Fix the Schedule

When it comes to the Big Ten, the first job for the new athletic director should be going to the committee in charge of drawing up the football schedule and getting everyone to agree to an incredibly simple fix to a problem plaguing two of the East's biggest programs.

Currently, Michigan and Michigan State are both stuck with schedules that have them in alternate years playing two home games against their primary rivals followed by two road games. In 2014, Michigan has road games against both MSU and OSU, and MSU is at home against UM and OSU. Next year the situation is reversed, with Michigan playing MSU and OSU at home, while the Spartans have to go on the road against the Wolverines and Buckeyes.

This is vastly sub-optimal for both teams, from the standpoint of both ticket sales and overall competitive balance. Really, you want each team to play one home game and one road game against each rival. Craig and I were talking about this unfortunate situation yesterday at the Indiana game, and Craig told me he'd happened upon a ridiculously simple solution, and Indiana is the key.

Since Indiana is in the East, both Michigan and Michigan State play them every season. Fortutiously, Indiana played MSU at home and Michigan on the road this year. Therefore, all you have to do is flip the Indiana game from a home game to an away game and flip MSU from an away game to a home game. Everyone still ends up with the same number of home and away games, and the bottleneck is cleared.

Obviously, the time has passed when we can fix the 2014 schedule. And we might as well go through the 2015 schedule as is, since I don't think anyone wants to play at MSU for three consecutive seasons. Where we should fix it is 2016.

Current 2016 Schedule
UM at MSU, at OSU, vs IU
MSU vs UM, vs OSU, at IU
OSU at MSU, vs UM, vs IU
IU vs MSU, at UM, at OSU

Proposed 2016 Schedule
UM vs MSU, at OSU, at IU
MSU at UM, vs OSU, vs IU
OSU at MSU, vs UM, vs IU
IU at MSU, vs UM, at OSU

It would mean MSU has to play at Michigan for two consecutive seasons, but that's only fair since Michigan has just done the opposite. Michigan would also have to play two consecutive seasons at Indiana, which is a small price to pay for getting off the cycle we're currently on. Sure, it's messing with a schedule that's a mere two seasons down the road, but it solves one of the more annoying problems in the current scheduling landscape.

(Additional information by Craig: 1:00 PM Monday:

One of the issues I saw was that in the 2016 schedule, swapping Indiana to be an away game would give Michigan a weird stretch of four straight home dates, followed by three straight road dates to close the year, which is suboptimal.  So, I plugged the 2016 schedule into Excel, and in six minutes, I solved it by moving just four games total.

Illinois at Michigan, originally scheduled for 10/22/16, now moves to the team's mutual open date of 9/24/16
Michigan at Iowa, originally scheduled for 11/12/16, now moves to 10/22/16.
Iowa at Wisconsin, originally scheduled for 10/22/16, now moves to 11/12/16
Illinois at Wisconsin, originally schedule for 11/12/16, now moves to 10/22/16.

It's not perfect, because it gives Wisconsin three straight home games, followed by three straight road games, but it does give them a potential breather having opened the season at Michigan, at Michigan State, home to Ohio State, ------, home to Nebraska.  With a couple other moves, you might even be able to make that one work out better too...)

Viva La Vida: July 2nd, 2008

Welcome to Viva La Vida for July 2, 2008.

This will be an occasionally recurring feature where I post roughly quick hit points that I have not been able to get to that I did want to discuss.

1). Life in Technicolor

I am reserving judgment on the new uniform issue, because I am not sure that anything out there is official. I have maintained for a long time that as long as they do not touch the home uniform, I really am OK with any wackiness they may want to try on the away uniform, within reason. I also trust that adidas' contract with Michigan is as much about Michigan enhancing their brand as it is adidas enhancing the Michigan brand. But hey, clearance sale at the M-Den for the current jerseys. Plenty of Harts, Hennes, and Manninghams left.

2). Cemeteries of London

It was announced yesterday that Michigan Replay is no more. This saddens me as a traditionalist but by the same token, I don't know that Coach Rod was going to have the same level of hilariously awkward banter with Jim Brandstatter that Lloyd Carr did, but still, I think what I will miss most is the third quarter snippet of the theme from the 1972 film Across 110th Street, which also served as the theme to Michigan Replay for lo these many years.

3). Lost!

If you have not already picked up your Phil Steele preview guide, you'll want to do so as soon as possible, lest ye be lost for the upcoming season. His preview on Michigan is alternately dour and hopeful, in that, yes, he does not expect Michigan to match last season's nine wins (but who among us actually does?) but he also thinks that "the streaks" will remain alive, which is well, kind of important.

4). 42

The only Michigan player to win All-America honors while wearing #42 is Billy Taylor. He's among Bo's first players at Michigan and has a pretty amazing life story which you can read about here.

5). Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love

Little known fact: Logan, better known as Wolverine, is a follower of the Shinto faith, as seen here.

(Yes, it was a stretch and yes, I do apologize, but it was the first thing that made sense when I typed "Wolverine Japan" into GIS.)

6). Yes

If you're going to propose to your Michigan fan girlfriend, I highly recommend doing it in Ann Arbor. It works out quite well from my experience.

7). Viva La Vida

We here at the Hoover Street Rag would like to wish a happy 71st birthday to one of our favorite people in the world, 2008 College Football Hall of Fame electee John Cooper. Coach, we miss you. A lot. Even if we're Facebook friends with you.

8). Violet Hill

If you have not seen Varsity Blue's photos of the Michigan Stadium construction, you should, it's pretty awesome (I was over there on Monday and was going to mention how impressive it was, but the slide show is worth several thousand words.)

9). Strawberry Swing

If you have not had a shake from Pizza Bob's recently, you really should do so. Go get a BTB and then walk down a couple of doors and hook yourself with a shake.

10). Death and All His Friends

I'm thinking about adopting the line from the song as my Michigan mantra for the forthcoming season: "So come over, just be patient, and don't worry." I don't see it working, but you know, it's July, I can maintain a level head right now.

Thanks for reading. Have a great week!

Craig