back a good ways but it's intensity picked up when Woody's protege, Bo, was hired by M in 68 and Bo and Woody faced off in their 1st game in 69 in AA. Bo prevailed in a huge win that year. Fight's on.

From there it was pretty evenly matched until osu hired Coop (God, I miss that guy; great coach but what a choker when it came to facing M) and then osu dominated during the tressel years (2001 - 2010) where they evened the rivalry out (by cheating).

The RR/Hoke years were a disaster for the Rivalry and pretty much made it a laugher - sad. My view is that it will heat up again and be a very good one but the opener between HARBAUGH!! and ufm, after all the hype and memories of '69 and JH's win over osu where he guaranteed it, was just more of the same ass-railing by osu that M has experienced at their hands for a decade. Huge disappointment for me. I don't think I posted here for a month or if I did, I was so angry whatever I did post was trash.

Who needs who more? I don't think it is about that at all. To me, it's about renewing and then sustaining the specter of The Game as Thanksgiving and the end of the CFB season approaches. I still have vivid memories of cold gray Saturdays with ABC panning in on the crowds in the stadiums and Kieth Jackson making the opening remarks for the much anticipated noon ABC coverage, takes of Bo and Woody on the sidelines, intense, no smiles from either. The rivalry WAS intense between these two and that translated to the fans who became equally intense about The Game. More than any period in my 50 years watching M football, The Game sharpened my love for it and became part of who I was and still am today.

F'ing Dave Brandon did more to snuff out my fire for M football than any coach or event I can remember as a fan. LC's actions during the RR period - actual and rumored - aren't far behind that and for the most part that guy is 90/10 admire/despise. But that falls under the category of 1000 ata-boys are wiped out by one aw-shit. The utter incompetence of Brady Hoke as M's football coach comes in third.

So, I'm a little dead to The Game and to M football in general. A lot of that is due to perspective and age I guess but I do long for those gray, cold Saturdays in November when the approach of The Game was pretty much all anyone who loved CFB talked about. The Game itself, almost regardless of the outcome, it seemed was a contest to be treasured.

[lineygoblue]

I was watching "Tiebreaker" on the Big Ten Network the other day, and I was impressed by how well the former players from both sides treated each other, and how they got along. I've seen that program before, but in watching it again, I gained a stronger respect for the players on both sides. Those guys could have been interchanged in all sorts of combinations, and both sides could still be proud of them. For instance had Archie Griffin and Randy Gradishar played for Michigan, and Dennis Franklin and Ed Shuttlesworth played for Ohio, both sides could still respect all of them. I liked listening to Archie Griffin's remarks about that game, and the rivalry. I was impressed with how Cornelius Greene complimented Dennis Franklin, and even called him "his hero". It choked Dennis Franklin up, to think that his opponent thought so highly of him.

IMO, today, this is the kind of respect that is missing in the rivalry. The "hate" between the two teams was nothing even close to real hatred. It was "hatred" that was kept within the walls of the game. When the game was over, many of these men were friends, and even close friends. That is lacking today.

Woody and Bo were the same way. In the special, they said that Bo got along with Woody better than he did his own dad. Mrs. Hayes treated Bo like a son. When Woody had his blowup at the Gator Bowl, Bo was one of the first people to call him, to try and talk him to retire gracefully. Bo related a story one time of where Michigan lost a game, and one of the first people to call him was Woody. He chewed Bo out for about 30 minutes, because Bo didn't utilize his fullback more during the game. Would Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh have a conversation like that nowadays? No, probably not, and that's not a indictment of either man, .. it just shows how the rivalry has changed.

Those are the kinds of things I'd like to see returned to the rivalry. And among the fans as well.

[The Oracle]

What? The only thing missing is the competitive balance inside the lines. I'd bet a lot of money that these guys are better friends today than they were back then due to all the recruiting camps. Same as basketball and aau. Only thing missing is the respect because we haven't beaten them.

[WM Wolverine]

Bo actually was an assistant under Woody, correct?

[lineygoblue]

Yeah.. yeah .. I'm totally wrong and have no idea what I'm talking about.

Got it guys ...

On to the season.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Bo actually was an assistant under Woody, correct?

Assistant under Woody in 52. Moved around '53-57, back to OSU 58-62, then HC at Miami (OH), then M in 68.