Ad Disclosure
Three B1G Things: Rich Rod talks picking UM over Bama, Nebraska’s virtual Red-White Game & CFB in the spring
Published:
Three B1G Things is a daily weekday update on some of the most unique and interesting stories from across the B1G. It ranges from recruiting to coach press conferences, funny anecdotes to serious situations. We provide our commentary, analysis and opinions on a few topics every day.
Rich Rodriguez looks back on decision to pick UM over Bama
We’re more than a decade removed from Rich Rodriguez’s decision to take the Michigan job rather than the one at Alabama in 2008, but it’s still one of the greatest “what if” questions in college football. If Rodriguez had picked the Crimson Tide, there would be no Nick Saban and those five national championships might only exist in the NCAA Football 2014 video game.
In an interview with ESPN’s Chris Low, Rodriguez admitted that Alabama was probably the better fit than Michigan.
“We all have things in our lives that we would do differently if we had that opportunity,” Rodriguez told ESPN’s Chris Low. “And, sure, hindsight is always 20-20, but Alabama would have been a better fit for me than Michigan.
“But it all happened, and you live and learn.”
Michigan was 15-22 under Rodriguez in three seasons, winning just six B1G games in that span. It was one of the lowest points in the program’s history. Meanwhile, Alabama has been running college football for more than a decade. And it’s all because Rodriguez decided to leave West Virginia for the B1G rather than the SEC.
Nebraska going virtual with its spring game
Saturday would have been Nebraska’s annual Red-White Spring Game, the premier event in Lincoln in April. Instead, COVID-19 interrupted those plans, forcing everyone to put sports on the back burner. Nebraska came up with a solution, though.
Football will be happening on Saturday for the Huskers, but it will be a virtual game. Nebraska revealed on Monday that it plans to have a video game simulation of the Red-White Game, creating rosters full of legends who played their college football in Lincoln. The event will stream on Nebraska football’s Facebook, Twitter and Twitch accounts.
It’s obviously not as good as a live spring game, but its still a unique idea that will try to fill the void for Husker fans. If you want to look at the positives, nobody will have to worry about any injuries with this kind of spring game.
ESPN’s Chris Fowler says football in the spring is gaining momentum
Chris Fowler has been involved with college football at ESPN for decades now, so he probably has a strong grasp of what’s being discussed among the decision-makers of the sport. In a recent Instagram Live video, the play-by-play voice of ABC’s Game of the Week said that the option to hold the season in the spring is gaining momentum.
It’s still a little premature to uproot the entire season and plant it in the spring months, but it’s an idea that has to be considered. It still doesn’t seem like a very good option, at least in my opinion.
Not only would it conflict with several other college sports, it would interfere with the NFL Draft process and provide a limited timeline for players to prepare for the 2021 college football season. The decision-makers will obviously make that call if they’re forced to move the season, but it’s just an incredibly bad idea — but that’s just one man’s opinion.
Hopefully, it doesn’t come to that.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB