Ohio State-Michigan Game Moving

For the life of me, I absolutely cannot fathom what the Big Ten is thinking by even considering moving the Ohio State-Michigan game. Of all the possible changes they could make to the schedule, moving this game to October is nothing short of moronic. This game has been the big event of the Big Ten schedule since, oh, 1943 when they first started putting this game at the end of the season and there has been more laughter, tears, blood, sweat, milk, and beer spilled over this game than any other. It is the culminating point of the season. It is the climax of all that has been and gone. To move this game to October just on the chance of maybe having a rematch in the conference championship game is like moving the climax of a movie to the middle of the film. The most basic rule of narrative is that the climax of the story must come near the end—otherwise, the anticlimax is just too damn long and the audience will lose interest.

What This Game Means

The move to a divisional structure in the Big Ten was inevitable with the addition of Nebraska, but it is not quite as inevitable as you might think. I'll talk more about that later, but let's stick with our main point for now. Anyway, what we have is the splitting up of the Big Ten into two divisions, with the divisional champions meeting in the Big Ten Championship Game.

Everybody who knows anything about college football knows that Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Nebraska need to be split up with two in one division and two in the other. These four teams are college football bluebloods of the highest order, and packing three of them into one division would be murder on the three teams thrown together. Plus, the one traditional powerhouse in the other division would have a fairly clear path to the title game whenever they were playing at their usual level.

It has been widely and rightfully assumed that Ohio State and Michigan would end up in the same division so that they could continue a rivalry that has, in many ways, become a synonym for the word "rivalry". These two teams go to war every time they play, usually with a Rose Bowl berth hanging in the balance. There have been very few occasions when at least one of the teams was not playing for a chance at the Rose Bowl, and it has often happened that whichever team won would get a trip to Pasadena (at the very least) as their reward.

This is the way the game has become such a huge deal. It is gigantic because it is between two bitter rivals, and there was usually something important hanging in the balance.

It's Big Because It Matters

This game between The Game not just because it was between two rivals. I'm told that Kentucky and Tennessee despise each other, but nobody gives a crap about that game except in Kentucky and maybe in Tennessee. No, this game became The Game because it absolutely meant something every time these two played. Yes, you get bragging rights, but you get even more in most cases. You got the chance to make your season, or at least ruin your opponent's season. Even if my team was lousy all year, you know it somehow makes it all better when you can at least ruin the season for those &#%@ers from the other side. It really, really does make it better. Ahhhhhhh.

This game became The Game because it absolutely meant something every time it was played. Championships were on the line as well as bragging rights. Everything that these teams had built over the course of the previous 8, 9, 10, or 11 games all came down to this one November day in the Horseshoe or the Big House and absolutely everything that had been constructed up to that one moment could either be completed artfully or come crashing down in a pile of rubble against the most hateful, evil people on earth: the people from the other side. It was the absolute culmination of everything that had come and gone in the previous 3 months. It is there for the taking or the ruining or preferably both, and it's those bastards that it has to be done against.

Compare that with the ballyhooed Red River Rivalry, in which Oklahoma and Texas play each other in October and maybe they will or maybe they won't finish the season in the Big XII championship game. Each team still has a chance at the championship if the cards fall right, so it's not really the end-all, be-all of the season. It's important, but there is still hope even if your team loses. In The Game, that's it—all your chances are thrown into the pot for this game and the only way to get them back out is through victory.

What the Split Will Not Do

I've heard a few times from a few different people that the Big Ten is doing this for the money. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how the Big Ten will make more money off of an Ohio State-Michigan title game than they would with any other title game. The Big Ten gets a flat television fee for this game no matter who is in it. And no matter whether Ohio State and Michigan are the teams playing in the title game, it doesn't make it any less of a pain in the ass to get to wherever the title game is on one week of notice.

Conference title games are usually sparsely attended, since it is very difficult for fans to get wherever they need to go on short notice. You can schedule regular-season and bowl game flights and hotel stays a month or more in advance. You can't schedule a flight one week in advance without paying often thousands of dollars for booking inside the 21-day window. And what happens when all the hotels are sold out? Look who's not going to be able to make it to the game: most fans, that's who. That will not change in any version of the conference title game, no matter who is playing in it.

Unsubstantiated Conjecture

The only people I could imagine pushing for this change would be Penn State, Michigan State, and perhaps Michigan. Michigan has long been saying that it they more concerned about their rivalry with Michigan State than they are with Ohio State, and their recent lack of success against the Buckeyes is probably not helping the situation. Michigan said that Michigan State was their big rival back when the Spartans were occasionally beating the Wolverines, but the Buckeyes were not. Now that the tables have turned, I'm not sure that Michigan is not looking to deemphasize this game; it is common for teams on a losing streak to a rival to try to change the traditional game arrangements in an attempt to change their luck—many Ohio State fans were talking about moving The Game earlier in the season during the '90's. However, Michigan is also the least likely entity to want to change the status quo.

Needless to say, Michigan State would love to turn their annual tilt with the Wolverines into the last game of the season. They DEFINITELY have their biggest rivalry with Michigan and I don't doubt that they would love the chance to take that game to the end of the season, a la Texas-Texas A&M, Alabama-Auburn, Georgia-Georgia Tech, etc.

I think Penn State would also much appreciate a better game to end the season with, as they never warmed to the Land Grant Trophy. Penn State is a college football blueblood; Michigan State is still a little brother. It was a Big Ten-designed rivalry that was never as organic as Ohio State-Michigan. Of course, had Michigan State not been in a two-decade slump, things might have been different.

The geographic concerns of Penn State would also be largely allayed by aligning Penn State with Ohio State. Penn State is on the eastern edge of the Big Ten and Nebraska is way out west, beyond even Iowa and Minnesota. Penn State and Nebraska are geographical outliers in Big Ten country, so I would think Penn State wouldn't want to be forced to play Nebraska every year. Ohio, on the other hand, is right next door, so to speak. I would think Penn State wouldn't mind having Ohio State on their season-ending docket, as that would be a much more exciting matchup than MSU. However, I don't doubt they would much prefer Pitt on their last weekend of the year, which may yet happen. If that were to happen... well... I think that is probably best left alone for now.

All of these possibilities, of course, assume that everyone is actually thinking through their scenarios, which is clearly not the case if they are looking to move Ohio State-Michigan to October. Leaving The Game in place at the end of the season between divisional rivals would be the best use of something as valuable as Ohio State-Michigan. That is the only way to ensure that the fire in that rivalry remains burning at full temperature.

The Divisional Structure Is Overrated

The big problem here is that, if the Big Ten moves to a 9-game conference schedule (as is currently rumored), the conference championship game could be tossed if it isn't working. In a 9-game schedule, each team will only miss two other teams in the conference, which is no different than their current schedule. However, with a 9-game divisional structure, that also means that, each year, two lower-tier teams will be playing Nebraska, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State all in the same year. How's that for a rough schedule? That also means that some lower-tier teams are going to take a serious beating from the upper-tier. And even if they get by that schedule without being worn down, they would still need to play in a conference championship game to win a conference title... more than likely against a top-tier team.

Contrast that with the current, round-robin format where a favorable schedule and a surprise here or there could put a team like Northwestern or Purdue into position for at least a share of the Big Ten championship. Honestly, what is the harm in splitting a conference championship? It keeps hope in the hearts of teams who otherwise might not have much of a chance to take home a ring.