VeeshanVault

Zamtuk wrote:I have honestly never been as excited for one single game in my life like this. As far as I'm concerned, this is the championship game. Winner of this will roll through whoever they play, unless it is each other again.

Tuesday, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Ohio State @ Michigan, 1969 (Michigan wins, 24-12)

Tuesday, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Ohio State @ Michigan, 1987 (OSU wins, 23-20)

Wednesday, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Michigan @ Ohio State, 1974 (OSU wins, 12-10)

Wednesday, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Ohio State @ Michigan, 1995 (Michigan wins, 31-23)

Thursday, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Ohio State @ Michigan, 1997 (Michigan wins, 20-14)

Thursday, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Michigan @ Ohio State, 1996 (Michigan wins, 13-9)

Friday, 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM: Michigan @ Ohio State, 2002 (OSU wins, 14-9)

Friday, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Ohio State @ Michigan, 2003 (Michigan wins, 35-21)

Friday, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Michigan @ Ohio State, 1988 (Michigan wins, 34-31)

Friday, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM: Ohio State @ Michigan, 2005 (OSU wins, 25-21)

Sylvus wrote:(and yes, I'm getting a bit Winnowish on these Michigan threads. At least you'll only have to put up with it for 4 more days. And then maybe for a month leading up to the National Championship. Oh and possibly for a few weeks after we win the National Championship, if we should be so lucky. But I promise I won't be all Michigan Football Fanboy from February-August of 2007.)

One of our HR people wrote:As suggested by our staff,

And generously approved by our very own [name redacted],

And in honor of the momentous game between UofM and Ohio State on Saturday,

Friday, November 17th has been declared…

“College Colors Day”

Feel free to wear your favorite team’s colors…
and remember…verbal or physical violence against your coworkers is a policy violation, regardless of which team you support!

Thank you, and have fun! --[redacted]

Auburn at Alabama (1994) - Auburn Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama vs. Auburn (1982)

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Too much hype

In August, a movie came out called "Snakes on a Plane," which generated lots of publicity. The Internet was especially abuzz about this film, which involved Samuel L. Jackson on a plane with snakes.

There was a little more to it than that, of course. Jackson was a lawman escorting a government witness. Bad guys wanted the witness dead, so they unleashed deadly snakes into the cabin of a commercial jet. Passengers got scared. Some of them even got bit.

But the movie didn’t live up to the hype. Expected to be a summer blockbuster, it was largely ignored by audiences. "Snakes on a Plane" grossed just $34 million, only about $1 million more than it cost to make.

Will Ohio State-Michigan be college football’s "Snakes on a Plane"?

In terms of revenue, not by a longshot. Just about every college football fan in captivity will surely tune in to see No. 1 vs. No. 2, making it one of the most watched sports programs in many moons.

But can the game itself possibly live up to the hype?

Ohio State has what appears on the surface to be an explosive offense and a dominant defense. But after bagging a 24-7 victory at Texas on Sept. 9, the Buckeyes really haven’t played anybody. The Big Ten is a fine conference, but it’s down this season. Iowa stinks. Michigan State reeks. Penn State is achingly mediocre. And two weeks ago lowly Illinois threw a scare into Ohio State before losing, 17-10.

It’s really difficult to predict how the Buckeyes will do against a worthy opponent.

Then there’s the worthy opponent. Although Ohio State at least was willing to test itself with the Longhorns, the Wolverines chose Vanderbilt, Central Michigan and Ball State as its non-conference foes. And they struggled against Ball State just two weeks ago before finally holding on, 34-26.

This may be sacrilegious to say in this current environment of nonstop gushing, but maybe these teams are overrated.

If so, look for Ohio State-Michigan to be close. Look for it to be exciting, because any college football game with such high stakes and great traditions usually is.

But will this be the pinnacle of what college football is capable of offering in 2006? It’s doubtful. It’s more likely that people will walk away from their televisions shaking their heads in much the same way that they did walking out of "Snakes on a Plane," wondering what all the fuss was about.

