Michigan Football @umichfootball
2014 Big Ten Schedule: MINN (9/27), @ RUT (10/4), PSU (10/11), @ MSU (10/25), IND (11/1), @ NW (11/8), MD (11/22), @ OSU (11/29)
notice trip to East Lansing....2 years in a row '13 and '14
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Michigan Football @umichfootball
2014 Big Ten Schedule: MINN (9/27), @ RUT (10/4), PSU (10/11), @ MSU (10/25), IND (11/1), @ NW (11/8), MD (11/22), @ OSU (11/29)
notice trip to East Lansing....2 years in a row '13 and '14
for a B1G conf. game - still feels dirty and weird.
but I am going! Relatively short ride from CT, and worth it to cheer on the Leaders and Best.
will be virtual home games due to our alumni base in NYC & Chicago...so we have that going for us.
doesn't do road trip to both Rutgers and Maryland the first year.
Both R and MD are in our division so we'll get them every year.
The thing I can't believe is that they didn't split up the home and road games of our two remaining rivals. We'll have both Ohio and Staee on the home roster in the odd years and neither in even.
I think he was talking about road trips to both Rutgers and Maryland in the same year, not regarding having to play them in the same year.
Back to back away at Northwestern too
What a brutal [email protected], @State, @Ohio?
Doesn't matter anyways. They will be a hopeless pile of garbage again by then anyways. And sparty is already back to sparting. 1 tough road game isn't all that bad.
+Gardner = 5th year Senior
Its the last year of the contract with ND where we have to go there...
I'm assuming this has to do with splitting up PSU and Ohio, but I don't even get why that was a consideration to begin with.
Long run, we'll be grateful for splitting OSU and PSU. They will be our toughest competition, more than MSU.
I can't believe that people say such things. I don't have much to say about which teams are tougher competition; over the course of several decades, it all evens out. But the MSU and OSU home games are the top tickets on any given year's home slate.
This is a terrible departure for us and Dave Brandon knows it.
Just another way that things get screwed up. This courtesy of the B1G expansion. More games with Rutgers and Maryland. Fewer games with Wisconsin, Iowa, and the other traditional Big Ten schools. MSU and OSU crammed into the same calendar years. Two years traveling to East Lansing. None of this is good. It all sucks. I'd like Brandon to know how much this pisses people off.
ND is recruiting as well as anyone in the country. What exactly makes you think they'll be garbage?
at recruiting since, er, ever. All of their coaches have better and better seasons, then the pressure gets to be too much, and poof. Back to mediocrity.
And by the look of Kelly, that guy is about to explode really soon.
Michigan also has 2 Byes in the 2014 Big Ten Schedule.
2014 home schedule: Horror II, Miami (NTM), Utah, Minnesota, crippled Penn State, Indiana, Maryland.
(per Brian's Twitter).
Ummm... Wow, that home schedule really sucks.
bye bye?
/isembarrassedforself
The best team we'll play at home is ...? Penn State decimated by sanctions? Maryland? IU?!
What genius decided to send us back to East Lansing and give us Indiana and Minnesota at home two years in a row? And no Nebraska? I just don't get it.
EDIT: Meant as response to BlueBarron, but it doesn't matter where it goes, the schedule is still horseshit.
Well, with the ticket price increase and that slate this board may get it's wish of abolishing the student section that year.
EDIT: Hit reply button south of the one I wanted, apparently.
Feel sorry for season tix holders - happy for StubHub bottom feeders.
That is horrible. Had better be another year under Hoke where we win out at home.
Even the alumni might not show up on time for that lineup.
App State II may be the most compelling home game of the year.
Well that certainly doesn't look like a murderers row...
That is the worst home schedule I've ever seen. Doubt they'll reduce the $2100 tab for two tickets.
I paid less than that for 4 this year.
Still preferable to at ND, OSU and (pretty much) Alabama.
Do we ever get to play them?
