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It has been posted that a MAC-Big 10 scheduling agreement for 2006-2009 is close to finalization. With 12 regular season games to be allowed beginning in 2006, teams are scrambling to find opponents for the 12th game. MAC Commisionner Chryst has said that he hopes some of these new MAC-Big 10 games will be home games for the MAC.

These "home" games could be either at MAC stadiums or at NFL sites like Ford Field.

Now, as BG fans what Big 10 teams would you like to see the Falcons play, especially for a "home" game?

If it is at the Doyt, the most important thing is to have a Big 10 team that would be a sell out. I'm not sure if Indiana, Illinois, or Northwestern would do that. Maybe Minnesota. Wisconsin is probably out since we already have them on our schedule in the next few years. Michigan and Ohio St. wouldn't come, and I doubt that Penn St. or Michigan St. would. If we're talking about a game at the Doyt, my first choice would be Iowa.

I'm wondering since we are reducing our seating capacity at the Doyt if it wouldn't be better to have our "home" game at Ford Field or the Browns stadium. If that were the case, I think my first choice would be BG-Michigan St. at Ford Field. I think this certainly would be a sell out.

Also, what about the away games? My top choices would be Michigan St. again, Penn St., and Ohio St. (I know we're scheduled to play them in 2010). Purdue would be OK but only if we can get them to do a 2 and 1.

Who and where would be your choices?

I'm sure Purdue at the Doyt would sell out. I'm really not for playing in the pro stadiums because we need to make the Doyt the place to be on game day, and selling out games such as this would go a long ways in accomplishing that.

Although if we have to play in a pro stadium I'd always make it in Cleveland. BG has more alumni in the Cleveland area then anywhere else in the state.

I don't want Iowa. Mainly because that is a team that I'm not sure we can beat. MSU, PSU, MIN, etc, sure, but Iowa is TOUGH. Ferentz is probably among the top 5 coaches in the NCAA. More importantly he is an OL guru, and I just think we'd get pounded into submission that way.

In short, I want to bring in the Big10 teams that we can beat. Take away OSU & UM since there is no way they'd play here, and that leaves basically every Big10 team outside of Iowa.

I'd like to take on Michigan State. Beating them could have a real impact on recruiting as they're getting a few of those high **/low *** recruits in Ohio that we need to get to move up to the next level.

Flipper wrote:I'd like to take on Michigan State. Beating them could have a real impact on recruiting as they're getting a few of those high **/low *** recruits in Ohio that we need to get to move up to the next level.

Good call! I went to law school in Lansing. I'd even come up north to see that one. Of course I will root for the Falcons, but I would love to go back to either BG or Lansing!!!

Michigan, Iowa, or Ohio St. I think they are probably the best Big 10 schools so why not go for the top? If we lose, we would atleast put up a good game.

Metz wrote:Michigan, Iowa, or Ohio St. I think they are probably the best Big 10 schools so why not go for the top? If we lose, we would atleast put up a good game.

I think my fear of Iowa is that it is a risk/reward thing. I think game in/game out Iowa is the most well coached and best prepared team in the Big10. They almost always show up ready to play, and it would definitely be among the toughest tests we could take in the Big10.

At the same time, it doesn't have the same national recognition of beating an OSU or UM. They are starting to show up on the national radar a little more lately, but they still don't carry the same weight as the traditional national powers.

My thinking is that to a typical college fan throughout the country beating Iowa is not much better than beating Purdue or Michigan State. However, on the field it would be a much more difficult task than either of those two teams. Conversely if you beat somebody like OSU or UM its going to be a huge story on ESPN and across the national college football landscape. If we were to beat OSU it would be an absolutely HUGE story because they haven't lost to another Ohio team in so long. I just don't think Iowa is going to offer up that level of reward for a similarly daunting task of beating them.

Its hard to tell which Big Ten team you want to play year-to-year. If you would have given me my pick of teams to play a couple years ago it wouldn't have been Wisconsin. This year, I like having them on the schedule.

Each year, teams like Northwestern and Indiana and most recently Penn State and Illinois, I think BG can play with on a consistent basis. I think some other MAC schools can as well.

However, teams like OSU, Michigan and Iowa would be hard for a MAC school to go in to their place and win. Those are probably the most consistent programs in the conference in the last decade. You might argue Wisconsin as well.

Then, you have the other schools (Michigan State, Wisconsin, Purdue, Minnesota) that seem to have a good run for a few years and then drop off significantly. The better MAC schools can certainly play with these teams during one of their down periods.

Given that schedules are made up years in advance, its hard to judge what kind of team you are going to be playing from year-to-year.

Having said that, you know going into OSU or Michigan is going to be a tough game every year.

Bring on Ohio State...I would love to see BG get at least one "home" game against Ohio State. Even on a semi neutral field would be great.

I want Ohio State and Michigan. Beating up the middle to bottom of the big ten is no longer big news. A win over Michigan or Ohio State would be the biggest win in MAC history. 1 game could give our program more recognition than the past 3 glorious years.

Plus if we were to lose, it is never an embarassment to lose to those two programs.

even so, I'm still hurting about losing to OSU. They were ripe for the picking and we had our chances. That would've been humongoid for the program. Now I fear we may never get another shot since they've seen we are capable of beating them.

All of them. No seriously........all of them. None of the teams in the Big11 scare me. BG has proven over the last couple of years that they can play with anyone and everyone in the nation, including the Big 11. Sure there are games that have more meaning for certain fans and players, but I think BG could beat anyone of the Big11's teams. So why discriminate?

Jacobs4Heisman wrote:I want Ohio State and Michigan. Beating up the middle to bottom of the big ten is no longer big news. A win over Michigan or Ohio State would be the biggest win in MAC history. 1 game could give our program more recognition than the past 3 glorious years.

Plus if we were to lose, it is never an embarassment to lose to those two programs.

even so, I'm still hurting about losing to OSU. They were ripe for the picking and we had our chances. That would've been humongoid for the program. Now I fear we may never get another shot since they've seen we are capable of beating them.

J4H,
Tell me about it. I lament that loss to OSU in 2003 on a weekly basis. We HAD them...but we didn't get it done. We get another chance at them in 2010.

Bring on any Big 10 with the kahunas to play us on our turf. Browns Stadium is nice but how about the Doyt???

Yep, I am with everyone else who wants to play any school. There are only positives to be gained. If we lose nobody remembers, if we get blown out, still probably nobody remembers. If we were to beat OSU or michigan it would be historic. Plus these games land us tons of money. I was just talking to an OSU fan last night at the bar and he admitted that game in 2003 was mighty close.

i want to see us play Purdue again, IU would be nice also

Beggars can't be choosers. I'd take any one of them.