Michigan may play Georgia in opener. (rumors)

[BlindRef]

http://www.dawgsports.com/story/2007/7/25/231321/373


Michigan athletic director Bill Martin emphasized Tuesday that the Wolverines won't settle for just any substitute [for Notre Dame] on the schedule.
Michigan will play a national power from a major conference, most likely in a home-and-home series.

"There are a lot of teams Michigan would like to play and who would like to play Michigan," Martin said by telephone.

While the athletic director declined to name names, he said he has been approached by several schools who would be happy to pick up when the Fighting Irish are left off. . . .

Although Martin said that "nothing is set in stone yet" when it comes to the Notre Dame series post-2011, he did note that both schools might benefit from short breaks in the rivalry.

It isn't unprecedented. Since resuming the series in 1978 after 35 years off, Michigan and Notre Dame have taken three two-year respites from each other, most recently in 2000 and 2001.

"That would make sure to give both us and Notre Dame time to move around the country," Martin said. "A lot of alumni and fans ask us to play in various stadiums."


We know Damon Evans has contacted Bill Martin in the past and Bill Martin has indicated that the contract with Notre Dame was the principal impediment to his receptiveness to those overtures.
As I have written before, a season without a Michigan-Notre Dame game is like a season without a Georgia-Clemson game . . . unthinkable at one time, but capable of becoming commonplace. While I don't believe either school is ducking the other, neither seems to be in a particularly big hurry to renew the series on an annual basis and both appear to recognize the benefits of periodic cessations of hostilities.

My SportsBlogs Nation colleague from the Notre Dame weblog Rakes of Mallow offered this observation in a recent interview:


Southern California is our main rival since the 30's and will always be our biggest rival. We've played USC 78 times since 1926 (currently own a 42-31-5 record against them) versus only 34 times against Michigan (we won't speak of records for this one). We've played Michigan State, Purdue, and Navy more times than we've played Michigan. It's more of a recent rivalry even though the first game between the two schools was played in 1897.

For their part, the Wolverine faithful appear similarly enthusiastic about the possibilities presented by the lapsing of the current contract in 2011, as evidenced by two recent message board comment threads in which S.E.C. teams generally, and Georgia particularly, appeared prominently.


Did The M Zone design a cool helmet graphic for some other school? No? Case closed, then.

How feasible is this prospect? Evidently, 2015 is one of the years in which Oklahoma will replace Michigan on Notre Dame's schedule. As Paul Westerdawg has noted, Georgia's tentative 2015 slate includes dates against Arkansas and Mississippi State, as well as a game against the Ducks at Eugene on September 19.

The Red and Black currently have slots available for the August 29 season opener and a September 12 non-conference game sandwiched in between South Carolina and Oregon. Obviously, Georgia isn't going to play back-to-back games against B.C.S. league opponents as part of its out-of-conference slate. How 'bout kicking off the campaign against the Maize and Blue between the hedges on the last Saturday in August, though?

The Red and Black recently have been willing to accept legitimate challenges straight out of the gate, facing Boise State in the first game of the 2005 campaign and arranging to open this autumn against Oklahoma State. A Labor Day weekend showdown between Georgia and Michigan would be sure to attract a national television audience, meaning the game would be played at night, thereby neutralizing any objection about the heat and humidity of the Classic City.

The odd-numbered year would be the perfect time for the Bulldogs to host the Wolverines, as the inclusion of the Maize and Blue at the start of the 2015 slate would give the Red and Black a marquee non-conference home game in a season in which Georgia played Oregon and Georgia Tech on the road and the Wolverines faced Ohio State at home.

The 'Dawgs could make the return trip to Ann Arbor to kick off the 2016 campaign. Oregon and Georgia Tech are scheduled to come to Athens that fall and, with both Magnolia State schools included in the Western Division rotation, the S.E.C. gauntlet is not likely to be more strenuous than usual for the Red and Black.

Granted, such an arrangement would mean fewer home dates in the 2016 schedule, but surely the national exposure would be worth it. Ask a Texas fan whether he thinks traveling to the Horseshoe in 2005 was better than another home game against North Texas. Ask an Ohio State fan whether he thinks traveling to Austin in 2006 was better than another home game against a M.A.C. also-ran.

For the record, Georgia has played at Michigan Stadium twice before. In 1957, the Bulldogs' non-conference schedule consisted of dates against Texas in Atlanta to open the season, Michigan in Ann Arbor on October 5, and Navy at Norfolk on October 19. The Bulldogs played in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, and Virginia that year, and three of their five contests in the Peach State were played either in Atlanta or in Columbus.

In 1965, the Red and Black played an out-of-conference slate made up of Michigan in the Big House, Clemson between the hedges, Florida State in Tallahassee, North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and (because of their recent defection from the S.E.C. ranks) Georgia Tech at Grant Field. This was in a season in which the 'Dawgs also faced a Bear Bryant-coached Alabama team and a Steve Spurrier-led Florida team.

Despite the Red and Black's insular tendencies during the years Vince Dooley was drawing up the Bulldogs' schedules, Georgia historically has a long tradition of facing strong non-conference opponents. Why duck top-tier teams now that the 'Dawgs are back on top?



Things are looking good for the home team. Heck, even Orson thinks the Big Spoon will lead Georgia to a top 10 ranking!

What is to be gained by the Bulldogs' first trek to Ann Arbor since Coach Dooley's second season on the Sanford Stadium sideline? That question was answered by USA Today's Ben Brown in his account of Florida State's 1991 season, Saint Bobby and the Barbarians. Of the Seminoles' trip to the Big House, Brown wrote:


[T]he University of Michigan represented everything most state universities aspired to. It attracted bright students, big research bucks and talented athletes. And it was steeped in tradition, especially football tradition.
For over 100 years, the Wolverines had played big-time college football. They had won more games than anybody. Their fight song, "Hail to the Victors," was as familiar to most fans as "America the Beautiful." And their ballpark, Michigan Stadium, was the nation's largest. When Florida State came to visit on September 28, it would be filled with 100,000 or more fans for the 99th consecutive game.