Did you see Wisconsin's conference schedule in 2014
They play Nw, Illinois, Maryland Rutgers, Purdue, Nebraska,Iowa and Minnesota.
No PSU, MSU, OSU or us. You'd think they'd at least throw one of the better teams from the other division on that crossover schedule. What a cakewalk.
I thought the top teams from the East and the West were supposed to play each other? If we are not playing Wisconsin, we should be playing Nebraska.
That's a terrible home slate
Not the best home schedule. Minn, PSU, IND, MD
No need to buy a season ticket with that garbage home schedule.
What the fuck is this shit? Two years at state? Now the home schedules in even years have gone from bad to awful.
Wait, does this mean we're always going to play OSU and MSU home/home and away/away.
WTF? It couldn't have been that hard to arrange.
Miami, no not that Miami, under the lights!! Can't wait
B1G really likes to screw us with conference schedules lately. First basketball, now this shit?
Penn State has the best slate : 3 bye weeks, with only the Michigan game in between byes, they get OSU, NW, and MSU at home.
And yet, it won't matter because they'll still have 65 guys on scholarship...
we play at osu and at state? why not make one home and one away and alternate?
Aren't we playing at ND that year as well? Is there any reason to buy season tickets in 2014 then? So you can watch IU, PSU, MD and MINN, and then Miami, Utah, and App State?
Really need to flip the MSU game as both rivalry games will be either home or away each year.
With ND dropping off the schedule, we just have to get this arranged so the MSU and ohio home/away games are in alternate years. That 2014 home schedule is really unappealing, although it does look like 7 home wins in 2014, at least if DG is still around.
Edit: Crap. Beat me by a minute.
Everyone who didn't think the B1G would fuck this up raise your hand.
No one? That's what I thought.
FU Big Ten
that's fucking bullshit going to play @MSU in 2013 followed by @MSU in 2014... oh well.
Would be better for MSU to switch the Michigan game too, they get OSU as home in the same year as MIchigan at home. Looks like the basis for the set up was that OSU, Michigan, and PSU each play one home and one away game against the other two. Can't say I blame that methodology but Michigan's schedule got screwed.
we should go undefeated at home that year. Not like anyone will be there to see it though, good luck selling season ticket packages DB because that slate is shit awful.
Well I only get to see us play State once while in school. Fucking bull shit
I get your point. Still, make the 1 hour drive to the game.
AND neither did the B1G...then again, maybe they were only thinking of the MSU students.
Maybe they should stop this scheduling shit show if they want students to stay interested in college football. Just a thought.
How does Brandon keep letting this happen? Does he get payoffs for setting up butcher seasons every other year? WTF?
As someone that lives out of state and cannot go to more than one game a year, it really irks me to hear people complain about their MICHIGAN FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS.
Geez people.
Sure. Because we get them for free. So the quality of the product doesn't matter.
If I could, I'd pay to go to every one.
Well, I mean... unless you live in Cuba or something, there are ways to get from place to place nowadays.
It is a "product," it's what we're paying for. And you CAN pay to go them all, you just have to pay for transit. I come from Pennsylvania to do just that. Is it worth it? For you, apparently not. Maybe that's because it's so expensive.
Parenthetically, nobody cares about what you would do in an alternate universe where you could go to all the games. It is not relevant to the issue.
Parenthetically, some of us may equally be worried about the fact that the team has to wade through a killers row of a shcedule every other year rather than simply having a balanced schedule every year, which would probably be better for the team, aside from being more enjoyable to the fans.
I live out of state too, but I usually try to make it back for the MSU, OSU or ND game. In 2014, my best choice is PSU. No offense to them, but PSU just doesn't do it for me like our big 3 rivals.
This hurts all fans, not just season ticket holders.
General admission aint gonna help people showing up for that home schedule. What is the best game on that schedule? Minnesota? Utah?
Maryland.
Pathetic joke of a conference. From the bottom up.
