I couldn't agree more. I've made that point before (more about alumni bases in those areas vs. roadies), so it's good to see that they finally listened to me.

6 hrs...400 miles.

That's not too bad to Raleigh

I like this schedule. Lots of games that seem winnable. Always hard to tell this far out... Who would've thought Minnesota would be such a strong program when we scheduled that game. Who knows how Iowa State will be that far out?

La Lafayette is having a down season at 4-7 with a game to go against a weak Troy (4-7). But LaLa has been tough; its records the last 4 seasons: 9-4,9-4,9-4,9-4 with 4 bowl wins over San Diego State, East Carolina, Tulane, Nevada.

Played them in Raleigh in 1998...nearly beat them. Just saying that's a game I'd like to see them revisit

I've been hoping for a game with Boston College since 1990 - it will only take 30 years. Jim Schaus came to my office in NYC in 2008 - I begged him to play Boston College. But I'm sure that had very little to do with it being scheduled.

[One of my more profound statements]: Blank, blank and blank. ;-)

Well, most folks in Ohio, in all parts of the state, consider themselves to be living in the Midwest. When I lived Missouri most folks considered Ohio in the East. I've run into the same attitudes in places like Nebraska and Iowa.

Don't think so OCF. The folks in NE Ohio do not consider themselves in the midwest - they are Browns fans and that's certainly not the midwest. Here in se Ohio, we are Appalachia plain and simple, Driving to Columbus as I do on a very regular basis, anything west of 23 is moving into the farming midwest.

Come now, Alan. I've been in virtually all parts of this state, and your analysis is not quite totally accurate. I'm not talking about geography, but what people will say if you ask them about their location. Their self perception of their region is what I was talking about. I guess I know different folks in Cleveland than you do. Most Clevelanders I know think of themselves as more midwesterners than easterners. Some areas right along the Pennsylvania border might think of themselves as a bit eastern, but the Feds in their wisdom recently classified Ashtabula County as part of Appalachia. I know many folks in SEO who really don't think of themselves or their region as Appalachia. As I mentioned in another post, this term was virtually never used in the 1950s and earlier to describe SEO. It's almost entirely a function of the Federal designation which occurred in the 1960s, with the creation of the Appalachian Regional Commission and the attendant flow of federal dollars that came along with that designation, which helped reshape our area in some good ways and in some not so good ways (but that's another discussion). This is to be sure a complex subject, but easy classifications like, west of Rt. 23 is the Midwest just don't fly. One of my sisters has a Ph.D. in Romance Linguists and has some very interesting analysis of various Ohio regions in terms of accent and dialect, etc. One of her points that may surprise you is that from a linguistic standpoint all native Ohioans slur their words to one degree or another, except in the far northwest corner of the state where the enunciation is more crisp. She once demonstrated this for me by saying the name of our state the way it is pronounced in the different regions. It was entertaining, educational and a bit funny.

I think the belief that Ohio is the start of the Midwest dates back to the Northwest Territory. In my mind, that is the Midwest. Every east of there was part of the original US... The Northwest Territory became the midwest as we expanded.

I know some in the Great Plains feel Cleveland is "east" but here in Cleveland, I certainly feel I relate more to the lifestyle of someone in Omaha than someone in Boston.

In 1787 in Boston in the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, The NORTHWEST Ordinance took shape and embraced territory that was to include Ohio. It called for the establishment of an institution of higher learning that was to be named American WESTERN University - and in 1804 became The Ohio University.

And on a side note, how many regions claim to be America's "Heartland" or "Parkland"?