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Home > Blogs > RedHawk rumblings | Miami University sports news > Archives > 2008 > September > 02 > Entry
How much longer will RedHawks, Wolverines clash?
By Pete Conrad
Don’t be surprised if this is the end of the line for the Miami RedHawks and Michigan Wolverines facing each other on the football field, at least for the foreseeable future.
There are no current plans for the RedHawks and Wolverines to play beyond Saturday’s contest in Ann Arbor, and key people in the Miami athletic department — Director of Athletics Brad Bates and football head coach Shane Montgomery, to be exact — have made it clear that they do not like what is called a “money game” in which Team A, which is from a very big conference, gives gobs of money to to Team B, which is from a smaller conference, to play a single game, always at Team A’s home site.
“One for none and you’re done,” is the way Montgomery puts it.
In essence, Team B is being paid to be cannon fodder for Team A. Sometimes the cannon is the one that gets blown to bits, as Miami has shown in the past at places like LSU. But it doesn’t happen very often.
One exception. Bates and Montgomery are quick to point out that Miami playing at Ohio State is a very good thing. Cannon fodder or not, this is a game that’s in the RedHawks’ best interests to play, even if it’s always at Ohio Stadium. (Can you imagine the Buckeyes agreeing to come to Oxford? Don’t think so.) It’s good for the fans, good for recruiting. The next RedHawk-Buckeye match-up, by the way, is scheduled for 2112.
And Miami will continue to play other Big Ten Conference opponents because the Mid-American Conference wants it that way.
“The MAC has made a big push to face Big Ten teams,” Montgomery said Monday, Sept. 2 at his weekly press conference. “You’ve seen more MAC teams playing Big Ten teams because of the 12-game schedule.”
The question is, which teams will wind up on Miami’s future schedules?
What Montgomery would like to see is more Big Ten teams agreeing to play home-and-home series with the RedHawks.
Of course, that cuts way down on the field of possible candidates.
Michigan? Nope.
Penn State? Iowa? Michigan State? Minnesota? Illinois? Wisconsin? Probably not.
Iowa? Well, the Hawkeyes and RedHawks did get together in a 2-for-1 deal which brought Iowa to Oxford. But that deal was agreed upon before Iowa became a national power.
The most likely candidate would be Northwestern, which also has played in Oxford, and which has a strong history with Miami, having played the RedHawks seven times.
Another possibility would be Indiana, which has many strong personal ties to Oxford, and which also has a history (14 games) with Miami football.
An intriguing candidate would be is Purdue, which has played Miami 13 times. Of course, the Boilermakers still might be mad about 1962. Purdue was a Top 10 team that year and lost 10-7 to the Redskins of coach John Pont and Ernie Kellerman and Tom Nomina and Bob Jencks.
Anyway, it’s unlikely Michigan will agree to come to Oxford. Bo wouldn’t do it. The late coach Schembechler had too little to gain and too much to lose and was too smart not to realize it.
So if you want to see the RedHawks in action against the Wolverines, this might be your last chance for a long while.
Unless you’re a hockey fan.
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