All Of Big 10 Should Ban The Irish
By: Mike Stone
With today's announcement that Notre Dame will end their series with Michigan after the 2014, the rest of the Big 10 should tell Notre Dame to take a hike. Now that the Irish is a member of the ACC in all sports but football and hockey, the rest of the Big 10 should show some backbone and not play them in anything.
For years whether they admit it or not, the Big 10 wanted Notre Dame to join the conference. It made perfect sense in athletics, academics, and geography. Notre Dame wanted nothing to do with the idea, so they went for the next best thing, a non football ACC membership with the stipulation of having to play five ACC teams a season in football. So with five games etched in stone, the Irish decide they no longer want to play Michigan. That is their right and I am sure dropping MSU from the schedule in 2016-2019 won't be far behind, (They are not scheduled to play in 2014-15 and 2018-19). Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis should get the ball rolling and drop them first. Notre Dame can take their tradition, arrogance, and NBC affiliation all the way to tobacco road, the hell with them.
What this means is that Michigan should try to and schedule a compelling national match up to replace Notre Dame each and every year. I know fans would love to see them play the likes of Texas, Oklahoma, USC, Georgia etc in a home and home series. Michigan State is already scheduled to do a home and home with Alabama in 2016-17. For me the ideal schedule for both Michigan and MSU is to play two of EMU, CMU, or WMU every year, one decent team from a good conference like Ole Miss or Texas Tech for example and then have one marquis game like Texas, Stanford, or Auburn. This way you have two easy games with local ties, one decent team from a big conference and one real good team. That way we can say good riddance to Notre Dame and feel good about it.
