Michigan Football announces 4 non-conference games for 2021-2023
January 11th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
I wouldn't mind seeing on a year when we have 7 or 8 home games schedule EMU as a neutral site game at Ford Field.
January 11th, 2019 at 3:34 PM ^
I was just being sarcastic, but hell yeah, I would go watch a game in corn field
January 11th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
I’ll take it. Let’s do what these other schools do and not shoot ourselves in the foot early.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
Exactly - including scheduling teams that run the triple option and have blockers diving at the knees of your Defense.
I am still pissed at whoever scheduled Army this Fall...
January 11th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
MACtion!
January 11th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
No. This sucks ass.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
No, it's smart.
If we schedule a strong opponent and lose the only way we have a shot of getting to the playoff is to win out.
Scheduling a weak non-conf. schedule essentially gives you a gimme game (if you're good enough).
A 2-loss team simply isn't getting into the playoffs.
January 11th, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
So, Notre Dame, a strong opponent, was the gimme game this (past) year. Had we won out we would've been in the playoff.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
Why? You need a mix of patsies in there. Michigan has Washington as its big non-conference game in 2021.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
A "Hostess" group of games, Cupcakes and Twinkies.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:19 AM ^
Are the officials the Zebra Cakes?
January 11th, 2019 at 12:04 PM ^
They're the Ding Dongs!
January 11th, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
The 2021 schedule is now complete
- 9/4 vs Western Michigan
- 9/11 vs Washington
- 9/18 vs Northern Illinois
- 9/25 vs Rutgers (HC)
- 10/2 at Wisconsin
- 10/9 at Indiana
- 10/16 vs Michigan State
- 10/23 Bye Week
- 10/30 at Nebraska
- 11/6 vs Northwestern
- 11/13 at Penn State
- 11/20 at Maryland
- 11/27 vs Ohio State
- 12/4 B1G Championship
- 12/31 CFP Semifinals
- 1/10 National Championship
10/30 at Nebraska will be Michigan's first trip to Lincoln in 9 years (2012)
Michigan-Washington will be played on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 as well.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
It's pretty ballsy to schedule Rutgers as the Homecoming game.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
Rivalry game!
January 11th, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
Always send the rich alumni home with a win, Magnus. Which was a huge challenge during the Hoke years...
January 11th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
That looks like a tough schedule. I bet Frost has Nebraska hitting hard and winning games by 2021.
Also, why the hell is IU always the week before a rivalry game? Stupid.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
I agree - that's not an easy schedule.
As for IU being before a rivalry game, we generally play our 3 OOC games at the beginning. That leaves us only 9 weeks remaining. Of those 9 weeks, rivalry games include MSU, PSU and OSU. Pretty good odds that IU will be before one of those. Also, IU is not that good at football. We have just been mediocre over the past decade and they have played us well. If we take the next step, we should never be worried about IU. Trust me, OSU never says, "oh crap, we have to play IU before M or PSU." Second also, while MSU is definitely a rivalry game, if you look at the trajectory of their program, by 2021, they are NOT going to be good. Their recruiting has fallen off and they are settling into their historic spot of 5-7 win seasons and not being all that good at football.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
That's a good point. We might be facing MSU in Dan Enos' first year as HC if things keep going like they are.
January 11th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
How did we get hosed with Wisconsin and Nebraska on the road in the same year? Who is in charge of scheduling?
Frost will have Nebraska full operational by then and Wisconsin will continue its run as along as Alvarez is around. Ugh.
January 11th, 2019 at 1:33 PM ^
So, nothing to see here after 11/27?
January 11th, 2019 at 11:16 AM ^
We haven't played Colorado State since 1994, so it's nice to start up that rivalry again.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
#10 Colorado State in the 1994 Thrifty Rent-a-Car Holiday Bowl!
January 11th, 2019 at 11:29 AM ^
It was just announced today that UNCC will play defending national champion Clemson on Sept.21 in Clemson. The Conference USA school has played three other Power 5 conference schools in its 7-year history, Kansas State, Louisville and Tennessee. The 49ers will also play Appalachian State and Middle Tennessee which Michigan opens the season against next August.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
Boring, but if we are looking to compete for a playoff spot, unfortunately this is a good move. Unless you play in a weak conference and need a win against a top team for your resume, you get very little for playing a strong OOC game. We play PSU, OSU and usually at least one of Wisco, Neb., NW or Iowa, so if we win out, we will always have the resume to make the playoffs. Even if we drop one, if it is early enough and we don't go all OSU-against-Purdue, we are a lock for the playoffs. No need to make our road harder.
As an aside, this is a major flaw in the current playoff format.
January 11th, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
"We play PSU, OSU and usually at least one of Wisco, Neb., NW or Iowa, so if we win out, we will always have the resume to make the playoffs." Are you sure that's good enough? OSU was left out this year after dropping 1. I hate that we're acting like a bunch of pussies, hurting the value of the season all just to chase the CFP which we haven't been good enough to play in yet. If we think we are a top 4 team in the country, we shouldn't be worried about playing a VT, UCLA, Cal, Auburn, etc. If we can't beat them we probably don't belong in the CFP anyway.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:20 AM ^
Everyone who's complaining about playing these shitty teams needs to remember that Michigan would have been 11-2 this year, had they not ditched Arkansas to ND.
11-2 > 10-3
January 11th, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
11-2 at worst. It's possible that OSU might have made the CFP if they blew out an undefeated Michigan team, sending us to the Rose Bowl where all the players and coaches might've shown up.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:25 AM ^
This is a great point. If we were playing in the Rose, I expect that Rashan and JBB, and likely Higdon, would have played. And we would have won.
