Bring back Notre Dame more often?
I know Warde/Harbaugh have gotten heat here for bending over backwards to accomodate ND, but is it so bad that they fight to keep ND on the schedule?
I've previously been Team To-Hell-With-Notre-Dame, but there have been very few Michigan Football things that felt as good as the win over them this year, and I'm sure they felt the same about last year. A win over ND would definitely feel better than a random non-conference team.
If making the CFP is a challenge anyway given the OSU Death Star pointed directly at Ann Arbor, why not try and schedule ND more often? I understand that the ball is probably in ND's court more than Michigan's. It's a traditional rivalry that is decidedly more evenly matched, and just an opportunity for the fans and team to feel good about themselves with a win.
Anyways, neg away if you feel this is another #SnowflakeTake. I'll hang up and listen.
December 5th, 2019 at 3:25 PM ^
Yes, if we can, we should play Notre Dame much more often than currently scheduled. Every 4 year player should play a home and home w/ Notre Dame. There should also be a home and home in those same four years with some other rival -- UWash, USC, Texas, Tennessee (?), etc.
I wish they would also play 3-2 or 3-1 series over a decade w teams like Berkeley or Wake or WVU or Syracuse or the like. A team that could, in their best years, maybe win the game. I know there are issues w/ 8 home games, but screw it, an almost decent game is better than any available buy game.
Then we should play our buy game. Hopefully it's against a MAC school, ideally a Michigan directional.
Oh and fix the schedule so we don't have rotating good home schedule / bad home schedule. (All this is fairly obvious.)
December 5th, 2019 at 3:29 PM ^
Some people are missing the OP's point, I think.
Anyone who is saying "we shouldn't play them, we should play only cupcakes so we can make the CFP" is completely ignoring the OP's premise.
OP is saying we CANNOT make the CFP no matter what because we play OSU.
You can disagree with that, but that's the game the OP is trying to play.
So, in a world where we agree that we will always lose to OSU and one other Big Ten game, thus never making the CFP, should we try to play Notre Dame as much as possible?
Sure.
December 5th, 2019 at 3:53 PM ^
OP here - It was careless of me to throw in the line about OSU without expanding further. I'm not saying we cannot make the CFP/beat OSU ever, but in a world where beating them and advancing to the CFP is few and far between, is scheduling ND with a potential loss that much more damaging to our playoff hopes?
The underlying assumption here is if we aren't able to beat OSU, we probably aren't making the playoffs anyway (case in point last year, where even with a win over ND, the loss to OSU sent them to Indy and likely to the CFP as well, given that ND then would've been 11-1), and if we're good enough to beat OSU, we're probably beating ND, too.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
Okay, well, the difference between "cannot" and "near certainty that we will not" is pretty slight. But taking into account the slight difference, I guess then all the people scared of ND will stick with scheduling cupcakes because boy are we going to be annoyed when the ND game kept us out the one year we finally beat OSU.
I say play them every two of four years. But I'm not going to beg them for it.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
That's fair, but I don't think an 11-1 Michigan team that beat OSU would be left out of the playoff because of a loss to ND (See: Georgia with a win over LSU in the SEC Championship game)
There is a chance that we could lose to PSU or Wisco or someone too, to put us at 10-2 and knock us out of the CFP, but in a year where we are capable of beating OSU, we probably beat the above teams as well, typical caveats with hypotheticals notwithstanding.
December 5th, 2019 at 3:40 PM ^
December 5th, 2019 at 3:40 PM ^
Yes, I'm all for it. Absolutely.
December 5th, 2019 at 3:57 PM ^
As long as the CFP is the way it is and players can't be openly compensated, I'd rather have 3 cupcakes and the much higher potential to enter the OSU game 11-0 and maybe a 1 or 2 ranking and have still shot at a top 4 ranking/New Year's six every year even with a loss to OSU.
December 5th, 2019 at 9:53 PM ^
You are not getting a shot at the playoff with a cupcake schedule a loss to Ohio State when you won’t be winning the conference. Ohio State made it as a 1 loss program non conference champion. by beating Oklahoma. Scheduling a high level of non conference schools is the way to go.
December 5th, 2019 at 3:59 PM ^
The ND series is the most fun series we have with a rival. So, yea I'm all for it. I get your point that if the CFP is a slim possibility anyways may as well schedule an equally matched opponent like ND.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
I was really upset when they cancelled the series. But after a few years I could care less if it comes back. I’m more excited about the Washington home and home series than I’d be about Notre Dame again.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
I'd like to play them every year, preferably in the second game (nice to have a warm up first). Michigan and ND are natural rivals, near to each other and both aspiring to be more than football factories. I'm not sure that losing to them is much worse than beating Central Michigan for CFP purposes. And even if it is, damn the playoff. College football is about rivalries, and the regular season should remain meaningful.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
I would prefer never to play them again. To hell with Notre Dame!
December 5th, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
As a public school Catholic kid who went to Michigan, it is very satisfying to beat Notre Dame, which we do with some regularity. They are even more arrogant than we are, so its fun to play them.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
No more frequently than once every four years. I'd much rather have games with other non-conference programs than ND every goddamn year.
