When I was very young, there was a song called "Money for Nothing" by a band called Dire Straits. I remember this because my dad liked the song and because the music video for the song was probably the most 1980s thing that ever existed.
Seriously, if you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.
Anyway, I couldn't help but think of that song and the video when I saw the news that Michigan had to pay Virginia Tech $375,000 to get out of a home-and-home series the school's had scheduled in 2020 and 2021. The series was announced in May 2013, and it would have been the first time the two schools had ever played during the regular season.
Now that historic meeting will have to wait a bit longer.
Michigan is replacing Virginia Tech on its 2020 schedule with Arkansas State, which will no doubt lead to some "they're scared of playing Virginia Tech" responses. If that's the direction you want to go with this, by all means, live your life. It should be noted, however, that Michigan currently has games scheduled against Washington in both 2020 and 2021. So if it had kept the Virginia Tech games, the Wolverines would have likely had one of the tougher non-conference schedules in the country.
The Hokies, meanwhile, now have nonconference games set against Penn State, Liberty and East Carolina for 2020 with an open slot to fill.
On the one hand, you'd have to admire them for playing both of those teams in the same season, but on the other hand, in the time of the College Football Playoff, it's smarter to play one of them.
