Adherents of "The Movement" know that, for the last three months, I have been spearheading (if you could call it that) the drive (if you could call it that) for Georgia and Michigan to meet on the gridiron in a home and home series.
One of the objections to such a series is that Georgia needs an extra home game to make up for its neutral site series with Florida. Although this is a legitimate point, I countered this argument by pointing out that the Gators have done a better job than the Bulldogs when it comes to scheduling non-conference road games outside the South, as have other teams with neutral site series, such as Texas and even (gasp!) Auburn.
Now along comes Every Day Should Be Saturday's Orson Swindle, a University of Florida alumnus who has written an open letter to Jeremy Foley suggesting that the Gators take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in 2009.
Naturally, this has gotten the whole cross-sectional out-of-conference discussion going again, which is a good thing. The idea of the Georgia-Michigan series even came up in conversation . . . and was brought up by someone other than me.
The point is that fan attitudes are changing, thanks in no small part to the gutsy decision of Texas and Ohio State to schedule a home and home series with one another in 2005 and 2006.
The fact that the Longhorns and the Buckeyes both benefited from that high-profile contest has gotten the audience's attention and, eventually, it will sway the decisionmakers, as well. There is too much money to be made, and too much influence to be exerted by the likes of E.S.P.N., for major programs to continue to eschew non-traditional cross-sectional out-of-conference showdowns with other elite teams.
In other words, keep the faith and keep fighting the good fight. Sooner or later, we can make this happen.
Go 'Dawgs!