Scheduling

Submitted by Mgoczar on

Curious to know. Who makes football schedule? Since M is facing one of the toughest schedule and keeps playing Wisconsin as cross-over while Alabama and OSU are playing tomato cans. What gives?

Couzen Rick's

May 4th, 2018 at 6:50 AM ^

That happened when the divisions changed from Legends/Leaders to East/West. The B1G prioritized Penn St ahead of MSU, so it was designed t o have OSU/PSU be our home away split every year.

rc15

May 3rd, 2018 at 11:47 AM ^

Since the start of the 2007 season, they have been 15 opportunities. Yes, we probably should've won at least one. But every one of those I'm pretty sure would've been an upset if we had except maybe 2011 MSU...

Harbaugh has only had 3 chances, was an inch away on one, and a TD not called a TD from making one very interesting on another.

I just hate when people use stats like this to imply that Michigan seems to have a specific problem, like playing good teams on the road. In case you didn't know, Michigan football sucked from 2007-2014. That's why they didn't beat any ranked teams on the road. But from my eye test, they've never had a problem playing on the road. Two of the Hoke era teams' best performances were @ OSU, even if they didn't win.

trueblueintexas

May 3rd, 2018 at 2:08 PM ^

That perception of Alabama is just that. Of twelve games, 4 are OOC. Of those four, they play one legitimate game and the rest are ridiculously easy. That is a significant advantage vs a Michigan schedule which tends to schedule 1 good game and 2 (used to be 3) games against teams which are at least competent. If you took the teams Michigan plays OOC (minus the marquee game) against the teams Alabama plays OOC (minus the marque game) Michigan's OOC opponents would win a significant majority of games against Alabama's OOC opponents. 

I've posted this a few times on the blog and I'm not going to look it up again. 

Also upon further analysis, and completely out of Alabama's control, they have been very lucky with their marquee match ups. 

2017: FSU (#3) - starting QB gets hurt and the team was in turmoil regardless.

2016: USC (#20) - That was the year USC started awful and turned it around (can't remember if this was the Helton partial season or not)

2015: Wisconsin (#20) - The very first game of Paul Chryst's head coaching tenure at Wisconsin

2014: West Virginia (NR) - WVU finished the season 7-6 (5-4 in conference)

2013: Virginia Tech (NR) - Beamer was on the down turn of his career. Va Tech finished 8-5 (5-3 in conference)

2012: Michigan (#8) - let us never speak of this again

2011: Penn State (#23) - This was Bama's second game of the season and PSU was a paper tiger that year

In the past seven years, Bama has played a ranked team OOC 5 times. Of those 5, only two have been in the top 19 at the time. These games are early, so ranking is solely based on what "experts" expect the quality of a team to be. 

Here's Michigan's marquee games in that same period:

2017: Florida (#17)

2016: Colorado (NR) Finished the year 10-4 ranked #17

2015: Utah (NR) Finished the year 10-3 ranked #17.

2014: ND (#16)

2013: ND (#14)

2012: Alabama (#2)

2011: ND (NR)

Not that big of a difference. The point is, it's not like Bama is playing a top 5 team in their OOC schedule every year.

JTGoBlue

May 2nd, 2018 at 11:56 PM ^

That is why the schedule is tough, but it’s a round robin in each division. One competitive cross-over game per season should be expected.

ThadMattasagoblin

May 2nd, 2018 at 11:58 PM ^

This keeps being asked. Harbaugh wanted to switch ND for Arkansas and Warde Manuel wanted to have 7 home games in 2019. Honestly, I would have taken a home game against Arkansas this year.

StraightDave

May 3rd, 2018 at 12:03 AM ^

I’m not sure but damn it hurts seeing OSU at Spring ball and recruiting DFW while Jimmy is eating croissants

StraightDave

May 3rd, 2018 at 12:04 AM ^

I’m not sure but damn it hurts seeing OSU at Spring ball and recruiting DFW while Jimmy is eating croissants

Maize N' Ute

May 3rd, 2018 at 2:08 AM ^

Yeah, while Urbz is having his team play a meaningless spring game, Jim is taking his team to France to explore culture and creating greater team unity. On top of that, Jim landed a commitment and Skyped with two 5* recruits.



From a high schooler perspective, what is cooler, Spring game or a week in France? A spring game or the opportunity to go to New Zealand, Japan, etc. once you commit to Michigan?

bluinohio

May 3rd, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^

Meh, once you get past the part of your life where you played sports, looking back the wins and losses don't mean as much as the experience. I have more memories from practices and other team functions than i do from games and wins/losses. Win or lose, the experience for a player is going to be great. Not the same for a fan.

WorldwideTJRob

May 3rd, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^

As a guy who played sports like you...I cherished those moments as well, but nothing beat the joy of walking in the locker room after a win with your teammates. When you’re grinding at practice that’s what the payoff is for. Yes of course the relationships I made with coaches and my teammates will last a lifetime, but as a competitor during that part of my life you wanted the wins, not just for you but everyone on your team. Plus he was talking from a recruit’s perspective. Yes! Going overseas is awesome and I laughed at other pundits and coaches who tried to minimize it. However, I believe if you ask the top recruits in the nation what would they value more in their decision? Most would take the victories over the trips.

The Man Down T…

May 3rd, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^

I ran track and cross country at a small college. Had a small scholarship but the real reason was being able to go to somewhere for meals, movies and whatnot after the meet.  Yes.  I ran for big macs...  When you're in a small Iowa town and the nearest McD's is 50 miles away and you have no car after growing up in Utica Michgan, you'd be surprised at how much sense running track for big macs makes lol

 

Wanted to win every race.  No doubt but wanted the trip even more

Tyler1495

May 3rd, 2018 at 12:20 AM ^

how come they had to play at state 2 years in a row the? thats complete bs if the Big 10 is responsible

1VaBlue1

May 3rd, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^

So we're supposed to give them 40 games in a row in that E Lansing cess pool?  If that's not what you're espousing, then your comment makes no sense...  They weren't even part of the Big Ten during most (if not all) of those years, anyway!

Billy Ray Valentine

May 3rd, 2018 at 1:31 AM ^

Besides us, the conference currently has four legitimate top 15 teams. I want a schedule in which we play all of them. The best teams in our conference should play every year.

We have 2 teams at home, and 2 teams on the road. Seems decent.

That said, I prefer it if we played Ohio State and Michigan State at home in alternating years.

Rose Bowl

May 3rd, 2018 at 1:39 AM ^

Nobody can explain why we play Wisconsin so many times in a row when they are good.  The Big 10 did that.  Other teams in our division do not play them so many times.

S5R48S10

May 3rd, 2018 at 6:12 AM ^

Michigan and Wisconsin didn't play from 2011-2015, a period in which Wisconsin played in 3 B1G title games and won it twice. Michigan always plays Wisconsin when they're good because Wisconsin is always good. There are two real atrocities here: 1) Michigan went 5 years without playing Wisconsin, and 2) Michigan has not not been nearly as good Wisconsin.