Scheduling By Elimination

Buried in a Freep article fluffily entitled "U-M QB Denard Robinson must play catch-up" is a little nugget of scheduling gold, and an awesome quote.  First, the schedule becomes clearer:

The coach expanded a bit on the game to be added for next season's opener, saying it may not be returned by Michigan for a couple of years, one of the criteria of making it work. He also ruled out playing a Pac-10 school, saying U-M doesn't need to do that. That leaves Virginia and Pittsburgh as primary BCS school candidates with an open date early next year.

Well, the internets seem to think that Oklahoma State could still be a possibility, but yeah, no Pac-10 school, which: Woo!  Nothing against that fine conference, but it's long been my theory that trips west of Missouri early in the season = DEATH for Big Ten schools.  Oregon State was the primary contender from the Pac-10.  That leaves the following list of baselessly rumored teams:

Duke, UConn, Pitt, Virginia, Oklahoma State.  I want Holyfield.

Also of note, this awesome quote from Zoltan the Inimitable:

"I was actually joking around with Brett Swenson from Michigan State," Mesko said. "We'll let the southern guys with the nice weather win the awards. We'll just kick in the NFL.  He actually said that."

I like the bonus confirmation at the end of that quote, as if we wouldn't believe the Space Emperor (of space).  He actually said that!

(HT to Jorel on the mgoboard for the original article)