Big Ten Schedules for Next Five Years Released: We Get Oregon, Washington, USC Next Year
October 5th, 2023 at 12:36 PM ^
This is interesting and not that bad. We have had more challenging schedules in the past.
Only one trip to the West Coast each year. That is good.
October 5th, 2023 at 12:40 PM ^
Texas next year also.
October 5th, 2023 at 2:29 PM ^
New playoff system means all these Quadrant 1 games will really set up Michigan's playoff resume!
Oh--and we will likely be breaking in a new QB, starting two RBs, almost the entire OL, NT, CBs, Ss, and a bunch of other starters.
Oh--and probably a new head coach.
<shrug> More reason to enjoy this season while it lasts!
October 5th, 2023 at 7:22 PM ^
I know this site hasn't talked much about the Harbaugh to the Chargers rumors. But the rumor says Harbaugh is already setting up to move to LA, with the only thing stopping it is if the Chargers somehow win the Super Bowl with their current coach. So yeah, with all those possible changes you listed, what would the worst record possibly be, and what would the best record possibly be? The best maybe 10-2? The worst maybe 7-5? Yikes. Like you said---enjoy this year. We might not get another one like it for a while.
I don't like it that it looks like the Ohio St game is going to be moved up from being the last game, and Michigan will be playing USC on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Maybe that is not set in stone yet though.
October 5th, 2023 at 8:12 PM ^
As much as I want OSU last, I would love to set up USC permanently as the last game of the year. Make those fuckers play us in the cold every other year.
October 5th, 2023 at 8:56 PM ^
You annoy me with your Twitter posts. Also your Twitter post is wrong and doesn’t even have the right opponents on it. So the schedule is obviously wrong.
October 5th, 2023 at 10:15 PM ^
https://fbschedules.com/2024-michigan-football-schedule/
October 5th, 2023 at 10:43 PM ^
First off, you didn’t embed the link. Second off, what you are linking is the same thing as your Twitter post that you want people to follow. The website opponents are wrong, thus your tweet is wrong. What they have as a schedule contradicts what was just announced. Are you not seeing that?
October 27th, 2023 at 8:46 PM ^
So "Ricki tiki" is the new "pond time"?
Good to know.
October 5th, 2023 at 11:20 PM ^
Johnson can't leave this year at CB at least. And honestly not concerned about DT, lose Jenkins but Graham, Grant and Benny return. That is still a hell of a group. A chance Edwards come back and the young safeties at least have some experience now with the injuries through the first five games.
October 5th, 2023 at 12:53 PM ^
LoL, what?
Texas and Fresno State are both likely to be ranked when we play them next year.
They could play 8 ranked teams next year.
Texas, Fresno State, Minnesotan, Oregon, USC, Illinois, Ohio State, and Washington all could very likely be ranked.
I can't recall a schedule harder than this one.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:00 PM ^
We play 5 teams that are currently ranked in the top ten.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^
Many of which are losing upperclassman QBs this year and will be rebuilding. I doubt they will all be top 10 next year, and we may be included in that statement.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:48 PM ^
Going to be some epic battles in the portal for QBs next year.
October 5th, 2023 at 2:45 PM ^
JJ must comeback or to the portal we go.
October 5th, 2023 at 7:30 PM ^
Why would he come back. He's going to make 10's of millions.
October 5th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^
Lol they are saying the same thing about us...we likely lose JJ.
October 5th, 2023 at 4:59 PM ^
No chance we are losing JJ. He is — at best — the 5th highest rated qb in this year’s draft and likely a late 2nd or third round pick. He stays one more year and he is the first or second best qb and goes mid-first round. He and Harbaugh are staying.
Also: Texas, Washington, USC and Oregon lose a ton of guys too. We will be fine.
October 5th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^
Lol they are saying the same thing about us...we likely lose JJ.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:44 PM ^
We play 5 of the 8 total top-9 teams in all polls not named Michigan
October 5th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^
I think you guys are counting Penn State, who we don't play.
October 6th, 2023 at 12:03 PM ^
Negative. Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, USC, and Washington are ALL in the Top 9 in EVERY poll, and occupy 5 of the top 8 non-Michigan spots in every ranking.