January 11th, 2019 at 2:43 PM ^
OSU was ranked very low prior to our game and we were still ranked #4. If we were undefeated I don't think we would have a better resume than ND, Clemson or Alabama so we would have still been #4. I don't think that woudl have helped OSU.
Either way, we're making up all kinds of scenarios to avoid playing football. I like watching them play football. If we're a top 5 team we shouldn't be so afraid to play real games out of conference.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Yep. Michigan would have been 11-0 going into the Ohio State game.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:42 AM ^
Elite recruits come to Michigan to play ND. They don't come to play Arkansas State.
January 11th, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
They sure as shit don’t come here to lose to ND.
January 11th, 2019 at 8:41 PM ^
That's why you "WIN THE GAME!"
January 11th, 2019 at 8:42 PM ^
That's why you "WIN THE GAME!"
January 11th, 2019 at 11:25 AM ^
Also of note:
Michigan's 2022 and 2023 schedules have just one more opening left to fill.
2022 schedule-
- 9/3 vs Colorado State
- 9/10 vs UCLA
- 9/17 OPEN DATE
- 9/24 vs Maryland
- 10/1 at Iowa
- 10/8 vs Penn State
- 10/15 vs Nebraska
- 10/22 at Michigan State
- 10/29 vs Illinois
- 11/5 Bye Week
- 11/12 vs Indiana
- 11/19 at Rutgers
- 11/26 at Ohio State
- 12/3 B1G Championship (Location TBA)
- 12/31 CFP Semifinals (Peach/Fiesta)
- 1/9 National Championship (Los Angeles)
2023 schedule-
- 9/2 at UCLA
- 9/9 OPEN DATE
- 9/16 vs Bowling Green
- 9/23 at Minnesota
- 9/30 Bye Week
- 10/7 vs Michigan State
- 10/14 at Nebraska
- 10/21 vs Purdue
- 10/28 at Maryland
- 11/4 at Penn State
- 11/11 vs Rutgers
- 11/18 at Indiana
- 11/25 vs Ohio State
- 12/2 B1G Championship (Location TBA)
- 1/1 CFP Semifinals (Rose/Sugar)
- 1/8 National Championship (Houston)
The B1G's contract with Indy ends after 2021. Perhaps Detroit gets a rotation?
January 11th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
As someone who lives in NY, I am hoping that after 2021, the B1G CG is played in NJ, home of the pride of the B1G; Rutgers.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:56 AM ^
Would be sorta to watch us play Deleware (FCS)
![2edc0cd5-df20-43c0-8c65-6fa9ace6603b-082118-blue_hens_scrimmage-269363-wb_[1].jpg](/sites/default/files/users/user96084/2edc0cd5-df20-43c0-8c65-6fa9ace6603b-082118-blue_hens_scrimmage-269363-wb_%5B1%5D.jpg)
January 11th, 2019 at 1:34 PM ^
Home and home with UCLA is interesting at least.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
We are finally getting serious about winning.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:29 AM ^
With our luck, they will all be juggernauts by the time we play them.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
With our luck, the CFP committee, in 2021, will change the formula for determining playoff spots to heavily weight strength of opponent.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
I still hate that we scheduled Army for next year... glad to not see service academies listed here.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
Rooting for "bodybag games" is odd. You want to watch your team beat good teams. That said it is good to have at least one tune-up game.
January 11th, 2019 at 11:52 AM ^
Northern Illinois is an occasional giant killer and Colorado State sometimes fields a decent team...but still glad to see tune up games on the schedule
January 11th, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^
Very blah.
January 11th, 2019 at 12:02 PM ^
This is sad beyond words.
Michigan should never be scheduling opponents that have no chance to win. I don't care about the playoff. I care about entertaining football and teaching something beyond "game the system and find the path of least resistance" to the players.
To everyone who says that Michigan would have fared better if they hadn't played ND -- you have no idea what you're talking about. It's possible they would still have won every game. It's also possible that they would have dropped a couple, because Ed Warinner wouldn't have been able to point to the ND game and say "we need to fix this."
Cupcakes make you soft.
January 11th, 2019 at 12:20 PM ^
Sure, this collection of 4 teams is exclusively Non-Power 5, but I disagree that they "have no chance to win." Michigan will be favored, yes. But these 4 schools are typically among the better in teams in the MAC and MWC. They make occasional Top 25 appearances. They will have a punchers chance.
If Michigan was scheduling Louisiana-Monroe, New Mexico State and Mercer (like a certain SEC team), then I'd listen to the "no chance to win" argument.
For better or worse, buy games against non-Power 5 schools are now a part of college football. It is very rare (Oregon State was the exception, not the rule) to get a Power-5 school to come in for a buy game. U-M is at least scheduling the more credible non-Power 5 schools for these buy games. I give them credit for that.
January 11th, 2019 at 1:11 PM ^
Hahahahaa - what?
I'm all for scheduling bums instead of real competition for non conference as that seems to be what a lot of teams are doing with some significant exceptions. But its embarrassing to suggest that we have scheduled "good bums" vs "bad bums". But you are certainly entitled to your opinion.
January 11th, 2019 at 2:11 PM ^
HAHAHAHAHA!
Clemson had Furman and and Georgia Southern on the schedule. And played in a very weak ACC.
Did they look soft to you?
Did Alabama look soft? B/c they played Arkansas St., Louisiana, and the Citadel this year.