Ryan Day Open to moving The Game

Submitted by Hail2UM83 on July 27th, 2023 at 10:30 AM

With divisions going away next year once USC and UCLA join the B1G, Eddie Munster mentioned he would be open to moving The Game. In my opinion this game should never be moved. I am curious as to what everyone elee thinks given the ever-changing landscape of college football.

Amazinblu

July 27th, 2023 at 11:33 AM ^

I don’t speak for others.   I’m the father of two out of state Michigan students - and, they do not miss ANY home games.   As for the OSU game, it makes our Thanksgiving a bit more rushed - since, we leave on Friday morning for Ann Arbor - but, beside that, it’s worth it.

Your point is fair - out of state students that go home - and have a longer trip - may not be back in A2 for The Game.

The home atmosphere is critical.  And, I loved how vocal / loud the student section was - and, the associated penalties - during the last visit the Buckeyes took to the Big House.

mgoja

July 27th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^

If it's not going to be the last game of the season and you are concerned (as I am)  the game will become devalued when the teams end up facing each other in the expanded CFP every few years, then make it the first game of the season.  Award the winners beard trimmers in honor of Ryan Day and require that the losing team not shave until they win.

evenyoubrutus

July 27th, 2023 at 11:35 AM ^

All I can ever think about when Ryan Day is brought up, is why on earth would any man use Just for Men? It just looks ridiculous and never, ever looks natural. 

Amazinblu

July 27th, 2023 at 11:37 AM ^

Excuse me.  I take significant issue to your reference of Eddie Munster in your original comment.  

The gentleman you are referring to is the revered spokesman for “Just For Men”, and hope you understand how high the pedestal is that the Buckeye faithful place him on.

93Grad

July 27th, 2023 at 11:39 AM ^

Just another reason to hate that entitled little D-bag.  But since he was born on third base, maybe he has no sense for the natural order of things.  

Amazinblu

July 27th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^

Moving the game earlier in the season reflects the direction of college football - which, with all due respect has a different type of tradition than hoops (with no disrespect to hoops).

I love college athletics, in part, for the tradition.  And, The Game at the end of November - the last regular conference game - etc., make it special.

Tradition is tossed out the window - in pursuit of the almighty media agreements with their the associated monies.

bronxblue

July 27th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^

I suspect they'll move that game at some point, likely when they move other big-ticket matchups like Alabama-Auburn, Texas-OU, etc.  And honestly, I don't much care anymore because for years it felt like UM would be riding high and then get a guy hurt the week or two before the game and it would submarine their chances to win.  Hell, last year Corum got dinged in the Illinois game and this place was as upbeat as a morgue for the game.  

MacaroniParty

July 27th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^

We play them on the last game of the year. That's just how it is. If it changes then it's stupid. I don't care about what-if scenarios of how many times the two teams could play in a row. They play on the last game of the year.

Carcajou

July 27th, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^

Leave The Game where it is, make all regular season conference games really mean something, and the first place team plays the highest team in the standings it has not yet played.

(Even better, incorporate the "showcase" weekend where all teams play a team they didn't in the regular season)
 

That would be much better than "rematches" or moving rivalry games to other weeks of the season.

detroit_fan

July 27th, 2023 at 12:30 PM ^

Between gambling, nil, transfers, the disappearance of regional conferences, non-stop night games, and other recent changes, I barely even recognize the college game anymore. Almost all traditions are dead, and it’s all about $$ now. Sad to see, I’m sure they’ll move it for the right price$$

ak47

July 27th, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^

Well this is over the top. Gambling has nothing to do with you watching the sport, nil isn’t any different than players getting money like they have been for decades unless your head was buried in the sand, night games are great and have been around for decades, and the only thing more constant in college football than schools cheating is conference realignment. There hasn’t been a decade in football where schools didn’t switch conferences, conferences didn’t die, etc. 

Perkis-Size Me

July 27th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^

If Ryan Day is trying to get the OSU faithful off his back about the Michigan setbacks of the last two years, this was NOT the way to go about doing it.

There are some games in college football that should never be touched. Red River Rivalry, Iron Bowl, The Game. Just don’t freaking touch them. I get its all about money, but JFC is nothing in college football sacred anymore? 

Richard75

July 27th, 2023 at 12:48 PM ^

If it has to move, moving it to the week before Thanksgiving would be a decent solution. That’s when it used to be played, and it would defuse the back-to-back-weeks possibility. 

Also, since the B1G title game exists, the whole idea that the season should end with OSU is already out the window. 

HouseHarbaugh

July 27th, 2023 at 12:51 PM ^

Like it or not, beginning next year college football won't the same as it was even 5 years ago. Sadly that means doing away with some traditions. I think The Game should be the first conference game played, that way the rematch in the Championship Game would be as far away from the first meeting as possible. I would much rather have The Game mean something than to be meaningless out of tradition. Remember that for the longest time there wasn't even a national championship game. College football is different now, and we just have to deal with it.

chrisu

July 27th, 2023 at 12:53 PM ^

The Game should never change from the traditional position on the schedule. That said, money has done more to the game than most of us could have ever imagined in our lifetimes, and money is the clear driver of changes in college athletics. Sadly, I will be shocked if it isn't shifted to an alternate date, but it will be the wrong thing to do. And given our recent success, I would absolutely love to see two 'L's' hung on Day in the same season. THOSE tears would be the best tears.