So we play, or are, 60% of the top 5 and 40% of the top 10. Show me anyone else who comes close to that (and then tell me how many losses they have)

House Resolution 460 wrote:Now, therefore, be it


Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) congratulates The Ohio State University Buckeyes and the University of Michigan Wolverines on the 100th football game of their rivalry; and

(2) recognizes The Ohio State University Buckeyes and the University of Michigan Wolverines football game as the greatest sports rivalry in history.

Vijay wrote:Once in a Generation



I found myself earlier this year in the enviable position of trying to explain to a friend, a longtime sports fan but new to the world of college football, what was brewing in college football as Michigan rose up the charts and Ohio State held down #1. In late October, when Michigan had cleared the last of its daunting pre-Ohio State hurdles, I advised a friend to save the date, to make sure she had no potluck lunches, no car shopping with friends and no veterinary appointments scheduled for November 18th.

But why?

How do you explain to someone who didn't grow up on college football why Ohio State vs. Michigan as #1 vs. #2, isn't just the biggest game of the week or even the biggest game of the year but something that goes beyond that? How do you explain that this isn't just a good game that's worth watching? How do you explain that this is what college football is all about?

By using an analogy?

There's no regular season game in any sport that matches what this is. No sport with a playoff or a tournament invests this much in a regular season game. You will never get to Week 17 of the NFL or the 82nd game of the NBA season and find a game on the schedule where the winner is the title favorite and the loser goes home empty handed. Maybe in the old days of the penant-or-bust Major Leagues, but that was with a whole playoff series in front of them. And I'm not 70; I don't ever remember that MLB. The one I remember had 2 rounds of playoffs, now 3 with wildcards and weeks worth of games.

And no playoff game captures this excitement for the simple reason that playoffs are planned. It's only a matter of who, not if you will get this game. A regular season finale pitting #1 and #2 In one of the greatest rivalries sports has to offer? That isn't planned. That isn't even possible. That's a once in a generation event that people whisper about in September, but never really think will happen. This scenario (1 vs 2 in the last game of the regular season for both teams) has only happened twice before in the post WWII era. Twice. The World Series happens every year. The Super Bowl happens every year, Even the BCS championship game happens every year. Two hated rivals playing an unexpected de facto semifinal? This is the third time in 60 years.

How big is this? It's so big that the playoff advocates and the playoff opponents are both trying to lay claim to it, as one side says "this is why college football is perfect as it is" and the other side says "if we had playoffs we'd have games like this every year."

It's so big that crusty old Lloyd Carr admits it's big. Openly. To the press.

It's so big that I want to say that in some way this is college football. It is what college football is about.
Not Michigan. Not Ohio State. They are stand-ins. It could have been Oklahoma and Nebraska or Texas and Arkansas or Notre Dame and Southern Cal if schedules and wins and losses has worked out differently. It stumbled into Michigan and Ohio State.

But this is a sport that was practically invented at the college level. It's a sport that was played for 70 years before the advent of a widely discussed national title. This is a sport that for 70 years was played for the rivalries, where the rivalries were bigger than the records or the rankings, where 8-0 Chicago vs. 8-0 Nebraska would be second fiddle to 6-2 Harvard vs. 7-1 Yale.

For 70 years, the success or failure of your season was defined largely by how you fared against your rivals.
And as the national title has grown from a poll on the side to a topic of great interest and into a national obsession, there have been times when the rivalries have been lost. How can you blend the singular obsession with a rival that defined Bo vs. Woody with the chase for a national title that treats a rivalry game the same as any other? The two are incompatible. They are opposed and irreconcilable.

Except Saturday. Except in Columbus, where the best of both worlds collide.

A rivalry the likes of which would inspire Grantland Rice to verse.
A 1v2 showdown that tingles the spine of the playoff advocates.

In one moment, in one game, we've got everything that anyone could ask for in a college football game. And that's why this is so big.

Sports Illustrated wrote:COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Not even rock stars can get tickets for Saturday's Michigan-Ohio State game.

The band Nickelback was looking for four tickets to the game, but there wasn't any more room and the group has no known connection to the university, Ohio State spokesman Steve Snapp said this week.

Members of country group Rascal Flatts, Yankees shortshop Derek Jeter and former Buckeyes Eddie George and Cris Carter are among those have reserved sideline passes, Snapp said.