If the NCAA creates a super Bagmen conference for all the SEC and ACC programs that don't make their athletes actually attend class, then OSU can leave the BIG and ND can take its place.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:17 PM ^
Not for me...schedule other good schools, including SEC schools where we would have a home and away. I'd very much enjoy visiting some of those southern campuses.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:29 PM ^
I am fine with Notre Dame being the school that you schedule as filler, when there's a gap, perhaps every few years. I was fine with them transitioning out of our lives, and a little upset with the manner in which they returned quite honestly.
December 5th, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
We whipped their ass last game. The ball is in our court to be sure. I live about 45 minutes from South Bend, lots on ND fans around.. they want us to play again in the worst way and soon.
make them bow down, not us. I say fuck ‘em
December 5th, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
No! To Hell with them!
December 5th, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
Growing up, nothing said "FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE" like ND-Michigan week one. It was iconic as M-OSU in game 11/12.
I'd like it to continue, but not at any cost. And in the present structure, with the playoff the thing, it definitely doesn't pay to play them AND another P5 (Wash, Okla, etc.).
December 5th, 2019 at 5:03 PM ^
If we're going to schedule another every-year game, it should be Minnesota. For the Jug.
December 5th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
I do like the idea of scheduling Minny as a non conference opponent for some of the years we don't play them in conference.
December 5th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
Rather than back-to-back years(home and away) and then gone for a decade, I would like to see these non-conference games scheduled every three years (i.e. on a six year cycle). This goes pretty much for cross division games as well. That would allow fans and players to experience a greater variety of teams and make them special, without becoming routine.
December 5th, 2019 at 5:16 PM ^
Nope, let's play some other teams. I want to see how Michigan matches up with some other Power 5 opponents (when's the last time we played anyone from the Big 12?). This is especially true with having only 3 OOC games total each year now.
If ND wants to play us regularly again, tell them to sack up and join the Big Ten like they should have years ago. Until then...to hell with them!
December 5th, 2019 at 5:18 PM ^
No, forget ND. They will never deal with us as an equal. To get the last two games with them, the AD accommodated them last season by letting them have the first home game. This was despite the fact that they also got the last home before then, and despite the fact we had so few rivals playing us at Michigan Stadium that year. This season, the AD accommodated them by playing them in the middle of the B1G season, instead of prior to our Conference season as normal. We won, which was great, but we took on risk of a nonconference loss that potentially would be at a more significant time for the playoff picture.
How much will we have to kiss their backsides to keep playing them? It's not worth it.
December 5th, 2019 at 5:26 PM ^
No Notre Dame.
Prefer non conference cupcakes in a 9 game B1G conference
December 5th, 2019 at 5:38 PM ^
Have them pick a conference first.
December 5th, 2019 at 6:32 PM ^
As long as we start with two home games first, bring it!
December 5th, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
I used to be on board with the traditionalists, and liked the rivalry. I even justified it by way of saying that playing better teams would push us to become better... after a few seasons of seeing it, and watching the likes of Clemson... well I believe the inverse to be true.
December 5th, 2019 at 7:13 PM ^
I'm not against having ND scheduled more frequently, but don't bend over backwards to make it happen. Michigan made many concessions, broke previous engagements, and lost millions to make this latest two game stint a thing. The juice was not worth the squeeze. I also like the idea of letting that 31 pt thumping simmer in ND's gut for well over a decade.
December 5th, 2019 at 9:39 PM ^
Nope. Bring in a power 5 team.
December 5th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
They've scheduled other Big Ten teams in the future, which means they don't really care about us. Why should we care about them?
December 5th, 2019 at 10:27 PM ^
We should just leave the B1G.
It's not the Big Ten anymore, so why not go independent and schedule whomever you want?
December 5th, 2019 at 10:28 PM ^
These comments look like they were copied from any of the threads from the ND game week
December 5th, 2019 at 10:52 PM ^
Eff Nd!!
December 5th, 2019 at 11:39 PM ^
Michigan-ND is a rivalry...we don't have to play them every year, though...two years on and two years off is fine but I do enjoy this rivalry and it is ridiculous that we are not scheduled to play again until 2033 (although I have a feeling that we will play before that)
December 6th, 2019 at 12:17 AM ^
To hell with Notre Dame. They were the ones who decided they couldn’t fit us into their schedules. Let them suck on this year’s beat down for the next ten years.
December 6th, 2019 at 9:46 AM ^
How did the loss feel last year? Considering we are damn near 50/50 against them going back to like 1990, that’s what you would be signing up for...a great-feeling win followed by a frustrating early-season loss in the next year.
December 6th, 2019 at 9:50 AM ^
Also, every team that plays ND is doing them a favor. Their arrogance in not joining a conference, not having a rival that actually must win against them, and having them get airtime in December (sometimes getting invited to the playoffs) is annoying. Banish them to Bolivia.
December 6th, 2019 at 10:32 AM ^
To hell with Notre Dame!!!
December 6th, 2019 at 1:43 PM ^
Screw ND, I want to play Minnesota every year, especially if they stay decent.