Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

likewise, I'm planning to attend the 2021 game in Norman, have not been there for a game

Do any big time programs schedule home and homes anymore?  Maybe a decade ago there was some of that fear of the no win scenario keeping teams away, but seems like those types of series have all but disappeared.  Arizona State and Miami are the only P5 programs MSU has home and homes with coming up off the top of my head.

Iowa does the NFL stadium thing with . . . Northern Illinois occasionally . . . but that is NIU's home stadium.
Oh, and Iowa continues to schedule Iowa State home and home, or I call it home and away. Say what you want, but I am trying to add humor to the discussion. Iowa State is trying to add seriousness, at least this year. What NFL stadium would Iowa and Iowa State play in? Maybe Madison, wouldn't that be a kick in the pants? I am thinking Green Bay should play at Camp Randall once a year.

Back to the topic at hand, I heard Rick Neuheisel say something yesterday that I had already been thinking.

He said he though Michigan was "rounding into form" at just the right time and that he would not be surprised to see them win their final two games.

It would not surprise me in the least, since it is a formula that I have seen MANY times be successful.   Solid run game, great defense, and a QB that is asked to not make mistakes.    Sound familiar to tressel fans?

Wouldn't it be weird if Michigan won out, but so did PSU and MSU.  The BIG championship game would be contested by Ohio State and Wisconsin, the two teams Michigan had just beaten. 

I guess the closest thing to "big time" for UW right now is the Virginia Tech series in a few years. Who knows what WSU will be when the time comes. That's the trouble with scheduling so far out. UW is getting burned right now with BYU. They suck, but they were really good when the games were scheduled.

I just looked and UW travels to USF next season. It's a return trip for the 2014 game USF played in Madison. That could be interesting as Strong has them playing pretty well right now.

It's also a recruiting trip...

Ahh the white whale of the VT series. One of the games was supposed to be in Madison in 2008, but Barry thought they had a contender on their hands, so they pushed it back and ended up with one of the most embarrassing games (most embarrassing win) in recent memory. 
I thought that had been delayed before, but could be wrong. 

Oklahoma has some big OOC opponents scheduled for home-and-home series over the next decade-plus.

2018: UCLA
2019: @ UCLA
2020: Tennessee
2021: Nebraska
2022: @ Nebraska
2023: TBD. I hope for a neutral-site game vs. Notre Dame.  Maybe at JerrahWorld.
2024: @ Tennessee
2025: Michigan
2026: @ Michigan
2027: LSU
2028: @ LSU
2029: Nebraska
2030: @ Nebraska

So some helmet programs are still scheduling big opponents in home-and-home series.  In addition to the schools on that list, Ohio State, Texas, and USC schedule home-and-homes with big schools.  And Notre Dame does so as well.

I said they seem to be ok scheduling them against each other.  Like we saw OSU-Oklahoma and Texas-USC this year.  UM dumped Arkansas to get ND back.  I don't doubt Oklahoma would schedule them with OSU, UM, Tennessee, Nebraska, etc..., it's getting them to schedule them with non helmet P5 schools that has seemingly dropped off.  The neutral site only thing seems to be more of an SEC thing.

Back to the topic at hand, I heard Rick Neuheisel say something yesterday that I had already been thinking.

He said he though Michigan was "rounding into form" at just the right time and that he would not be surprised to see them win their final two games.

It would not surprise me in the least, since it is a formula that I have seen MANY times be successful.   Solid run game, great defense, and a QB that is asked to not make mistakes.    Sound familiar to tressel fans?

Wouldn't it be weird if Michigan won out, but so did PSU and MSU.  The BIG championship game would be contested by Ohio State and Wisconsin, the two teams Michigan had just beaten.  

Assuming that Ohio State beats Illinois this weekend it would only need to be PSU OR MSU winning out to put the Buckeyes in the B1GCG.  Assuming that Ohio State beats Illinois and Michigan wins out both would finish 7-2 in conference.  Either PSU or MSU could join them in that tie (by also winning out).  Here are how the tiebreakers would work:

• 2-way tie (tOSU and Michigan):  Michigan wins based on H2H
• 3-way tie (tOSU, Michigan, and Penn State):  Ohio State wins based on divisional record
• 3-way tie (tOSU, Michigan, and Michigan State):  Ohio State wins based on divisional record (eliminates Michigan) then H2H
• 4-way tie (tOSU, Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State:  Ohio State wins based on H2H2H2H (eliminates PSU and M) then H2H

My brain says 2008. Because they would've had VT (can't recall where) at Mich, OSU, PSU, at Iowa all in a row. That team was preseason 13 and rose to 9 with a seasoned group. Then they lost that whole stretch anyway, including the debacle in the Big House.
The reason I think 2008 is because they had to fill in with a Nov. 22 FCS buy game. Caught a strong Cal Poly team and needed EVERY break to escape with a 1-point OT win. BB told the sideline reporter "See, I told folks they were good."
Man what a trash year that was.

Yep, you are correct. I remember now that you laid it out.

BB was almost fired that year. As in, REALLY close to it.