Brandon should reach out to IU and pay them to switch the locations of their MSU/UM games around so that UM/MSU can do the same. I think it would work better for both teams. Right now MSu gets ND, OSU and Michigan on the road all in the same year. Their fans probably won't care though because just messing with MIchigan by getting 2 home games in a row is like Christmas to them.
How is it acceptable, to Michigan or Michigan State, to be saddled with this schedule? We are both apparently stuck with each other and with OSU as away games or home games, depending on the schedule. Why wouldn't it be a no-brainer to switch up with MSU? Do Spartan fans want a home season without UM and OSU?
This has something to do with PSU being in the mix, but for the life of me I don't understand it, and I despise it. Let's just go back to a ten-team conference.
I'd be happy to go back to the 12-team conference.
I feel sorry for 2014 senior students. The best home game on that schedule is a sanctioned PSU team. Notre Dame, MSU, OSU, and Northwestern all away in the same year? Wow, that sucks major balls. But on the flip side, every other year we get both MSU, OSU, and Northwestern at home.
I'd much rather have them alternate, but what can you do?
Northwestern is a crossover game, so that won't hold true going forward. Plus, there's the opportunity to change things again in 2016 when we go to a 9 game conference schedule.
should hand ND a letter before kickoff of the 2013 UTL game stating that Michigan is opting out of the final game at ND in 2014... Then go schedule a home and home vs a team that will make the 2014 home schedule look more attractive for ticket holders!
All the big boy schools are already booked up.
The best they could do in short notice is an FCS team.
USC, UTL 9-6-14! Make it happen Dave!
He really should do this.
I was just going to post that. As things stand, ND's getting an extra home game anyway. I bet with enough money in front of someone, they'd be happy to cancel a game to get a home and home with Michigan. And, even if they had to settle for a MAC or a Mountain West team, it still improves the home schedule.
Strength of schedule for the playoff? Our team should be quite good in '14.
Why didn't our AD make a big stink about forcing us to play at sparty 2 years in a row, it woulda been easy to switch one of the other home games, pisses me off that the home schedule is so uneven going forward between seasons.
Under The Light!!!!
Losing Nebraska and Iowa for Maryland and Rutgers. Ugh!
The best football team Michigan will play at home in 2014 will probably be Utah or Appalachian State.
Gotta have MSU & OSU home games on alternating years, in my opinion. Those are almost guaranteed to be the biggest conference games we play every year, with these new divisions. Hopefully we can start playing big name OOC opponents at home in years we play away to those two, and vice versa.
Picks up Maryland and Rutgers from our division. Good lord.
Wow, I hadn't noticed that. What a freaking joke of a schedule.
Is this a joke? You can't travel to a rival's stadium 2 years in a row in football. We go to MSU in odd numbered years and to OSU in even numbered years.
There have been years where we have played at Minneosta and Iowa 2 years in row, but they're not rivals.
No, no, no. This has to be fixed.
Do we know msu won't be playing at MIchigan in back to back years? May have to wait to see a few future schedules to see how this plays out.
First five games: PSU, Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Good luck with that.
Minnesota draws Michigan and Ohio State on top of divisional games @ Nebraska and @ Wisconsin.
We should trade Minny for you guys (Nebraska) in 2014. At night. Now we are talking.
I'm glad we're not just giving them all that BTN money for free.
Also another hit to the home schedule: back to back road games at northwestern.
NW is a legit team now and last year showed it.
The only logical thing I can think of for the games at state is there will be two straight home games against them in 2015 and 2016. And then it will reset in 2017 with the regular odd away and even home format. B1G series have quietly done that.
Minnesota in 2002-2005. But this is a rival team that isn't exactly one that we kick around.
Once again, fuck you B1G.
Will be hard to pull that off now with divisions and making sure every team has 4 home and 4 away games.
God, this was really stupid. With no more ND, we have two rivalry games. And they don't freaking alternate? What the hell Brandon?
USC, UTL 9-6-14... Make it happen Dave!
