Per The Athletic: Football divisions to stay as is for 2023
The Athletic is now reporting that the Big Ten will keep the same east and west divisions in football for 2023 before considering a total reboot for 2024 when USC and UCLA join. To me at least, this makes more sense than coming up with a new system for just one year and then having to redo it again in 2024. So, given the pattern that the B1G has been using, Michigan's schedule next year should be as follows.
Home: East Carolina, UNLV, Bowling Green, Rutgers, Indiana, Ohio State, Minnesota
Away: Michigan State, Penn State, Maryland, Purdue, Nebraska
I kind of wondered if they would flip Purdue to a home game since Michigan hasn't hosted them since 2011, but that would mess up the whole pattern so I doubt they will do that.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
Whoa, talk about a schedule that, without the Bucks, is in the "not very compelling" category.
But, I expect that I will renew my season tickets - just to host tailgates and visit with the kids.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
Agreed. Very underwhelming. If Michigan goes 11-1 and gets left out of the playoff this year and the committee specifically calls out Michigan's schedule I wonder if they will try to buy out one of those non-con games and find a better team to come play in Ann Arbor.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:38 PM ^
I dislike the non-con schedule - but ECU can sometimes be good. Would rather we play P5 teams tho. As for the conference slate - we can reasonably expect OSU will be a top-5 caliber team, and that RU will be in the Big Ten basement, and that IU will be chaos but probably one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. Minnesota and the entire road slate - they all could fall from the fringe of the top ten to the fringe of the Big Ten basement. Kinda have no idea how good or bad they'll be.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:59 PM ^
This is aflame narrative, Michigan schedule is stronger than oHIO’s but you know ESPN hype machine creates reality.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
So true. I thought the OOC schedule this year was insulting to fans who go to all of the games. Three glorified scrimmages with not one compelling aspect to any of them. The QB battle was the only moderately interesting aspect of the games.
Following that with...next year's home schedule is another slap in the face. A home and home with UCLA would have been awesome.
That doesn't even touch on the competitive benefits of playing them. An 11-1 team with wins over PSU, Illinois (BIG West winner?), and UCLA (Pac 12 finalist?) and a close loss at OSU might be the top 1 loss team and have a shot at the playoffs. There is no shot at us sneaking in with our embarrassment of a non-conference schedule. And rightfully so.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:46 PM ^
There is no shot at us sneaking in with our embarrassment of a non-conference schedule.
Hopefully we'll make it a moot point by beating OSU, but we'll have a shot if we're 11-1. Not many Power 5 teams make it through their schedule with just one loss.
October 24th, 2022 at 2:05 PM ^
Ask OSU how playing Oregon helped them get in the playoff last year.
October 24th, 2022 at 3:13 PM ^
Nobody is saying playing and beating UCLA gets us in. What we ARE saying is, playing nobody does significantly reduce the chance we could get in with a loss to OSU.
What would our best win be? Illinois...
October 25th, 2022 at 10:35 AM ^
Ask OSU how playing Oklahoma helped them get in the playoff in 2016....
October 24th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
Minnesota and the Jug is always fun.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
Remember when we used to ride Wisconsin for their pathetic out of conference schedule? Looks like Barry Alvarez has been hired as a consultant by the Michigan AD.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:19 PM ^
12–0
Go Blue!
October 24th, 2022 at 12:20 PM ^
That’s a pretty tough schedule
October 24th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
Division format should have been abandoned several years ago so its no surprise the B10 will draw out the obvious inequities a few more years. There is no worthy Championship game representative from the West nor has there been.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
I'm fine with the BT Championship Game being a joke, since I hate that the conference title is decided in a sterile NFL dome in the first place.
If they won't drop the BTCG (which would also allow us to end this divisional nonsense), I'd rather stick with the status quo and have Michigan-OSU be the de facto conference title game.
October 24th, 2022 at 3:30 PM ^
You realize Michigan would be the only team to play OSU every year so it would therefore hurt us, right? Not to mention the possibility of playing them back to back weeks, and probably having to win both? Losing divisions is NOT at all an optimal solution for Michigan
October 24th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
What's the pattern that determines the Jug's at home as opposed to Purdue?
Thanks this is informative
October 24th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
6-year cycle amongst the West teams that an East team doesn't play annually.
In 2016 - Michigan hosted Illinois & Wisconsin, was at Iowa. Ditto for 2022, except insert Nebraska for Wisconsin.
In 2017 - Michigan hosted Minnesota, was at Purdue & Wisconsin.
It will likely be ditto for 2023, except again insert Nebraska for Wisconsin.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
It goes in six year patterns. During the six year time frame, each team has one cross division game that they play every year. In the first six year set, Michigan drew Wisconsin. This season was supposed to be the start of a new six year cycle where Michigan got Nebraska every year.
For the other six non-division teams, you play them every three years, so twice during the six years, once home and once away.
In 2020, Michigan was supposed to play at Minnesota and Purdue at home, so in 2023 (three years later) it is supposed to be at Purdue and Minnesota at home. The 2020 home Purdue game got dropped when they went down to an 8 game schedule
October 24th, 2022 at 3:24 PM ^
The schedule that had been release previously had Michigan playing at Minnesota next year FYI.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Ironic that our OOC schedule sucks because we dropped UCLA only to have to play them in-conference immediately after
October 24th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Honest question but do we?
October 25th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
This will be intriguing. Logically, the Big Ten will create a similarly structured opponent matrix where the league will protect a few rivalries and then rotate other matchups on a pre-set basis.
