Progrums

Rivalry Week in October? OSU vs. Michigan’s New Fate

The Game between Ohio State and Michigan is a time-honored Thanksgiving weekend clash, but with college football playoff expansion looming—possibly to 24 teams—there’s talk of shifting the matchup to October. Proponents like The Athletic’s Austin Meek point to the NFL’s late-season scheduling model, but critics say it robs “The Game” of its climactic weight. Players like QB Julian Sayin and WR Jeremiah Smith, who thrives on big-stage moments, would lose a crown-jewel opportunity, and coaches like Ryan Day would miss the season-ender’s drama. Even if the stakes remain high, moving the game earlier forces fans to judge the season by one instant rather than the full arc of fall rivalries. Tradition buffs argue that November’s finale is sacred, a narrative peak before the postseason, and tinkering could irreparably damage college football’s pageantry.

This is what happens when you mix expansion dreams with sacred pigskin Sundays: someone decides that tradition is just another stat to move around. Imagine telling Jeremiah Smith that his season-defining moment is now a midterm exam rather than a final—welcome to Academe of Pigskin, where every game is Pop Quiz Special. Who needs a season of build-up when you can have Early Bird Special rivalries? NFL logic is great for carting around hot dogs on concrete slabs, but college fans know the late-November goosebumps aren’t on the menu until turkey day. Doctors may call it sacrilege, but the real heartbreak happens when playoff execs start swapping football’s sacred scrolls for spreadsheets. Pass the cranberry sauce; the real disaster is believing an October armchair quarterback mastermind knows better than 116 years of tradition.