My anger of this issue led me to the thought that Gene Smith really needs a better publicist and as I thought that four words popped into my head. I realized Gene doesn't need a publicist he just needs to go public with four little words and all would be forgiven.
Ohio State - Michigan: Same Division!
Gene needs to be seen leading the fight to make this happen and we wouldn't care about the past as the future would be bright. Here's my open letter to Gene:
Do you remember when you said you felt very strongly that Ohio State's self accessed penalties were appropriate and if the NCAA felt different you would fight them? Do you remember when you caved when the NCAA made their announcement? Of course you do.
How about when Jim Delany came out and said Ohio State / Michigan were going to be moved into separate divisions and The Game would be moved. You abdicated before the fight even occurred. We forced you to keep The Game where it was.
Despite all evidence to the contrary I know you aren't stupid. I'm sure there is a lot more to these stories than can be said in the public. The issue is you've lost all credibility with Buckeye Nation but the good news is you have a great opportunity to get it back by publicly standing up to Jim Delany and saying four little words.
Ohio State - Michigan : Same Divsion!
Let's look at other rivalries and see how they've fared lately:
Alabama-Auburn: Same division - No change
USC - UCLA: Same division - No change
Oregon - Oregon State: Same division - No change
Texas - Oklahoma: Same divisison - No change
Oklahoma - Nebraska: Different divisions - Nebraska left the league
Miami - Florida St: Different divisions - Fl St is thinking of leaving the ACC
I know you guys dream of an OSU-UM rematch championship game but as Stanford-UCLA and Alabama-LSU proved in the last year, the public isn't very interested in rematches. What is also apparent is a B1G championship game without either Ohio State or Michigan is a ratings disaster and poorly attended. Do you know how to make it more likely one of them is in the game? Put them in the same division!
You can have expansion and hold on to your traditions. Buckeye Nation doesn't care what teams are in their division as long as one of them is Michigan. We'd gladly sacrifice a yearly matchup with Penn State to make this happen though I'm not sure why you'd want to do that. I'd think sending your top three media draws into the 1st and 4th media markets every year would make a lot of sense.
OSU/UM/PSU/MD/Rutgers: That's 5 teams for the EAST division. Fill in the rest with whomever else you'd like. We don't care.
Decisions are being made right now determine the divisional lineup and who knows if there is going to be another chance to fix this. We need to know our athletic director understands what is important. Ohio State and Michigan made this league and our athletic director needs to say it loud and proud.
Win us back Gene! All you have to do is publicly announce is that you are going to Chicago to make our case. Use every bit of political power that being the leader of the most popular (and hated) football team in America can wield. Just make it happen.
Ohio State - Michigan : Same Division!
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