Michigan's 2016 schedule projects to be 2nd easiest

Submitted by I Like Burgers on

Thought this was kind of interesting. ESPN released some early 2016 projections, and has Michigan with the second easiest schedule out of the power 5 teams.  I knew they had an easy schedule, but didn't realize it was THAT easy.  Only Minnesota has a bigger cakewalk.

 

1. Minnesota

2. Michigan

3. Purdue

4. Maryland

5. Nebraska

 

You can also poke around on their FPI page: espn.com/fpi to look at some of the projections.  FWIW, they have Michigan with the best odds (29.3) to win the Big Ten, and have the projected W-L at 10.0-2.4 which seems about right.  I'd imagine Vegas will have the over/under around 10.5 wins.

UMAmaizinBlue

April 7th, 2016 at 1:45 PM ^

Alabama, because, well, rumor has it that they're very good. I love ripping on MSU for that loss, but we'd hardly fair much better last year. I'd still bet money on us putting points up on the board at least.

turd ferguson

April 7th, 2016 at 1:14 PM ^

I think it's mostly our out-of-conference schedule.  Our Big Ten schedule is about as tough as it could be.  We're in the stronger Big Ten division.  We have OSU, MSU, and Iowa on the road.  And we have a tough draw of Big Ten West teams (Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois).

The rating has to come from our out-of-conference schedule being so soft (Hawaii, UCF, Colorado at home), not having to play ourselves (unlike, say, Maryland, which has to play Michigan, OSU, MSU, etc.), and ESPN really thinking little of the Big Ten this year.

jkeathley

April 7th, 2016 at 1:30 PM ^

Hawaii, UCF and Colorado is weak, but that's basically what OSU's out-of-conference schedule has looked like since Meyer took over. 

Miami (OH), UCF, Cal and UAB

Buffalo, SDSU, Cal and Florida A&M

Navy, VT, Kent State and Cincinatti

VT, Hawaii, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan

This upcoming season will be the first time (under Meyer) they play a power school like Oklahoma. 

 

turd ferguson

April 7th, 2016 at 1:51 PM ^

"Since Meyer took over" isn't really fair if you're implying that he's avoiding competition, since it's not like Meyer showed up with empty schedules to fill.  Plus, OSU had some high-profile games before then (Texas, USC, Miami, etc.).

Regardless, though, this is a ranking of 2016 schedules, not 2012-2015 schedules.  Our out-of-conference schedule is undeniably weak this year.

OhioBornMauiBlue

April 7th, 2016 at 1:48 PM ^

Easy to understand considering we don't schedule powerhouse programs like Chattanooga, Western Kentucky, Alabama A&M and Arkansas State! And those are just on Alabama and Auburn's schedules this year. I haven't bothered to check what blue blood teams are scheduled with the rest of the SEC teams.
Looks like the bias is strong with ESecPN.




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JonnyHintz

April 7th, 2016 at 4:39 PM ^

But we don't have a single tough non conference game. UCF, Hawaii, and Colorado combined for a 7-31 record last season, and all are home games.

Iowa loses a lot and isn't expected to be too tough. Even if you consider them tough, there's still only 3-4 games next season that should really pose any sort of challenge. You look at most other teams, they have a tough non-conf game or two coupled with a difficult conference schedule.

It's not too hard to see Michigan having a pretty easy schedule, even with MSU and OSU on the road.

I Like Burgers

April 7th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^

FWIW, every top team in the projections has around a 10-2 record projected.  FSU has the best record projected and they are 10.6-1.9

Even Vegas rarely goes above 10.5 wins for their annual over/unders.  I think Ohio State was the only one last season.