Possible replacements for Hawaii on 2016 schedule

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Since the Hawaii AD is having grave concerns about the fate of their football program, let's just say they do have to drop football.

That would leave Michigan with a short amount of time for a replacement game. 

Here is the current schedule for 2016

9/3 vs Hawaii
9/10 vs UCF
9/17 vs Colorado
9/24 Bye Week
10/1 vs Wisconsin^
10/8 at Rutgers*
10/15 vs Penn State*
10/22 vs Illinois (HC)^
10/29 at Michigan State*
11/5 vs Maryland*
11/12 at Iowa^
11/19 vs Indiana*
11/26 at Ohio*
12/3 B1G Championship Game#

I used FB schedules.com to and went through all FBS school's schedules in 2016 to look for openings on 9/3. I eliminated teams Michigan has scheduled future games with, teams they will play in 2014-2015 and teams who have a TBA date with an opponent already lined up in 2016, assuming that it will be their opener.

Teams followed by Michigan's record against them

  • Appalachian State
  • California (6-2)
  • Connecticut (2-0)
  • Florida State (1-1)
  • Georgia (1-1)
  • Georgia State (Never played them; new team to FBS)
  • Kentucky (1-0)
  • Louisville (Never played)
  • Marshall (Never played)
  • Mississippi (1-0)
  • Missouri (2-2)
  • New Mexico (Never played)
  • Ohio University (Never played)
  • Old Dominion (Never played)
  • San Diego State (2-0)
  • Southern Mississippi (Never played)
  • Syracuse (6-5-1)
  • Troy (Never played)
  • UAB (Never played)
  • Utah State (Never played)
  • UTSA (Never played; started playing football in 2012)
  • Vanderbilt (10-0-1)

There are also two other possibilities. Swap the bye week, which I don't see happening. Or, schedule an FCS team. 

MGoBoard
Football

chatster

August 19th, 2014 at 1:48 PM ^

IF, Michigan were considering a somewhat stronger opponent to replace Hawaii in 2016, Syracuse might be an interesting choice, even though theyr're not the patsie they were for several years during the past decade.  The problem could be that Syracuse also is scheduled to play Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2016.  They might not be looking for another challenging game thta season.
 
Syracuse once was an eastern power. They’re still trying to recover from the disastrous Gergian Error of 2005-2008.  Their current head football coach, Scott Shafer, spent a season as defensive coordinator at Michigan until, in the worst trade in Michigan football history, he was traded to Syracuse for someone who became the worst defensive coordinator ever at Michigan.
 
Although football at Syracuse no longer has the cachet that it once did, and it may only be third in national prominence to their basketball and lacrosse programs, they’re no longer terrible, and they’re now in the ACC.  They’ve played in three bowl games during the past four seasons.
 
Scheduling Syracuse in football might require a return trip, but that game could be played at MetLife Stadium in northern New Jersey to take advantage of the Michigan alumni in the New York City area,  It also could allow for a fall lacrosse scrimmage between the two schools, the night before the football game.

Joined: 09/14/2010

MGoPoints: 27057

Avon Barksdale

August 19th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^

Very doubtful any of the big names would be in play. Vanderbilt, at least under James Franklin, didn't play a team with a heartbeat out of conference. When they did, (Northwestern, 2012), they lost and then cancelled their series with OSU. Personally, I'd love to see Syracuse, but I'll be realistic and say that San Diego State would be a logical choice for Dave B.

Joined: 04/27/2013

MGoPoints: 12858

Avon Barksdale

August 19th, 2014 at 2:33 PM ^

UCF is your defending Fiesta Bowl Champions, Wisconsin is, well Wisconsin, and Penn State is going to be national championship worthy by 2016 with James Franklin and Christian Hackenburg in year three. Throw in a Pac12 opponent which should be better in Colorado and no cupcake in Maryland and that's actually a pretty solid home lineup.

What do you want, a NCAA 2014 lineup of playing Notre Dame, Florida State, Texas, and USC all at the Big House? For not being able to control where rivalry games are played, that is a pretty decent lineup IMO.

Joined: 04/27/2013

MGoPoints: 12858

Credit812

August 19th, 2014 at 2:11 PM ^

on the schedule for 2016.  The school website shows that they are playing Kansas.  They would be a major conference team that won't provide much of a test.  There's also all the MWC teams that would have one more open spot.

Joined: 07/30/2009

MGoPoints: 960

Don

August 19th, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^

There's no way any program from a Power 5 conference comes here for a one-off; they'd all demand a home-and-home, which gets much more complicated. For that reason, the only likely candidates are schools at the level of Ohio, Marshall, Utah St., Troy, UAB, etc.. I agree with the others here that Ohio is the most logical short-notice candidate.

Good stuff, WD

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148566

mgoaggie

August 19th, 2014 at 2:26 PM ^

Mostly because I'm a USU grad, and they're an up-and-comer. Quality win, possible exciting game. They took auburn, USC, Wisconsin, et al down to the wire in recent seasons, and those ended up being quality wins for their opponents over the eventual MWC runners up.

Joined: 06/12/2012

MGoPoints: 3000

Evil Empire

August 19th, 2014 at 3:23 PM ^

We can't really offer anybody that, as 2015 and 2017 are full.  The best we could do might be pairing a game in Ann Arbor in 2016 with a game at their (whoever "they" are) stadium in 2018.  If Hawaii in fact drops the sport, that will suck.  It would have been much better to know that before we agreed to the next JerryBowl game...rather have had a 2016 and 2017 series.  We can afford to add road games in 2016, 2018, and 2020 (will still have seven home games even if we do that).  We already have one MAC game lined up for 2016.  If we need to buy a one-off home game, make it Marshall or UConn.  If we are willing to make a return visit (in 2018?), then make it Cal, Georgia, Missouri, or Syracuse.

Joined: 07/29/2008

MGoPoints: 9077

West German Judge

August 19th, 2014 at 6:20 PM ^

Appreciate this one.
I would like to reschedule App State sometime in the decent future to take the best of three and forever put the series to rest, but now is not the time.

It would be neat to break new ground with a team from a major conference, so my vote is for Louisville.
Or, I would love to take on Cal and show them that while they may be peers according to the USNWR...they are no match on the field.
OR, let's play Ohio because they'd likely agree and we can avenge our basketball loss from the other year.

Quite a few good options. I hope Hawaii pulls it together, though.

Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 11/14/2012

MGoPoints: 99

mastodon

August 19th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^

Go big (as you can) or go home.  The early-season buzz is fantastic.  Make it a home-and-home with one of the better schools on that list that wouldn't (understandably) consider a one-off.  The second (away) game of that may be delayed a little due to existing schedules, but that is what we need - as a team, with the playoff in place, and as fans - you want to watch a MAC opponent, or a marquee matchup?

Joined: 04/20/2011

MGoPoints: 2393