How does Nebraska to the B10 change our projected 2011 schedule?
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5294165
Rittenberg talks how all future schedules are essentially thrown away. Its possible only the teams that have Nebraska in their division will have to change schedules but I guess no one knows anything yet. As of now our schedule for 2011 is very favorable. Here's hoping Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern stay on the slate. GO BLUE!
you are a quick one
Why are hoping Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern stay on the schedule..? Because you think they will be easy wins? Is this what you're lowering yourself to as a Michigan fan? Mediocrity? Fuck that, load up the schedule for all I care. This is MICHIGAN! We shouldn't be scared to play anyone.
You're on the third street
PS. I agree with you to a point, but at the same time the past couple years we've had a some what mediocre team and, to be honest, a lot of people just want some wins because nothing is promised these days.
Thanks for the morning laughs.
I appreciate the enthusiasm, but even the best teams usually need a few breaks on the schedule in order to make a run at a national title. College athletes and teams are going to have games in which they don't play their best -- winning those games is the difference between going to the Insight Bowl and going to the Rose Bowl.
I'm assuming (like I think most Michigan fans are) that our experience and talent will be at a peak in 2011, meaning we should be an elite-level team. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and start lining up the NFC East. WInning 11 (or 14?) games in 2011, even if some of them are against crappy teams, would go a long way toward our program getting back to where we all want it to be.
"To be the best, you have to beat the best."
Just like Duke in the NCAA tournament
Sure. Each team that faced Duke won their game. Isn't that the point of a playoff/tournament? To determine who the best is? If a NCAA football playoff comes along, are you then also going to claim a team didn't beat the best team(s) either? Teams get into playoffs/tournaments for a reason. They're the best teams in the country.
Honestly, if beating the best teams doesn't matter, then why are people so up in arms when Michigan misses the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament every year? If that's the case, then we should strive for the NIT. Hell, why even go to a tournament?
Nobody said "beating the best teams doesn't matter."
And your scenario of striving for the NIT is as ridiculous as me saying that by your logic, our football schedule should be:
Alabama / Florida / USC / Virginia Tech / Oregon / LSU / Miami / Boise State / Oklahoma / Georgia / Penn State / Texas / Ohio State
Maybe that is what you're saying -- I'm not totally sure. But there's not a team in the country that could do much better than .500 against that sort of schedule, and I still enjoy historical rivalries and things like beating Michigan State.
My point is that in the current college football landscape, having a favorable conference schedule is crucial to winning conference/national titles. Why do you think Texas and Oklahoma were more than willing to re-up with the Big 12 that now includes almost no other teams on their competitive level?
And beating Ohio State, Penn State and some combination of Nebraska/Iowa/Wisconsin would be pretty impressive. We would have earned the title of "best team in the conference."
I love getting jacked up for big games as much as anyone -- like I said, I appreciate your enthusiasm -- but we've gotta be realistic about where Michigan is right now (or in 2011). If you think a schedule that pits us against 10 or 12 of the best teams in the country would be a good thing, you're fooling yourself with optimism. Once RichRod has us re-established as a nationally elite program, yes. Bring on all comers. But let's get there first.
Oh, and I kinda miss playing for the Little Brown Jug and seeing Northwestern's purple-and-black unis. There's something to be said for traditional conference rivalries.
I do concur on that. My main point was, I didn't see "I hope we still play MSU and OSU!" I saw "hoping Indiana, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern stay on the slate."
Besides Minnesota, what do the other teams benefit Michigan for? The only thing I could think of were that the OP saw them as "easy" teams to beat. Again, we shouldn't strive to beat the "easy" teams. We should be striving to beat the best. Ultimately, we aren't going to have a completely stacked schedule every year, but we shouldn't be scared to have one either.
Fair enough. I certainly don't think we should be "scared" of the other best teams in the conference. I'm just looking at it from a competitive level. It helps to have a favorable schedule -- just think how many times we've looked and said, "Hey, Wisconsin doesn't have to play OSU this year" or something similar.
With an unbalanced schedule, I don't see anything wrong with being excited about your chances in years when YOU are the one benefiting from the scheduling breaks.
Your sentiments would be better aimed at the cupcake OOC part of the schedule.
I assume that the 2011 conference schedules will be thrown out and redone once the divisions are determined.
For example, right now we have Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Northwestern on the 2011 schedule. Assuming all those teams end up in a West Division (or whatever), we could only play three of them. Our division opponents would take the place of whichever teams have to be removed.
I wouldn't be surprised if every game on our schedule is rearranged except for the Ohio State game.
"Twenty years ago this month, Joe Paterno’s phone rang.
In June 1990, the Penn State coach was perpetually on the phone, working with newly appointed Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and others to secure the Nittany Lions a spot in the conference.
But this time it was legendary Michigan coach Bo Schembechler on the line, shortly after Penn State was approved as the Big Ten’s 11th member.
And Bo was not happy.
“(He called) me up after we were in the Big Ten,” Paterno said. “He said, ‘You sneaky little son of a...’
“I said, ‘What are you talking about, Bo?’ He said, ‘You sneaked in there and the athletic directors and coaches never had a vote because it was all (the university) presidents.’
“I said, ‘Bo, nobody sneaked in.’ He started screaming and ranting. I started screaming and ranting at him.”"
http://www.timesleader.com/sports/Penn_State_is_no_longer_conference_rs…
If Bo had wanted PSU in the conference, he wouldn't have been so angry that the coaches and ADs didn't have a vote. The fact is that he thought the conference competition was strong enough already, and adding Penn State made things unnecessarily more difficult.
We may or may not play Nebraska.
I certainly hope we do, at the Big House. I'm a senior that year, so it would be my one and only chance to see them as a student.
are null and void. There is only one game set in stone on Michigan's schedule, versus Ohio State on the last Saturday in November.
That said, I will anxiously await the posting of the conference schedules for 2011 and beyond as the road trip to Lincoln is already planned.