 

 

lhglrkwg

July 27th, 2023 at 12:59 PM ^

If Day moves again this is for sure getting thrown back in his as proof that 'Day doesn't understand the rivalry' like it was so often for Harbaugh

whidbeywolverine

July 27th, 2023 at 1:06 PM ^

17.14M The Game

13.06M Tenn UGA

11.56M Bama Tenn

Viewers pay for all of this, so I don’t think the networks mind if we play three times. Hell, it’ll be quicker for us to run up another big streak on them!!

God I love that we don’t have to listen to “ The Game has lost its relevance” bullshit argument anymore.  

There is one rivalry that is head and shoulders above Bama - Auburn, Cowboys - Redskins,   Red Sox -Yankees, Barca - Madrid.

It’s The Game.  And we’ll keep it the fuck where it is, Eddie Munster, the last game of the regular season, and we’ll keep kicking the snot out of your flu-assed Buckeye Butts in the snow in November.

And then we’ll kick your ass in Indy

And one more time for good measure somewhere warmer for the holidays.

With 110K in the stands and 20 million on TV.

Time for football!
 

DennisFranklinDaMan

July 27th, 2023 at 1:15 PM ^

Sigh. As college football (and sports in general) jettison tradition for $$ right and left (a marching band? When we could have a DJ and ear-wrenching hip-hop on the sound system??), this kind of seems like the last tumbler to fall ... or at least the most significant one.

Sure, sure, why not? Let's give up everything that's made college football so entertaining for 150 years! Why build up the entire season toward a game against an arch-rival, when we could play them in a blistering hot September day and finish the season against Rutgers!?

FML. It's inevitable, I know.

oHOWiHATEohioSTATE

July 27th, 2023 at 1:16 PM ^

I think it should be moved. The likelihood of Michigan OSU being the Championship game is pretty high. I think the intensity for that game is too high for back to back weeks.

Monkey House

July 27th, 2023 at 1:20 PM ^

I think people are way off in thinking every year OSU and Michigan are going to be the top 2 teams. USC is not some bum ass school. There will be time when Michigan and OSU are undefeated going into that game, but PSU,USC,UCLA, Nebraska or whoever else will only have one loss I don't think UM vs OSU in back to back weeks is very likely 

Michigan Realist

July 27th, 2023 at 1:34 PM ^

I would rather it be the last game of the regular season but it’s probably going to be adjusted at some point. 
 

It is what it is. No biggie in the grand scheme of things.

BlueMuslim97

July 27th, 2023 at 1:52 PM ^

I think the prospect of playing them twice in a row is absolutely THE worse thing that can possibly happen to the Game. Moving the Game up a bit is more palatable to me than that, and even that's revolting.

If it's to stay as the last game of the season (as it should), they need to have a clause that there can't be any rematches in the championship game from the week before. If you lose the Game as one of the top two teams in the B1G, you get to enjoy a bye and then it's onto the playoffs, but the dubious honor of playing in the B1G championship goes to the next best team.

Or better yet, the *winner* of the Game gets the bye :)

Catchafire

July 27th, 2023 at 2:24 PM ^

It makes sense to move it.  The only reason why it was the last game for so long is because it made sense at the time.  

Let's face it, today's cfb landscape is nothing like it was before.  Nothing.

The Deer Hunter

July 27th, 2023 at 3:49 PM ^

Oh yeah, it's going to happen.

It may take for the situation to actually occur but that shouldn't take long. 

There are scenarios not too far fetched to the point where both teams are locked in to the B1G CG and a visiting team in the final week "takes a knee" for the opportunity to;     A) Rest starters and play at a neutral site the next week, & B) By winning at the neutral site gets you a CFP first round bye. 

Carcajou

July 27th, 2023 at 6:18 PM ^

With the upcoming changes, that easily could/would have have happened in 2022:
Michigan and OSU were both two games ahead of everybody else. So Michigan would have been better off to rest Corum, Edwards, McCarthy (and heck, rest most of their starters), play vanilla offense and defense, and give up the less meaningful regular-season game in Columbus for the more important neutral-site championship game. (Haven't similar scenarios occurred in pro sports?)

The only thing that would prevent that from happening would be matters of "pride" and Harbaugh's uber-competitive spirit, but who's to say that wouldn't be the smart move?
The first time it happened there might be howls of protest, but this would soon be accepted as standard practice

Harball sized HAIL

July 27th, 2023 at 2:51 PM ^

Day will be fired at roughly 4pm EST on Nov. 25, 2023.  He won't be allowed to travel with the team or collect his things.  His opinions on anything will matter way less then than they do now.

SirJack II

July 27th, 2023 at 2:53 PM ^

The solution seems so simple: Just specify that the B1G championship game cannot be between two teams that played against each other in the final game of the regular season.

Blue Ninja

July 27th, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^

If they do move the game I agree that it needs to be in November, maybe the first week so its around Halloween. But then we need to move a rival to that last week or it loses all its significance. I vote for our big rival Rutgers.  :D

matty blue

July 27th, 2023 at 3:08 PM ^

oh, it's going to move, eventually, so you might as well buckle up.

please note that i don't want it to move, but some meathead will come up with some made-up reason that it's worth more $ in mid-september, and that will be that.  paper cut number eleventy million in the slow death of college sports as we know and love them

BLU_in_SRQ

July 27th, 2023 at 3:10 PM ^

I've been noodling on this ever since Leaders and Legends, forgot about it for a while, but then last year when the probability was there, and now with 12 team playoff, no B1G divisions, I think we should open every year with OSU.  The first game of the year every year, and then on those years when they play again in the title game, it's not back to back.  Then we have to rely on the playoff seedings to keep us apart I guess.  It would be the main event every first Saturday.