I have been in favor of one pre-season game for college football for many years. With the importance of every game and back in the day when Michigan opened it's season against Notre Dame, Yes, Notre Dame. It always seemed like the right thing to do.
Could you imagine a freshman QB starting their year against ND? I can't. That's why I always thought Michigan should invite one of the state schools (like Eastern, Western, Central, that was not on the regular schedule) to Michigan Stadium to play a pre-season game. It could be a D1A team or even a D2 team. You could charge $5 or $10 a ticket and I bet the fans would flock to the stadium in mid to late August to get a peek at the new Wolverines.
What's strange is, I have never heard a coach mention the a pre-season until this year, Coach Rod said the following on Monday:
“If there was one rule to change in Division I college football, they would allow you to have a exhibition or preseason game against somebody else,” he said last week. “There doesn’t have to be any crowd or fans there, just so you have an idea of what it’s like to go against somebody else so you can judge yourself a little better.”
“We’re the only level (without,)” he said. “The NFL has four preseason games, and they’re pros, even on smaller college, when I was in Division II, you could have a scrimmage game. In high school, obviously you have them. In Division I, you can’t have them and it’s kind of silly.
“All these (regular-season) games are so important and I wish we could have a scrimmage so we could have a judge on where we’re at.”
I really don't see the down side to having 1 pre-season game. It would help the hosting athletic departments budget, it would help the smaller schools budget and it would allow the team to practice "against" live bullets. How about a Michigan vs Grand Valley State game? Do you think that would get some interest? Do you think it would be good for Tate and Denard to run the offense against another team?
I'm sure the defectors would list a few issues:
- Injuries (you can get injured in practice)
- It would be like playing a 13th game and they just added the 12th (so it's not like they are in school right now)
- I guess it could be costly if the team had to travel. (Play only local teams and I'm sure Michigan could pick up GVSU's T &E)
- I can't think of any other negatives to doing it. Can you?
For U of M, Eastern would be a great candidate on years they are not on the schedule. What about Central whose head coach used to work for RR?
Everyone loves college football because each game is so important. If that is the case, why not prepare your team the correct way and get your freshman some live experience.
1 comment:
Every year Michigan plays a team in the first week that should act as a scrimmage game. If we cannot utilize week one against Western as a preseason game then the Big 10 has fallen off the map. Also playing a team like GVSU although would be very exciting for a D2 program I highly doubt it would be bennificial to either team. Look at it this way, you talk about high school pre season scrimmage and the NFL's preseason. Those scrimmiages are against teams they will play against in the regular season or at least the same caliber team. There is no sense in playing a team that does not have the same level of talent. The point to a preseason game would be to play against someone who can give you the same look as you would get all season long.
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