Michigan OOC Football Schedules
These are the next 9 out of conference football games on Michigan's schedules:
2021
Home - Western Michigan
Home - Washington
Home - Northern Illinois
2022
Home - Colorado State
Home - Hawaii
Home - Connecticut
2023
Home - East Carolina
Home - UNLV
Home - Bowling Green
Do you see a pattern here? I won't candy coat it, besides Washington the next 3 season OOC schedules just suck. Not only are we playing 8 tomato cans, every game is in Ann Arbor.
This strategy would be closer to palatable if we could actually beat OSU once every 3 or 4 years. But even then I'd still prefer to test ourselves against at least one good/great out of conference foe every season. But to have a built-in guaranteed loss at the end of November these schedules just kill whatever is left of my fandom. I don't really have much to look forward to at this point.
One caveat that I would like to point out, I personally absolutely love going to fun games across the country, Michigan games or not. I've now been to I think 25 D1 stadiums and plan to hit them all. So to not have the opportunity to see Michigan play in a fun OOC game just depresses me. I'm jealous of those that got to see Michigan play great away games back in the 80s/90s.
Also, I realize that we have some great away games currently scheduled beyond 2023. But there are always rumors floating around that our AD is trying to get out of those contracts because home games are more profitable. So I fully expect our away games @ Texas (2024) and @ Oklahoma (2025) to become home games vs. Albion & Hillsdale.
What say you?
I'll take whatever win we can get at this point.
Yeah sorry but I can't get excited about a high profile OOC game when we aren't even sure if we can beat Rutgers/Maryland, let alone Penn State, Wisconsin and obviously Ohio State (and Michigan State for that matter).
That's 2-3 L's already for most seasons. I'd rather give the team easy W's to gain experience and work out kinks in the offense/defense. When we're steamrolling through the schedule on a regular basis like Ohio State, then I'll be mad we don't have more high profile opponents.
“when we aren't even sure if we can beat Rutgers/Maryland, let alone Penn State, Wisconsin and obviously Ohio State (and Michigan State for that matter)”.
This is precisely why we SHOULD play high profile OOC games. If we’re going to be 9-3 every season then we might as well play a great road game so that we can enjoy great college towns across the country.
I'm pretty comfortable with time and financially. But I don't and most people don't have the time and money to travel for a football game. Or really want to .
And every time I have I've regretted it. Except 06 OSU
Agree. OSU 06 was the greatest game I’ve ever been to. Didn’t like the outcome. But with Bo’s death and what was at stake, the atmosphere was awesome.
This is precisely why we SHOULD play high profile OOC games. If we’re going to be 9-3 every season then we might as well play a great road game so that we can enjoy great college towns across the country.
It's a great notion, but you obviously don't understand the economics of modern day college football, especially on the heels of a season without any gate revenue. OOC home games are cash cows that are desperately needed for financial reasons, much less victories.
I def used to think this way, but don't really anymore. I get not having a tough game right off the bat, but watching the team play a vastly overmatched team is really boring to me. I don't want to go so far as to say that I would rather them lose to a great team, but those games are way more fun to watch in my opinion.
Complaining about easy schedule is the dumbest thing you can do right now. Only thing that matter is to make the playoffs. And the playoff committee doesn't give a shite about SOS. All they care is how many loses you have. We already have a guaranteed loss with OSU. You better make sure every other game is a win if you want ANY chance of making playoffs.
The OP is saying that for him, the playoff is not the only thing that matters. I happen to agree with him. I respect that others feel differently. But lord knows when we’re going to beat OSU again. Might as well have something else to be excited about. (And anyway if OSU is a guaranteed loss, no way to make the playoff without a quality non-conference win, regardless of how many teams they allow in.)
See, the thing is, I'm not a player or coach so that isn't the only thing that matters to me. I like to watch good football games. I always find it hilarious that teams have to get "easy" wins and shouldn't play good teams in order to make the playoff. Maybe if teams can't beat good teams, they shouldn't be in the playoffs? At this point CFB is NFL light, so just play 2 pre season games that don't count if you need warm up games.
I mean, I get that drubbing a directional school doesn’t make for the most exciting game, but the way things have been going - it’s nice to get a couple more Ws
What's the point of worrying about this? Just win. It doesn't matter who we play. It's not like playing a weaker out of conference schedule actually affects the likelihood of getting into the playoffs. Historically the playoff committee gives zero shits about that. If that changes, then worry ahead.
Plus, those Texas and Oklahoma games are home and homes. You cancel the away games, you have to cancel home games too. That's a lot more work. The only reason we're getting away with Washington only playing at home is because of covid.
Important to note that we aren't going to get away with playing Washington only at home. OSU and Oregon just rescheduled their home and home for 2032-2033 and OSU is now paying Oregon $3.5M to come play them in the Shoe this year.
Michigan will likely have a similar agreement with Washington or they will reschedule the away game for the future.
I hope we do actually. It would be very cool to see Michigan play in Seattle.
I do too. I had my plane tickets and hotel booked for that game before COVID hit.
Sailgating at Husky Stadium is the best pre-game I've ever been to. Highly recommend.
I’ll take “Things Andy Bernard would say” for $300.
At first I skipped past the S... indeed if you can get there by boat, do it! TAILgating at Husky Stadium is not amazing. With only a few exceptions people really keep to themselves and are not friendly. And it’s all cement parking lots.
Yeah, one problem is that the Stadium is tucked between campus and the water, so there aren't really any homes (or basically, any non-UW-owned property) anywhere near the stadium.
