My (slightly) crackpot theory on the future of the Ohio State-Michigan football game

I have attended the Ohio State-Michigan football game every year since 2002, my freshman year at Ohio State. Well, I missed the game in 2003 and the 2020 game got cancelled…but other than that, I’ve been to everyone. That’s 20 years of The Game.

That means I also attended this year’s game in which That Team Up North put the hurt on my alma mater. Give credit where credit is due. Much was riding on the game as both teams were 11-0 and the winner was set for a bid to the Big 10 championship game the following week and the College Football Playoff several weeks later. The loser had an undetermined future, one that likely included a meaningless Rose Bowl against the Pac-12 champion.

As Michigan was the victor that day and went on to play a lackluster, uninteresting game against the Big Ten West Division champion Purdue Boilermakers, winning by 21 points. Nobody cared about that game.

Here’s where the crackpot theory begins.

In 2024, two Pac-12 teams plan to join the big ten: USC and UCLA. At this point, the Big Ten conference plans to do away with divisions and pit the top two teams of the 16-team conference against each other for the Big Ten championship. If we take this scenario and apply it to this year, Ohio State and Michigan would have played each other again. A rematch of The Game, a mere seven days after the annual rivalry game. Can you believe that?

It would have been exciting, no doubt.

But take it one step further.

Also in 2024, the College Football Playoff is expanding from four to 12 teams. Major conference champions will get automatic bids and the other at-large bids will be determined by committee.

Let’s imagine that scenario this year. Ohio State loses to Michigan in the last regular season game of the year. Let’s say, for argument purposes, that Ohio State plays Michigan in the championship and loses again. Michigan is 13-0 and a major conference champion. Ohio State is 11-2, having played in its conference championship game, and only losing to an undefeated conference champion.

Do you think the College Football Playoff committee will keep Ohio State out of the playoff? Not a chance. Ohio State is in.

You then have a scenario where Michigan is ranked highly and Ohio State is ranked toward the bottom of the CFP rankings. Based on the way the bye weeks and seeding are planned to work, it is very possible that there would be an Ohio State-Michigan game rematch in the playoff.

Yes, that could mean that Ohio State and Michigan could play three times in one season.

Would that be exciting? Perhaps. For most? Probably not. It’s simply too much. And when you lose interest of television viewers…call it “fan fatigue”…you lose advertising revenue. And when you lose advertising revenue, you make changes.

Since televising college football became a big deal in the late 1970s and much more so in the 1980s because of ESPN’s expansion, it’s been all about the benjamins. The NCAA, Ohio State, Michigan, Big Ten and others are going to want to pull in as much money as they can from this thing.

So the schools and conference and NCAA get together and face a conundrum: fan fatigue of the greatest rivalry in sports. How can it be fixed?

Enter (slightly) crackpot theory:

They move the Ohio State-Michigan game, The Game, to the first game of the season.

Yes. That’s exactly what they do.

Read me out: Playing that game at the beginning of the season gives Fox, ESPN, whoever all summer to promote that “Big Noon” kickoff and College GameDay. That’s a lot of time to hype. Then, let’s say Ohio State beats Michigan in that first game. With Michigan still being a good team, they have the chance to recover from the loss and still go 11-1 by the end of the regular season, putting them in position to play in the Big Ten championship.

Hype alert! That’s three more months that Fox, ESPN and the others can hype The Game. Let’s say Michigan wins the Big Ten championship. Ohio State is 12-1. Michigan is 12-1. They both go to the playoff. Another potential rematch! Four more weeks of hype! It’s Ohio-State Michigan hype that goes from June - December, rather than just December through December. The more time you have to promote, the more people you’re going to pull in. The more people you pull in, the more money you make.

That, my friends, is how you make money. Build up the drama. Separate the games for maximum hype. Make it rain.

In the end, if you think about it, it’s not so crackpot, is it?

See you in September for a future Ohio State-Michigan game.