Ta hell with Notre Dame!
Honoring nothing and building meaningless footprints.
Michigan should always play MSU and OSU home games on alternating years. This makes no sense and is a big F you to M fans.
I am so happy that we lose Iowa, Wisconsin, etc. on a regular basis to play MD and Rutgers every year and to not see MSU or OSU at home every other year.
At this point, let's just join the fucking ACC with ND.
I can't wait to see this amazingly awesome homeslate of games in my Senior year. You can bet student ticket prices will go up again too.
I'm trying to come up with a witty comment but I'll just leave this here:
The Big Ten's press release is here, and it contains some information on the formula going forward. It certainly doesn't excuse the 2014 home slate, but it helps to explain it, at least in part.
(LINK)
It seems like 2014 and 2015 are essentially being considered transitional years between the addition of Maryland and Rutgers and the run-up to the 2016 start of the nine-game conference schedule. The essential formula is that a given team will play the other six teams in their division plus two from the other for 2014 and 2015, and then that will expand to three teams from the opposite division in 2016. I believe that confirms what we suspected anyway.
Here's where you can find everyone's schedule - (LINK). As for our 2014 home slate, Indiana on the day after Halloween somehow makes me think of Charlie Brown saying, "I got a rock."
Maybe Brandon was thinking of 2015. Mature offensive and defensive lines, senior linebackers Ross and Bolden leading the defense, a rebuilt, mature secondary (with Dymonte and Peppers (!) hopefully), Shane Morris in his second year (assuming a redshirt), Green at RB, Harris at WR, PLUS a stacked home schedule EQUALS a good shot at going 12-0 or 11-1 and being in the playoffs? Nah, probably just happened.
I think you have to keep in mind that scheduling is done years out and that the most David Brandon really controls is the non-conference slate.
As we witnessed with Notre Dame, these relationships can be cancelled or changed. It happens all the time in college football.
The games with Utah, Oregon State and Colorado were clearly put in there in response to what was going to be a Big Ten/Pac 12 scheduling alliance. While that didn't happen, those games are still in place and we'll still see them played.
Now I'm sure Brandon had a voice in keeping Ohio State in the Eastern Division and making sure that game was at the end of the season. But IRT Michigan State, I imagine the conference opted to have them in the East because they didn't want UM's conference schedule restricted by the necessity of a permanent cross-divisional game.
I'm really not going to sweat the back to back games in East Lansing because those types of arrangements happen all the time in the scheduling world. Besides, it appears that UM's cycle of Eastern Division teams for the foreseeable future is as follows:
2014/6/8/20
Home: Penn State, Indiana, Maryland
Road: at Ohio State, at Michigan State, at Rutgers
2015/7/9/21
Home: Ohio State, Michigan State, Rutgers
Road: at Penn State, at Indiana, at Maryland
By 2016, Michigan will play either Nebraska or Wisconsin on what is likely to be a two year on, two year off arrangement. The other five teams from the west (Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue) will be put in a rotation so that they each have at least one game with Michigan over a two-year period.
If you couple that Nebraska/Wisconsin game with the major home and homes coming up (Arkansas, Virginia Tech), then the 2018 through 2021 seasons will be something like this:
2018 (5 Home B1G Games)
Home: Penn State, Indiana, Maryland, Arkansas
Away: at Ohio State, at Michigan State, at Rutgers, at Nebraska/Wisconsin
2019 (4 Home B1G Games)
Home: Ohio State, Michigan State, Rutgers, Nebraska/Wisconsin
Away: at Penn State, at Indiana, at Maryland, at Arkansas
Replace Arkansas with Virginia Tech for 2020/1 and you get the idea. I think what Brandon wanted to do here (in cooperation with the Big Ten) is to have a balanced schedule home/away for the higher end teams on the schedule. I suspect he didn't want another situation like he does now where he had Notre Dame, Nebraska and Ohio State all on the road or all at home.
