Schedule Lays Out Nicely
Although this is still one of the toughest schedules overall in the country, I like how it lays out going forward for the following reasons:
1. The opponents and matchups get progressively more difficult for the most part allowing an improving team time and opportunity to develop talent and depth.
2. There is a nice break for the bye week to heal up with 4 games to go - not too early and not too late. It also breaks up the "murderers row" of Wisconsin, MSU, and PSU.
3. We have a couple of light games before OSU instead of recent years with physical road matches against Iowa and Wisconsin the week before The Game.
4. The road games (other than OSU) are not in pits of hell like Iowa or PSU. Northwestern will have more Michigan fans than the home team. MSU is not that loud or hostile - they can't even sell the place out regularly. Rutgers is Rutgers.
If the team continues to show improvement and we get some breaks, we could roll into Columbus at 10-1 and ready for a 2006 type of showdown with the Bucknuts. I'm not saying it will be easy but I think if the team continues its upward trajectory, it is doable. This is especially true if injured players such as Evans, Solomon, and Black return to gives us a boost along the way.
Sept. 29 @Northwestern 4:30, Fox
Oct. 6 Maryland Noon/TBD
Oct. 13 Wisconsin TBD
Oct. 20 @Michigan State TBD
Nov. 3 Penn State TBD
Nov. 10 @Rutgers TBD
Nov. 17 Indiana TBD
Nov. 24 @Ohio State Noon, Fox
September 23rd, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
OP does put a more flattering spin on our schedule. I want to believe. Unfortunately I also believe that our opponents will likewise improve week over week.
September 23rd, 2018 at 1:24 PM ^
Not a fan of going to Sparty after playing Wisconsin. I'd rather those 2 be flipped. Other than that I would agree with you that it can't get much better. 10-1 is pretty ridiculous to say though.
September 23rd, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
The problem is that apart from Notre Dame (to whom we lost), we haven't really played anyone halfway decent yet. Nebraska might be the worst team we've played so far, B1G notwithstanding. So although I'm glad we won, I don't think we learned much from yesterday's game.
September 23rd, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
No mention of our true rival? And The Game is in New Brunswick, NJ this time
September 23rd, 2018 at 7:04 PM ^
I remember what happened after we throttled Ped State two years ago kind of like we just throttled Nebraska. Except back then we didn’t have such an insane schedule capped by an OSU team led by their best QB of all time (yep I said it). 9-3 if lucky. 8-4 very possible.
September 23rd, 2018 at 8:46 PM ^
Let's not overlook MSU. We fall into that trap year after year. I grew up in the 90s when they were horrible and am waiting for order to be restored as well but until it happens expect a street fight. It doesn't get much more cliche than "throw out their records" but it's true in this case. I dont care if it's the Big House or E Lansing it's going to be a battle.
September 24th, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^
I can't think of anyone who thinks playing in East Lansing and Columbus in the same every two years now is "nice"