Game tickets are so coveted that one Columbus ticket broker said they're fetching between $550 and $1,500 apiece.

Two of the three members of Rascal Flatts grew up in Columbus. Their publicist said Wednesday that they haven't decided whether they can attend.

Jeter, who grew up in Kalamazoo, Mich., and got a baseball scholarship to Michigan, will be on the Wolverines' side of the field.

Jack Nicklaus, a former Ohio State golfer originally from suburban Upper Arlington, also will be at the game, said his spokesman, Scott Tolley. Nicklaus dotted the 'i' in the Ohio State marching band's signature maneuver, Script Ohio, during the Oct. 28 game against Minnesota.

Carter said he's coming to the game with his family. Not counting the games he played in, "I have never been to an Ohio State-Michigan game," Carter said.

The former Minnesota Vikings receiver, who now co-hosts "Inside the NFL" on HBO, will be in the Ohio State locker room before the game.

Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George will host a party at his Eddie George's Grille 27 near campus after the game. Other athletes and celebrities are scheduled to appear, said general manager Mike Duganier, who declined to give names.

Snapp said the university accommodates celebrities if it can but doesn't think they draw any more attention to the showdown in which the winner will play for the national championship.

"This game stands on its own," he said. "It doesn't need any help."

Sylvus wrote:Hey, you don't hear me bitching about having my taxes go to Federal Aid for rebuilding your house, which you were dumb enough to put in a swamp in Hurricane Alley in the first place, every couple years. I think you should just let that couple thousand slide!

And it's funny how you keep saying this is the first time this has ever meant anything. Every year, one of these two teams is in the top 10, and multiple years both have been. A more accurate statement would be that this is the third time that any regular season game has been this big, between any teams. I'll take that one.

Sueven wrote:Just to point it out: Despite how much you like to revel in the adulation you get from ESPN, they've got two articles up right now, one of which proclaims Auburn/Alabama to be the greatest rivalry, and the other of which advocates for Army/Navy.

Just so you know that intelligent people who get paid large sums of money to do nothing but write about sports disagree with you.

1) Which is the best rivalry in college football?


49.5% Florida vs. Georgia

20.9% Oklahoma vs. Texas

20.7% Michigan vs. Ohio State

3.7% Alabama vs. Auburn

1.9% Army vs. Navy

1.4% Notre Dame vs. USC

0.8% Florida State vs. Miami

0.5% Harvard vs. Yale

0.3% Grambling vs. Southern

0.3% Lafayette vs. Lehigh


Total Votes: 119,188

1) Which is the best rivalry in college football?


42.7% Florida vs. Georgia

31.4% Michigan vs. Ohio State

18.1% Oklahoma vs. Texas

3.3% Alabama vs. Auburn

1.6% Army vs. Navy

1.3% Notre Dame vs. USC

0.7% Florida State vs. Miami

0.5% Harvard vs. Yale

0.2% Grambling vs. Southern

0.2% Lafayette vs. Lehigh


Total Votes: 138,209

Sueven wrote:Just so you know that intelligent people who get paid large sums of money to do nothing but write about sports disagree with you.

1) Which is the best stadium in college football?


40.3% Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (Florida)

37.8% Kyle Field (Texas A&M)

20.1% Tiger Stadium (LSU)

1.0% Ohio Stadium (Ohio State)

0.2% Neyland Stadium (Tennessee)

0.2% Michigan Stadium

0.1% Rose Bowl

0.1% Notre Dame Stadium

0.1% Michie Stadium (Army)

0.1% Orange Bowl

masteen wrote:I haven't posted here lately because my friend reminded me that it's been so long since this game was worth a shit, he figures y'all deserve to have your little circle jerk. Enjoy your manchowder, fags!

Boogahz wrote:Yeah, their polling mechanism is a bit...."off." Feel free to vote as many times as you want. Each time you do, you will see the counter go up.

Sylvus wrote:ABC, 3:30pm ET

Bo Schembechler collapsed taping Big 10 ticket this morning and was rushed to the hospital. I've heard unconfirmed reports that he may have passed away. I'm really hoping that that isn't true.

Pherr the Dorf wrote:He died