If I were a UM fan, I'd just write off 2014/5 as transitional years in the scheduling and look forward to 2016 (when Nebraska or Wisconsin get on the schedule) and 2018 (when the major non-conference home and home games start kicking in).
What David Brandon has to do is get a quality non-conference opponent in place for the 2022 seasons and beyond. Programs like Texas, LSU, Miami-FL, Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Tennessee could be candidates for future games because they don't have an instate non-conference rival (such as Florida-Florida State or Clemson-South Carolina) and they might be persuaded to leave familiar ground and come up north.
He also has to make sure the buy-in game opponents are varied and interesting. I have to give him credit for getting Brigham Young, Oregon State and Colorado in here with no return date required. Add UNLV and Hawaii to that list and you can see he's trying to expand those no return date games to programs outside the usual MAC teams like Miami OH, Bowling Green, the directional Michigan schools, Toledo, etc.
Reflect the rational side of my reaction to the schedule
I feel a little silly buying Maryland season tickets last week, given that U-M won't be coming to town until 2015. I guess I'll have some amazing seats by the time they do...
With OSU/MSU away every other year, that provides an automatic easier schedule/harder schedule every other year.
Here's mine, from hardest to easiest:
Michigan: OSU, NWU, MSU on road, MN and NWU crossdivision
Nebraska: WI, NWU, MSU on road, MSU and Rutgers crossdivision
OSU: PSU, MSU on road, IL and MN crossdivision
Wisconsin: NWU on road, MD and Rutgers crossdivision
I agree with your list, once I figured out who NWU was.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
I need to say no more,
I will feel free to splurge on Notre Dame and OSU tickets this year. That home slate next year is just pathetic, not even meh... Taking the wife to Chicago for the weekend and catching the game at NW in '14 looks like the best option. Does that qualify for a home game?
Now do people understand why I said Michigan should go to the Big 12?
Just another prime example of why this conference does not desere Michigan. Fuck the idiots who run this league, the idiots who made the schedule and the B1G itself.
Past this year grows even stronger. With two kids and living in Chicago, it's becoming way less logical every day.
I have 4.
If there is one plus, if we win all our home games this year, we will win all of them in 2014 as well and have the longest home win streak in the nation I'd say.
another plus... us stub hubbers will get dirt cheap tickets to home games next year. (Some of us simply appreciate just getting into the stadium, no matter who we play, without it costing a small fortune).
We'll all be happy with the undefeated, 11-1, or 10-2 record at the end of the season.
I've got a feeling that even with the god-awful, shitty slate of home games Michigan has in 2014, student ticket prices will still go up that year.
1. Michigan's B1G Eastern Division rotation is as follows:
2014/6/8/20
Home: Penn State, Indiana, Maryland
Away: @ Ohio State, @ Michigan State, @ Rutgers
2015/7/9/21
Home: Ohio State, Michigan State, Rutgers
Away: @ Penn State, @ Indiana, @ Maryland
This is roughly what I expected, although I thought MSU and Indiana would be flip flopped. Not surprisingly, Maryland and Rutgers are split so that Michigan plays on the East Coast one per year.
2014 Schedule (7 Home/5 Road)
Aug. 30 APPALACHIAN STATE
Sept. 6 at Notre Dame
Sept. 13 MIAMI (Ohio)
Sept. 20 UTAH
Sept. 27 MINNESOTA
Oct. 4 at Rutgers
Oct. 11 PENN STATE
Oct. 18 Bye
Oct. 25 at Michigan State
Nov. 1 INDIANA
Nov. 8 at Northwestern
Nov. 15 Bye
Nov. 22 MARYLAND
Nov. 29 at Ohio State
2015 Schedule (7 Home/5 Road)
Sept. 3 at Utah
Sept. 12 OREGON STATE
Sept. 19 UNLV
Sept. 26 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Home: OHIO STATE, MICHIGAN STATE, NORTHWESTERN, RUTGERS
Away: @ Penn State, @ Maryland, @ Indiana, @ Minnesota
B1G Teams Not Played in 2014/5: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue
2. Synopsis: This schedule was built for Michigan to make a major title run in 2014/5 as a prelude to the 2016 season when the conference adopts a nine-game schedule and the new television negotiations come into play.
