Sorry I’m late on this one. My day job (you know, the one that pays the bills) got really busy this week and is sending me off to an undisclosed location (lest I divulge who I am visiting) to pitch some new business. Plus I was out of town in Louisville visiting friends and, well, it’s just tough to keep the words on the screen straight when you’re mildly hungover.
Anyway, last week MSU announced an agreement that would have State playing Western, Eastern and Central Michigan Universities 12 times over the course of the next 10 years. It’s a 3-for-1 agreement, meaning that MSU hosts each team for three games and will visit each school once.
It seems like the move has mostly been praised. Some like it because it keeps revenue in the state and is a fiscally sound decision. Others like it because it means we’re not playing FCS schools.
The biggest downside that seems to be concerning Spartan fans is that MSU will now be playing at Central Michigan in 2012, at Wester in 2015 and at Eastern in either 2018 or 2020. The concern is that by playing away games against these schools, there is more of a chance for an upset against the Michigan Directionals.
We don’t have anything to worry about, and I’ll tell you why. First, I think everyone realizes that Coach D has this program on the right track. He’s improved the recruiting, he’s improved the discipline, and he’s been able to retain a coaching staff that wins games. He says that he’s in it for the long haul, although some of us have the concern that might change should Sweater Vest decide to leave Ohio State right when Dantonio is at his peak at MSU. Regardless, he has this program moving up. Point being, that if MSU can’t go on the road to deliver a Big Ten beating on the Directionals, then we have more serious problems than the scheduling.
Second, this moves us a step closer to what Michigan and Penn State have been able to do the last few years, and that is play eight home games. From MSU athletic director Mark Hollis:
The series…provides an opportunity for Michigan State fans to celebrate Spartan football at locations across our state (Mount Pleasant, Kalamazoo and Ypsilanti) while maintaining a seven-game home schedule at Spartan Stadium.
Unless I’m reading this wrong (and hey, maybe I am) Hollis is saying that we will still play seven true home games as well as a nearby away game in the years that we travel to each school. So while it’s not exactly eight home games (a la Michigan), it’s obviously going to be a much more sympathetic crowd than, say, at Cal last year.
Let’s look at our non-conference away games that didn’t include Notre Dame the past few seasons:
- 2008 – at Cal
- 2006 – at Pitt
- 2004 – at Rutgers, at Hawaii
Now I’m not saying that the Directionals are better than Cal in 2008 or Hawaii in 2004. But Pitt went 6-6 in 2006, and Rutgers went 4-7 in 2004. So while the scheduling might be taking a small step backwards in terms of difficulty, it’s not like we’re completely going creampuff here compared to the teams we have been playing on the road in the non-conference.
Sure, I like to see State play good teams. Even more, I like to see State play well against good teams. But at the end of the day, I just want to see State play. And three away games against the Directionals are games that I can go to, and that a lot of MSU fans can go to (especially if they don’t live as close to the East Lansing area). All around, I don’t see many negatives on this one.
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