Michigan Football will be Pelini Free for 4 Years

Submitted by alum96 on

Some good news and some bad news for us who are becoming Bo Pelini fans.  Do Due to the super secret Big 10 scheduling algorithm it appears Nebraska is not on our schedule for the next 4 years.  (Just noticed this) So the only way to face the Pelini's will be in the Big 10 championship game.

That's a bummer because the programs are on a similar level right now, they have a great fan base, it's 2 good brands, and a high quality football game most of the time.  The main positive is it makes it easier to root for the Fighting Pelini's since nothing they do can hurt us - and they can help us by beating heated rivals such as Rutgers and Maryland.

We also only see 1 year of Ferentz in the next 4 years, but he is not quite as fun of a dude.

Hold me Brown Bear.

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GoWings2008

August 12th, 2014 at 11:15 AM ^

for the most part are pretty good fans as well.  Interacting with them is usually a good experience because they seem to honor their history the same way Michigan does.  All except that 1997 nonsense.  #scottfrostisawhiner

Joined: 01/26/2011

MGoPoints: 69673

MayOhioEatTurds

August 12th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^

I'm going to miss playing Nebraska, and opportunities to mock the cat man, too. 

Irregular play against teams like Nebraska is a serious downside of recent Big 10 Expansion.  Along with doubling up on away games with rivals.  (On the plus side of the ledger, we get to play Rutgers and Maryland with regularity!)

Joined: 06/29/2013

MGoPoints: 5893

MayOhioEatTurds

August 12th, 2014 at 1:53 PM ^

Touche'. 

By "recent Big 10 expansion" I intended Maryland (2014) and Rutgers (2014).  I did not intend Nebraska (2011--a fairly recent addition), or Penn State (1990), etc. 

Perhaps "extremely recent Big 10 expansion," or "this year's expansion" would have been closer to the mark. 

 

Joined: 06/29/2013

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othernel

August 12th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^

I always thought UW fans were always the most fun fans to come to the big house. The competition was big enough, but without all the pure hatred rhetoric of the rivalry games. Also going to Camp Randal is always a blast

 

Joined: 08/04/2009

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Erik_in_Dayton

August 12th, 2014 at 11:29 AM ^

I'm still not used to thinking of Nebraska as a Big Ten team.  The fact that Michigan won't see them for four years because Maryland and Rutgers are in the conference is almost too weird to accept.   

Joined: 12/03/2008

MGoPoints: 58983

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

August 12th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^

You're not in the same conference with a team if you recruit kids that will get their degree and yet never play that team.  The Lions play AFC teams more often than that.  AL teams play NL teams more often than that.   The B1G is not a conference, it's a loose association agreement between two separate conferences.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

LSAClassOf2000

August 12th, 2014 at 11:52 AM ^

Another minor note, I believe that in 2016, Northwestern and Minnesota vanish temporarily and we pick up Illinois and Purdue for a couple years, so there's that as well. One of these days, I am going to try to build the scheduling algorithm, but then I think my efforts would be discovered and we'd get stuck playing Rutgers nine times one season as a punishment. 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130560

Erik_in_Dayton

August 12th, 2014 at 12:03 PM ^

They'll be around for at least 2016-2019.  Illinois joins in 2016 but then drops off again until 2019.  Purdue joins in 2017 and then drops off again until an unknown date. 

And the 2016 non-conference schedule is terrible. 

 

2 0 1 4
Date Opponent
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* (HC)
Nov. 8 at Northwestern*
Nov. 15 Bye
Nov. 22 MARYLAND*
Nov. 29 at Ohio State*
Dec. 6 Big Ten Championship Game
   
2 0 1 5
Date Opponent
Sept. 3 at Utah
Sept. 12 OREGON STATE
Sept. 19 UNLV
Sept. 26 BRIGHAM YOUNG
Oct. 3 at Maryland*
Oct. 10 NORTHWESTERN* (HC)
Oct. 17 MICHIGAN STATE*
Oct. 24 Bye
Oct. 31 at Minnesota*
Nov. 7 RUTGERS*
Nov. 14 at Indiana*
Nov. 21 at Penn State*
Nov. 28 OHIO STATE*
Dec. 5 Big Ten Championship Game

2 0 1 6
Date Opponent
Sept. 3 HAWAII
Sept. 10 CENTRAL FLORIDA
Sept. 17 COLORADO
Sept. 24 Open
Oct. 1 WISCONSIN*
Oct. 8 at Rutgers*
Oct. 15 PENN STATE*
Oct. 22 ILLINOIS* (HC)
Oct. 29 at Michigan State*
Nov. 5 MARYLAND*
Nov. 12 at Iowa*
Nov. 19 INDIANA*
Nov. 26 at Ohio State*
Dec. 3 Big Ten Championship Game
   