But part of me feels like the conference (and the TV networks with a vested interest) may want to capitalize on the increased anticipation levels in the USC/UCLA additions and get as many high profile matchups as possible in the first few years - combinations of UM/OSU/PSU/Wisc playing USC/UCLA. Throw SOS difficulty and in-conference scheduling parity out the window.
October 25th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
Yeah I assume in the first few years of USC/UCLA being in the conference…you’re going to get “marquee matchups” of the west coast schools playing PSU, OSU, UM to appease the networks
October 24th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
I wish the divisions would go away! Just have the top 2 teams in the conference play each other in the B1G championship game. It's been a joke watching the western division winner playing the eastern division winner, since the east has had lopped sided wins.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
Yay, at least one more year of guaranteeing a seat in Indy to a mediocre 9-3 Wisconsin team just to watch them get disemboweled by OSU or Michigan.
As for that schedule, outside of OSU, that is an atrocious looking home schedule. Minnesota could be alright if they play well next year, but you never really know year to year what you're getting from them. But then that road schedule looks mighty tough. You could argue that the five next toughest games after OSU are all of the road games and you'd probably be right.
Hopefully Purdue doesn't use its once a year "Going bonkers, everything that can go right on offense goes right tonight" card on Michigan next year. There's always that one game where they just obliterate a highly ranked team, and then they'll lose to Maryland the next week.
Nebraska could be a toughie depending on who they hire. Frost didn't leave a bare cupboard, and Penn State will likely make Michigan its white out night game next year, so that'll be a whole lot of not fun.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Good, keep the divisions. Just shuffle them around when we add the CA teams.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
I love how the thread is about divisions but all anyone sees is that ridiculous home schedule. Also… I wouldn’t expect them to change the divisions anyway until 2024. So they basically came out and said “we will do the thing that makes sense.” Good job B1G.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Purdue was originally scheduled to come to the big house in 2020 but then the season was cancelled because of covid. When the season was later un-cancelled and shorter revamped conference schedules were released, Purdue was no longer on it.
So, it’s possible Purdue might go a couple decades without playing in the big house unless the USC and UCLA additions to the conference change something.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:00 PM ^
I really hope that they go to a 3-6 arrangement in 2024 where every four years you play 3 teams every year (doesn't always have to be the same 3) and then the other 12 teams play once at home and once away over 4 years. That way you never go more than two years without playing a team and never go more than 4 without hosting.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
Historian,
Not having Purdue on the schedule is a bummer for me in the following way.
My children (who are both current students at Michigan) have a number of good friends at Purdue. It would seem to be a great "road trip weekend" - for them in the coming years.
Hopefully, they'll have a chance to visit next weekend - and, it would also be great to see Michigan play in Evanston some time in the 2023 or 2024 season, but - I don't think that's going to happen.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:23 PM ^
The Purdue scheduling quirk is mindboggling to me. I get that the Big Ten had to protect the annual Indiana-Purdue interdivisional rivalry game to make the divisions work, but yikes.
Michigan has played Purdue once in the last decade when they visited West Lafayette in 2017. Purdue has not played in Ann Arbor since 2011. The six-year protected crossover (Wisconsin 2016-2021 and now Nebraska) is too long and ignored other West teams Michigan should have been playing as well. I'm sure the same quirk probably exists for Indiana and some B1G West teams.
October 24th, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
Which is one reason why the easiest solution to adding USC/UCLA is just putting them in the West and moving Purdue to the East.
October 24th, 2022 at 12:59 PM ^
Big Ten: We will not draw up a schedule where divisions wont be lopsided where the 3 best teams (maybe 4 if MSU was as expected) will be on one side. This will save us a good 4 hours of serious schedule planning.
The Board: Thank god!
October 24th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
that is …. Not an awesome home game schedule.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:01 PM ^
that is …. Not an awesome home game schedule.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:20 PM ^
Would really love for them to announce next year's schedule. Find pretty ridiculous that it's ~11 months to the start of next year's conference season, and we still don't know who, when or where we're playing...
October 24th, 2022 at 1:50 PM ^
This is pretty much par for the course for all major conferences now. The TV money doesn't come without any strings attached, and the schedules are most likely crafted with input from the TV partners.
October 24th, 2022 at 4:25 PM ^
Sounds like they will release the 2023 schedule this week.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
Doing nothing is an available option. Sometimes it is even the best option.
It is real that the B1G choosing the best option catches many of us by surprise.
October 24th, 2022 at 1:57 PM ^
Agreed that it would be non-sensical to change it just to change it again the next year but this does scare me a little in that it give the impression that divisions may be here to stay. Perhaps they get lucky with USC/UCLA in the West, so it becomes a co-equal division but I just wish they'd scrap divisions all together
October 24th, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
Playing a winnable non-conference schedule is frankly a tradition at nearly all "power" teams since the 1970s (probably even earlier). Just don't over value the statistics, but do care about the execution.
October 24th, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
This is good news imo. Right now, teams in lesser divisions (BIG West, ACC Coastal) have something to play for, and thus we have reasons to watch them. And with the expanded playoff, the teams stuck in strong divisions will have a better shot. College football will collapse if more fanbases start tuning out like what we're seeing at Stanford, UCLA, etc.
October 24th, 2022 at 4:13 PM ^
Another garbage non conference slate. Thanks Warde
October 24th, 2022 at 4:21 PM ^
It's ridiculous we may never see Purdue in the Big House in like 15 years!?!?! We'll now play at Purdue three times in a row (2012, 2017,2022) without playing in Ann Arbor. At this rate can we schedule conference games as a non conference game?