INDIANAPOLIS – "How would you feel about opening the season at Michigan?"
Ohio State coach Ryan Day took that loaded question with a smile at Lucas Oil Stadium at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday.
"I'm just going to worry about beating Indiana right now," Day said before acknowledging what an opener against Michigan might be like in the future. "That would be crazy."
Is it that crazy to think about in 2023? Day took a line of questioning about the timing of The Game – college football's best rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan – and whether it should be shifted when the Big Ten moves to a 16-team, no-division format in 2024.
The Buckeyes' lone protected rival is the Wolverines – but now the possibility to play multiple times each year has multiplied exponentially given those two schools have combined to win the last six Big Ten championships. Michigan has 44 Big Ten championships. Ohio State has 39. Minnesota is third with 18.
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"I do think we should consider when we play it just because you may end up playing back-to-back weeks; which would be awkward," Day said. "We need to consider the tradition, but I think it's a conversation of when. I think that's significant just based on how the season plays out."
To be clear, Day does not want to move The Game yet. He just wants to be involved in that conversation in the future. New Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti can have that with the coaches and administrators. Then, they all can look at the television numbers from last year's game – which drew more than 17 million viewers last season – and come to the most logical conclusion.
Leave The Game at the end of the regular season until the Doomsday scenario for both schools pans out, then re-evaluate after it happens.
It's not really a Doomsday scenario. With the new Big Ten format, Michigan and Ohio State theoretically could meet in the regular-season finale then play again in the Big Ten championship game a week later. There also is a chance they could play a third time in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
How does that change The Game?
"It's worth a long discussion about where that game should be played," Day said. "I think if it was the same way as it was this past year; we'd be playing back-to-back games and who knows we would maybe be playing again in the playoff. I think that that needs to be taken into consideration. Not that we should move it, but it's worth talking about."
Day's concerns are valid. Rematches and potential three-matches might become part of The Game's tapestry.
There were two legitimate chances for a rematch since the BCS era. The Wolverines and Buckeyes nearly met in after their No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in 2006, but Florida played Ohio State in the BCS championship game instead. Michigan and Ohio State both made the College Football Playoff last season, but a national championship rematch was denied by TCU and Georgia in their respective semifinals.
Still, with the changes within the Big Ten and playoff expansion, a rematch seems inevitable. Could both sides handle two games a week apart?
"As things expand, you better be ready for that," former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel told Sporting News last November. "It would be different. I always enjoyed the 364 days to get ready for it, but if it's all of a sudden that goes down to six days, that would take some adjusting."
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So, what happens when the Wolverines and Buckeyes meet in the Big Ten championship game for the first time?
"If both teams are in the Big Ten championship game already, could it minimize The Game?" Day asked. "That's my concern. Even if you played like in Week 11 or Week 10, no matter what it's going to matter, but if you know you're playing in them in the Big Ten championship game already, that could be something we've never experienced before."
Wait until that experience happens before moving the best Big Ten tradition. There is precedent. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State moved Bedlam off the last week of the regular season in 2017, one year after the Big 12 re-instituted a conference championship game. The Sooners and Cowboys never met in that game, and Oklahoma is leaving for the SEC after the 2023 season. That rivalry will be played online instead of on the field now.
The North Carolina-Duke basketball comparison also comes up. The Tar Heels and Blue Devils meet twice in the regular season – including the finale. The possibility to meet in the ACC tournament and NCAA tournament exists afterward.
In 2021, the Tar Heels ruined Mike Krzyzewski's final home game in the regular-season finale then beat the Blue Devils in the schools' first ever Final Four matchup. Granted, that's basketball, but that rivalry presses on.
That's why the Big Ten can afford to wait until Michigan and Ohio State meet in the Big Ten championship game for the first time to find out. There are so many variables that will play out with a 16-team league that is bringing in USC and UCLA, and Day and Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh likely will be the first ones to go through a rematch – and everything that comes with it.
If that happens, and those scenarios do, in fact, turns down the temperature of The Game – then that date can be revisited in the future.
In the present tense, Michigan and Ohio State have one last year in the East Division, both teams are in the top five and the Buckeyes are looking to break a two-game losing streak to the Wolverines. The Game remains as healthy as ever because it is no longer one sided.
Besides, that first Big Ten championship game between the schools is going to be awesome no matter what.
"We're getting way ahead of ourselves right now," Day said. "You want to be in the top four so you have a bye in that first week. It would matter, but just not the way you and I know The Game. It's going to be a new experience, that's for sure."