2 0 1 7
Date Opponent
Sept. 2 vs. Florida (Arlington, Texas)
Sept. 9 CINCINNATI
Sept. 16 AIR FORCE
Sept. 23 at Purdue*
Sept. 30 Open
Oct. 7 MICHIGAN STATE*
Oct. 14 at Indiana*
Oct. 21 at Penn State*
Oct. 28 RUTGERS* (HC)
Nov. 4 MINNESOTA*
Nov. 11 at Maryland*
Nov. 18 at Wisconsin*
Nov. 25 OHIO STATE*
Dec. 2 Big Ten Championship Game

2 0 1 8
Date Opponent
Sept. 1 ARKANSAS
Sept. 8 Open
Sept. 15 SMU
Sept. 22 NEBRASKA*
Sept. 29 at Northwestern*
Oct. 6 MARYLAND*
Oct. 13 WISCONSIN*
Oct. 20 at Michigan State*
Oct. 27 Open
Nov. 3 PENN STATE*
Nov. 10 at Rutgers*
Nov. 17 INDIANA*
Nov. 24 at Ohio State*
Dec. 1 Big Ten Championship Game
   
2 0 1 9
Date Opponent
Aug. 31 at Arkansas
Sept. 7 Open
Sept. 14 Open
Sept. 21 at Wisconsin*
Sept. 28 Open
Oct. 5 IOWA*
Oct. 12 at Illinois*
Oct. 19 at Penn State*
Oct. 26 RUTGERS*
Nov. 2 at Maryland*
Nov. 9 Open
Nov. 16 MICHIGAN STATE*
Nov. 23 at Indiana*
Nov. 30 OHIO STATE*
Dec. 7 Big Ten Championship Game

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/081809aab.html

 

Joined: 12/03/2008

MGoPoints: 58983

alum96

August 12th, 2014 at 12:25 PM ^

Erik it depends.  UCF is not a big name but they were a VERy good team last year.  O'Leary has done great things with them recently.  They were 12-1 last year and beat Baylor in the BCS bowl.

They beat UConn 62-17 to put it in perspective.  They beat Louisville in Louisville.  They beat Akron 38-7.   They beat Penn State in happy valley.  Their only loss was to South Carolina by 3 or else it would have been an interesting situation for the NC game.

Obviously we don't know what they will be in 2 years but based on last year they were a top 10 team in the nation.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82266

alum96

August 12th, 2014 at 12:32 PM ^

They are way better than Arkansas right now.  I'd say the years with Arkansas on it are the worst non conf games unless that situation is turned around down there.

With the 9 game conf schedule you basically are going to have 1 baby seal, 1 mid tier (BYUish) and 1 premier team to replace ND.  So right now I'd actually put Arkansas as the mid tier in those years, meaning we lack a premier team.  Now does Brandon take a chance Arkansas reamins crap and not schedule a better team for those years or not.  Or does he do the 1 off things like we are doing with UF those years.  I don't see him giving up home revenue that often so if Arkansas in current condition is our "premier" non conf game for those 2 years that's not good.

Right now Arkansas is a faster version of Purdue.

Joined: 04/28/2012

MGoPoints: 82266

bjk

August 12th, 2014 at 12:23 PM ^

pleased when Delaney brought Nebraska into the conference, then we found out it meant having OSU in a different division. Finally we got that worked out, but it means playing Rutgers and MD regularly at the cost of historical rivals going back to the WWI era, as well as any potential improvements to the schedule like Nebraska. It is sort of difficult to keep a straight face when calling the result a "schedule." By now, it seems that it is not just Brandon, but the B1G and CFB as a whole that is hell-bent on driving its historic fan-base out the door in its indecent haste to cash in on TV revenue. It's getting harder to maintain anywhere near the old enthusiam for a system being mined and gutted by a bunch of jerks.

Joined: 11/26/2009

MGoPoints: 3993

Setshot

August 12th, 2014 at 2:22 PM ^

This is really unfortunate. I just looked this up a couple of weeks ago because I just moved to Omaha. Sad I won't be able to catch a Nebraska Michigan game in Lincoln while I'm out here. I think I'm going to the Nebraska Miami game now on September 20th to see my first game in memorial stadium. I'll still be wearing my maize and blue proudly that Saturday though!

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MGoPoints: 749