Offseason Hot Take: Ohio State and Michigan should start playing night games

The biggest rivalry of college football deserves the biggest step.

Historically, Ohio State and Michigan kick off their annual rivalry game at noon. The traditionalists like that. It's familiar and gives both fans a sense of continuity that is synonymous with the rivalry itself.

It's also extremely stupid and naughty.

This comes from someone who, for his part, favors tradition. Personally, I cringe every time the Buckeyes dress in one of their scary uniforms, mainly because their regular swimsuits are so extraordinarily perfect that any alteration looks like a sin against nature. Parents love them, however, and as I transform myself into dad phase of life, I learned to accept it.

But the best rivalry of the game deserves better than an hour from start to noon.

Imagine if Led Zeppelin wrote Stairway to Heaven as a three-minute lullaby for acoustic guitars. This is essentially what the Ohio and Michigan governments do to us. They rewrite Stairway to Heaven as a lullaby each year.

The argument in favor of the biggest match of the regular season of each team, in the worst possible time slot, is slim. Those who shouted "This is the tradition" overestimate how their precious kickoff at noon is traditional, according to the research of our intrepid leader, Jason Priestas.

Looking back, the Ohio State and Michigan did not start regularly at noon until the mid-1980s.

I am older than this tradition, and I propose about as much history as the kickoff of the state of Ohio – Michigan. In high school, I owned several Creed AND Nickleback albums. The argument I'm making here is that my story is damn, but comparatively, it's tied with what you get when the kickoff of Buckeyes and Wolverines is expected while the major part of the west coast did not finish his breakfast.

This is not a new argument. The moment of the coup de send between Ohio and Michigan is very popular. When teams competed for a playoff spot in 2016, some were hoping the game would be pushed back into a (better) time slot.

Tradition has won.

"I think the tradition and have it at noon, I think fans like that and I know we like it and can count on that."

It was Martin Jarmond in an interview with Ari Wasserman. Then Jarmond, deputy director of sports at Ohio State, said the game should not move from noon because "that's what people expect".

Of course, that's what we expect … but is this what we deserve?

Giving Ohio State and Michigan the nooner treatment is fundamentally anti-climatic. By nature, the Buckeyes – Wolverines match is a crescendo, the previous 11 games constituting a tempting buildup.

Imagine if Led Zeppelin wrote stairway to Heaven like a three-minute acoustic guitar lullaby. This is essentially what the Ohio and Michigan governments do to us. They rewrite stairway to Heaven like a lullaby every year.

The 2006 match between the Buckeyes and Wolverines proved irreproachable perfection. It was No. 1 against No. 2 and he ended up under the lights thanks to a 3:30 send shot. This match was so difficult because the networks fought to place the best academic football rivalry on the stage it deserved.

It's time for the Ohio State and Michigan to clash regularly in prime time.