So to play Michigan in Ann Arbor on national television was to be at the center of college football culture.


According to Brown's account, Bobby Bowden was so anxious about having his No. 1-ranked Seminoles play the Wolverines that he threw out one idea after another in the coaches' meetings. He wanted to run a fake field goal. He wanted to use freeze plays to draw the Michigan defenders offsides. He wanted to run double-quarterback passes from Casey Weldon to Charlie Ward and from Charlie Ward downfield. He tinkered with installing a no-huddle offense the week before the game.
Florida State's quarterbacks coach took a different approach:


While Bowden talked excitedly, the assistants around the conference table had been respectfully silent. They would do anything he wanted. But they wanted to make sure he settled on his priorities. If they scripted every idea, they would spread their time too thin and go into what might be the biggest game of the year without the confidence that comes only with focused repetitions on the practice field.
Mark Richt doodled in his notebook. He was committed to Bobby Bowden football. Still, his basic indoctrination in the sport came at Miami under Howard Schnellenberger. It boiled down to: Get the talent you need; train them in a simple system that exploits their gifts; then line up and play.

They had recruited right and planned right at Florida State, Richt liked to argue. Why not just play ball? Finally, he spoke up: "We don't want to give our guys the idea that we have to do a lot of fancy things to beat these guys."


Mark Richt has recruited right and planned right at Georgia. Lloyd Carr has recruited right and planned right at Michigan. Why not just play ball?

[L45B]

Potentially a very intriguing matchup indeed. With national attention surrounding recent Big Time Power College Football matchups such as tOSU-Texas & USC-Nebraska, I am not surprised at all to see Michigan target an SEC school. I read the article yesterday about how Martin was looking for a formidable home&home replacement, and initially I thought of Tennessee and the whole Neyland/Big House angle. But certainly, a UM-Georgia game in August/September would get some good pub.

[Terry in Crapchester]

We've played Michigan State, Purdue, and Navy more times than we've played Michigan.

For that matter, Michigan actually ranks 8th all-time in terms of games played vs. Notre Dame. And barring a scenario where ND either joins the Big Ten or drops Pitt from its schedule for an extended period of time, it's unlikely that Michigan will ever move past 6th place in our lifetimes. For the record, here's the listing of the Top 10 all-time ND opponents measured by number of games played vs. ND:

1. Navy (80)
2t. Purdue (78)
2t. USC (78)
4. Michigan State (70)
5. Pitt (63)
6. Army (49)
7. Northwestern (47)
8. Michigan (34)
9. Georgia Tech (33)
10. Indiana (29)

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/di ... onents.php

It's more of a recent rivalry even though the first game between the two schools was played in 1897.

Yes and no.

In terms of games played between the two schools, 23 of the 34 games have been played since 1978. But the roots of the ND-Michigan rivalry date back farther than that.

Michigan taught ND how to play football, and was ND's first-ever opponent. Later, after Michigan dropped ND from its schedule and blocked ND's efforts to join the Big Ten, ND charged that anti-Catholic bias was at the root of Michigan's actions. Correctly or incorrectly, many ND fans feel that ND was treated unfairly by Michigan during much of the first half of the 20th century, and there remains a real hatred of Michigan among many ND fans today for that reason.

Ironically, Michigan's snubbing of ND ultimately benefitted Michigan State's program. In search of a nearby rival, ND happened upon Michigan State. Signing a long-term deal with ND led to Michigan State remodeling the capacity at Spartan Stadium. In turn, that led to Michigan State's admission to the Big Ten, much to Michigan's consternation.

Also, per ND Nation, Michigan and Ohio State attempted to lead a boycott of ND among the Big Ten schools, which appears to have had some level of success. Iowa last played ND in 1968, Illinois and Wisconsin last played ND in 1964, and Indiana had a one-off game vs. ND in 1991, but otherwise last played ND in 1958. Before the 1960's, it was not uncommon for ND to play a number of Big Ten teams every year. After the 1960's, in most years ND played only three Big Ten teams. At first it was Northwestern, Michigan State and Purdue. When Michigan resumed its series with ND in 1978, they replaced Northwestern on ND's schedule.

[RumpleForeskin]

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but do you realize the money that could be made if football took a page out of basketball's book? I love the Big 10/ACC Classic they do early in the year with basketball. Wouldn't it be great if the Big 10 added that one more team to their conference and played the SEC for the first game of the season? Of course, this could only happen if a playoff was instituted b/c no way all those SEC teams would go for such big non-conference matchups to jeopardize not going to the BCS title game or any BCS game for that matter.

As much as I love the Michigan/Notre Dame matchup every year, I like the idea of Michigan playing other BIG non-conference foes and that goes for ND too.

[WolverineSteve]

Michigan taught ND how to play football,

:wink:

[Killian]

Michigan taught ND how to play football,

And like any good student, they surpassed the teacher.

[SoCalTrjn]

the last time Georgia left the south was 1965 when they went to Ann Arbour and beat Michigan

[Terry in Crapchester]

the last time Georgia left the south was 1965 when they went to Ann Arbour and beat Michigan

There are rumors on the internets that they contacted ND about a home-and-home.

[SoCalTrjn]

with a 42 year track record like Georgias, I will wait til I see their team take the field outside the south before I EVER believe any interweb rumor. Call me cynical if ya like