Next year, Michigan plays 5 of the current top-8 in all national rankings.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:01 PM ^
Could very likely be ranked is doing a lot in your take. Minnesota and Illinois are not ranked teams at the moment and I don't see what in either of their trajectories makes you believe they will be. USC, Oregon and Washington are looking great this year -- but all 3 will be without their starting QBs next year (yes I realize UM could potentially be in that situation) so it's not "very likely" that they will all be ranked (certainly a possibility)
A tough schedule to be sure -- and probably the toughest on paper at this moment of any B1G team -- but par for the course. Also, absurd to bring in USC / Oregon and then not have them play each other next year
October 5th, 2023 at 1:22 PM ^
USC and Oregon will most definitely reload. Washington May regress because they lose Penix and top NFL WRs. Texas is going to be Top 10 reload. They will have a high level QB, etc.
Next year will be the most difficult schedule for Michigan that I can recall. OSU’s got a much easier conference schedule, only facing 1 team joining from the PAC.
Harbaugh will have iron sharpened by iron, no doubt.
October 5th, 2023 at 5:12 PM ^
Washington also has a pretty tough slate next year.
Home vs Michigan, USC, UCLA
At Oregon, Penn State, Iowa (b/c Kinnick weirdness)
October 5th, 2023 at 1:10 PM ^
Champions play the schedule they're given, which, I know, is an obvious statement. The 2023 team gets to plays a weaker schedule, or at least on paper it's "easier." If they win a championship, I won't think lesser of them for it. The older peeps on this Board recall hard schedules, maybe even schedules harder than what's on paper for 2024-2027. Look no further than our last championship team, 1997:
- A 27-3 upset against the No. 7 Colorado Buffaloes
- A 28-24 victory against the No. 15 Iowa Hawkeyes - its closest win of the year
- A 23-7 win over the No. 14 Michigan State Spartans
- A 34-8 upset over the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions
- A 26-16 victory over the No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers
- A rivalry win against No. 4 Ohio State by a score of 20-14
https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/remembering-michigans-last-national-championship-season-in-1997
October 5th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
Don't forget that we also beat ND and their hotshot QB Ron Powlus 21-14.
Wasn't Powlus predicted to win 3 or 4 Heismans?
October 5th, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
I just found this video of "The Pope " himself (Beano Cook) predicting multiple National Championships for Notre Dame and two Heisman Trophies for Powlus:
https://youtu.be/esL0SfF8bZo?si=oRDDIcjS08B3jYAk
Beano also predicted Powlus would go down in history as ND's greatest ever quarterback.
October 5th, 2023 at 2:10 PM ^
That Colorado team in 1997 wound up not being very good.
edit- I looked it up they were 5-6 (3-5 in conference)
October 5th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
If I recall, none of those teams ended up in the top 10. Which is why Nebraska was able to sneak into the coaches' spot after bowl season. (But also, it's because Scott Frost gave a whiny speach and Tom Osborne wanted a gold watch and got a crystal ball instead)
October 5th, 2023 at 4:24 PM ^
Our schedule didn't turn out after the fact to have been as tough as it was thought to be although it was still good. I was, and remain, convinced that we would have dispatched Nebraska. No one dimensional offense was going to succeed against that 1997 Michigan defense. WSU, who could run effectively and pass very well was in fact a tougher match-up (sadly their ranking had slipped after losing to Wash).
October 5th, 2023 at 4:56 PM ^
Not to mention that dipshit Phil Fulmer who was none too pleased about Woodson winning the Heisman over Manning
October 5th, 2023 at 7:05 PM ^
1997 was a great team and I believe they would have beaten Nebraska. Lloyd Carr didn't care about the score he played field position and clock as much as anyone just so they win. The more the season went on the more Carr played ball control over scoring. That downward trend cost them a unanimous title.
PSU had a power rating of 18 when they played Michigan which had something in the top 5 IIRC. While I was surprised by they way Michigan won (and man what a timely trouncing it was) I was not at all surprised that they won.
October 6th, 2023 at 1:18 AM ^
Colorado played Nebraska pretty even in 1997.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:14 PM ^
We'll see about Fresno - they are undefeated but they've also played maybe the worst team in the MAC (Kent St), probably the worst MW team (Nevada), and probably the worst Pac-12 team (ASU). Purdue gave them quite a game this year and that's not a particularly inspiring team either.