Nebraska and Wisconsin are conspicuously absent in 2014/5. As part of the weighted scheduling Delany said the conference was going to adopt starting in 2016, it makes sense that they don't show up on the schedule for the 2014/5 seasons.
2016 Schedule (8 Home/4 Away/5 Home B1G)
Sept. 3 HAWAII
Sept. 10 Open
Sept. 17 COLORADO
Sept. 24 BALL STATE
B1G East Home (3): PENN STATE, INDIANA, MARYLAND
B1G East Road (3): @ Ohio State, @ Michigan State, @ Rutgers
B1G West Home (2): NEBRASKA or WISCONSIN and 1 of ILLINOIS OR PURDUE OR IOWA
B1G West Road (1): 1 of @ Illinois or @ Purdue or @ Iowa
Synopsis: I'm guessing on the B1G West teams, but I suspect Nebraska or Wisconsin will be playing in Ann Arbor that year because it balances out the major team/rivalry games 2 at home (Nebraska, Penn State) with 2 on the road (@ Ohio State, @ Michigan State).
It also sets up future years when Michigan has home and homes with major teams (Arkansas in 2018/9 and Virginia Tech in 2020/1).
2017 (7 Home/5 Road/4 B1G Home Games)
9/11 CINCINNATI
Plus two home non-conference games
B1G East Home (3): OHIO STATE, MICHIGAN STATE, RUTGERS
B1G East Away (3): @ Penn State, @ Indiana, @ Rutgers
B1G West Home (1): 1 of ILLINOIS or PURDUE or IOWA
B1G West Road (2): @ Nebraska or @ Wisconsin and 1 of @ Illinois or @ Purdue or @ Iowa
Synopsis: David Brandon might be able to get a team to agree to a home-and-home to be played 2017 and 2022, but it's more likely the home non-conference schedule will be like 2016.
2018 through 2021
Arkansas and Virginia Tech are the major non-conference home and home opponents for these years. A schedule for those seasons include:
2018 (8 Home/4 Road/5 Home B1G)
Home (8): ARKANSAS, PENN STATE, INDIANA, MARYLAND, NEBRASKA OR WISCONSIN, 2 NON CONFERENCE, 1 B1G WEST
Road (4): @ Ohio State, @ Michigan State, @ Rutgers, @ 1 B1G West
2019 (6 Home/6 Road/4 Home B1G)
Home (6): OHIO STATE, MICHIGAN STATE, RUTGERS, 1 B1G WEST, 2 NON CONFERENCE
Away (6): @ Arkansas, @ Penn State, @ Indiana, @ Maryland, @ Nebraska or Wisconsin, @ 1 B1G West
2020 and 2021 are the same as above, but replace Arkansas with Virginia Tech. While there aren't seven home games per year, UM will still have 14 home games in a two year period.
We'll see what transpires in due course, but if the rotation for the Eastern Division is set, then we know at least six games per year IRT home or away. There is some guesswork for 2016 and beyond regarding where Nebraska and Wisconsin will fit in
Damn right. 14 and 15 should be ten win seasons before the bowl game
Seeing how we don't have Nebraska or Wisco on the schedule and have to play at state two years in a row, isn't it possible that they will make us play at Wisco or Nebraska in the future and give us two years of home games with state to even it out? Kind of like what they did with UM/msu in hockey with rotating who would have to give up a home game for the game at JLA.
A game of rock, paper, scissors?
What the hell?
You guys have covered it all pretty well here. I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus.
THE FUCK
a fall road trip to Chicago for the NW game...
If we don't have at least 7 wins out of that we have not met expectations.
Too much fucking whining. 2014 should be a solid year for the program and we should win a lot of games.