Texas should be ranked but that's expected. OSU and PSU as well. But I don't see MSU, Minnesota, NW, IU, or Illinois suddenly becoming world beaters or being ranked. USC and Oregon should be ranked, and we'll see how UW looks without Penix and all those WRs; they're going to be turning over a ton of that offense next season.
It's a tough schedule but, for example, the 1994 schedule saw them play two national champion-level schools in Colorado and PSU along with some other highly-ranked teams (even if ND wound up being mediocre). You never know how schedules will wind up being but I suspect this will be a tough one but maybe not the death star we all fear.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:24 PM ^
I think JJ should stay next year until our schedule lightens up. The NIL Cash Machine needs to get warmed up, by god!
October 5th, 2023 at 2:04 PM ^
I wish Alex Orji wasn't injured. He could be getting valuable garbage time reps in preparation for fighting for the starting job next season.
The battle between him, Warren, Davis, and possibly Denegal will be very interesting.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^
1997 was brutal.
#8 Colorado
Baylor
Notre Dame
Indiana
#15 Iowa
#15 Michigan State
Minnesota
#3 Penn State
#23 Wisconsin
#4 Ohio State
#8 Washington State
October 5th, 2023 at 2:37 PM ^
After a schedule like that how did they end up with a 'shared' title.
October 5th, 2023 at 2:40 PM ^
Tom Osborne, Scott Frost's Mom, and Phil Fulmer. Never forget.
October 5th, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^
Mainly b/c of politics.
Also b/c all those teams ended up being much worse than their rankings at the time.
Ranked teams at the time that finished unranked: CU finished 5-6. Iowa and msu finished 7-5. Wisconsin finished 8-5.
PSU finished 9-3 and ranked #16/17 after getting smacked around by a bad msu team and then getting blown out in their bowl game to close the season.
osu finished 10-3 and ranked #12 after dropping the last 2 games of the season - to Michigan, obviously, and in a blowout to FSU in their bowl game.
notre dame wasn't ranked at the time, but finished 7-6. They were preseason #11, but hobbled into AA with a 1-2 record and crawled out 1-3.
That said, they play the schedule they're given. Can't help that losing to Michigan demoralized all those teams and sent them into a spiral.
October 5th, 2023 at 2:35 PM ^
1997, we played the (at the time) #8, #15, #15, #2, #23, #4, as well as an unranked ND, teams in the regular season.
October 5th, 2023 at 3:45 PM ^
Why would we expect Minnesota and Illinois to be ranked?
October 5th, 2023 at 8:43 PM ^
For all the griping about regional influence (err relevancy) on the CFB landscape, this is a welcome change as Wash, UO, and USC should help salt away the "they ain't played nobody" narrative that'll be on everyone's mind this year until the PSU game. There's a high probability Michigan will only play 2! ranked teams albeit teams ranked in the top 10, maybe top 5. I'd be willing to keep playing the cupcake OOC schedule if their going to end up playing 5 ranked conference teams anyways.
Side note: With 18 total teams in the conference moving forward, I could see about 7 or 8 teams losing all relevancy, especially if divisions are removed. If you're IU, NW, or Illinois, at what point do you get sick of losing most, if not all, your conference games with little shot at a conference championship?
Of course no AD or head coach is going to come right out and say we have no shot but after 10 or so years of this trajectory, the have-nots of the lower half of each conference are better off forming their own division or league for at least a chance to play meaningful football later in the season. I don't mind the blowout wins here or there and they're great to warm up for the tough schedule in November but I'll be damned if I haven't been straight up bored for the 2nd half of the games played this season through week 5.
October 5th, 2023 at 12:37 PM ^
A lot of high profile games next year...hopefully with all we lose we have more capable to step up.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:05 PM ^
The game reps of the 3’s and 4’s this season is going to yield dividends. Development and growth.
October 5th, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
Brian certainly got his wish of a break from Rutgers at least, lol
October 5th, 2023 at 12:42 PM ^
I really wanna see those west coast teams in their November conference road games.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:11 PM ^
They'll be okay especially the Northwest teams. I live out here and I've seen some really nasty weather in November with torrential downpours and snow in the Apple Cup. Playing in a driving rainstorm in Husky Stadium in November won't be fun for a visting team either.
October 5th, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^
..?
I'm not saying it never snows or rains hard in Seattle, but those sound more like Pullman Apple Cups to me. Seattle rain is just an uncomfortable cold mist that comes at you from all directions for nine months out of the year.