Not sure if "worrying" is the correct term. I just love getting excited about big games. Yes, I also enjoy being able to travel around and watching Michigan play in new stadiums across the country.
If we are going to go 9-3/8-4 every season including losing to OSU to end our season, you might as well include at least one home and home vs a good/great OOC opponent. I understand that our @ UW game was cancelled to covid last season, but that doesn't excuse 2022 & 2023's absurd schedules.
And for those that have replied "just win" or "rack up the wins" by scheduling tomato cans, my reply would be "why?". In the current state of college football what good is beating 3 tomato cans? So you can feel better about yourself? Because 9-3 is such a big difference compared to 8-4? We're still going to lose to OSU and play in a meaningless bowl game where a half dozen of our best players will opt to sit out. Sign me up for going 8-4 (MAYBE 9-3) with a great OOC game that will actually be exciting to watch and possibly travel to. Give me an experience to remember over beating the crap out of Bowling Green.
I'm surprised so many here would prefer an easy schedule over a fun/exciting one.
I mean, since Harbaugh has been here we have played @Utah, @ND, were going to play @Washington before it was canceled, played a neutral site game against Florida, got Colorado and Oregon State to come here in one-offs. Not like we constantly duck quality out of conference games. Hell, even when we canceled the Arkansas series, we replaced it with ND.
I was disappointed the UCLA, Arkansas and VT series didn't end up happening but there was always going to be issues when we went to 9 B1G games and are going to have years where we only get 4 of those games at home. The AD has been very clear about wanting 7 home games every year both from a budget perspective and a ticket perspective for season ticket holders.
As far as 2022 is concerned, we currently have 8 home games scheduled. Washington only has 6 home games scheduled that year (and only 2 OOC, neither of which are P5) so I'm still holding out hope that Michigan might make up the return trip to Seattle that year and move one of those G5 games to another year.
It’s clear that Harbaugh and the AD want to just win as many games as possible. Fans will respond better to wins, even against bad opponents, compared to a loss against a good one. I believe Harbaugh was extremely upset that Michigan was scheduled to travel to Washington and UCLA. There wasn’t enough time to cancel Washington, but he hated the fact Michigan was scheduling road games on the west coast.
Yeah we need wins any way we can get them but one thing not being mentioned is what happens if we lose one of these easy OOC games with a coach who's seat is already warm?
I think Western Michigan is going to be a much closer game then people are anticipating.
Love this path.
Get the win.
More tix sold by season ticket holders means I can bring my kids to a game.
Long term fan base builder with short term revenue. A sound model.
Maybe those teams think we are a "tomato can" too.
Toledo agrees. Akron wants to play again.
Boo hoo umbig11
I wish our OOC every year rotated between one of the directional Michigan schools, a team from out of region (UNLV, CSU, etc), and a middling P5 program (Oregon State, West Virginia type). The directional schools are a lot of fun for students since their friends can come hang, the out of region gives us a little more reach, and the P5 team gives us reach and a P5 win.
Just win! At the end of season I can't always remember who we beat ,but I do remember 2-4
If you're Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel, there is zero benefit to scheduling good teams.
If you're a fan, there is zero benefit to bitching about Jim Harbaugh and Warde Manuel not scheduling good teams.
.if you are on mgoblog, you like to bitch every day. This is a prerquisite for joining along with$5
I clearly misread the temperature of the room. I’m fully in the camp that until we can actually compete for a national championship then just give me the opportunity to see Michigan play at bucket list stadiums across the country to experience new things.
seems like the board would prefer to rack of wins against tomato cans so we can go 9-3 instead of 8-4 every season. Because that’s basically what’s happened and will continue to happen.
moms, go ahead and delete.
I don't think you're off base for not loving the 2022 and 2023 OOC schedule. But I think we should also acknowledge that Michigan typically plays 1 P5 OOC game a year and 2022/2023 is out of the norm. I won't even count ND outside of 2018/2019 since that game was essentially replaced due to the 9 game conference schedule.
But you'll have to go all the way back to 2013 for the last time we played 3 G5 teams and that's not completely fair either since UConn was in the Big East when that game was scheduled and 2013 was the first year after the Big East disbanded for football. 2011 was the last time it happened before then. So I don't think going 11 years between truly soft OOC schedules is a problem.
seems like the board would prefer to rack of wins against tomato cans so we can go 9-3 instead of 8-4 every season. Because that’s basically what’s happened and will continue to happen.
You sound kind of bitter? I don't think people necessarily whole-heartedly disagree with you, but you DO seem to be putting a lot of weight on your own personal desire to visit various stadiums around the country, a desire no one has shared yet. It also seems odd that you say
until we can actually compete for a national championship then just give me the opportunity to see Michigan play at bucket list stadiums across the country to experience new things.
And lobby for tougher OOC scheduling, but then somehow expect us to randomly compete for a national championship? When we have struggled with the moderately difficult scheduling we have had put together in recent years? I don't feel like you can have them scheduling tough OOC opponents that see you going from stadium to stadium around the country AND wind up randomly competing for a national championship.
Recruiting drives most of the success in college football, coupled with good-great coaching. Scheduling harder games and then losing them and going 6-6 instead of 9-3 is going to have implications on the recruiting trail. Especially if they heed your advice to just continue scheduling that way until they wind up in the national championship game.
Pretty cool you have been to so many stadiums tho, hope you get to see a lot more
I get it, and it's a cool point. If that's your bag, then I understand where you're coming from.
I too like to visit college towns, and go on road trips in general. But I have no desire to watch Michigan get their butts kicked as a part of it.
The Big Ten East is difficult enough, especially considering that we get hosed with our West crossovers every year. I see no reason to add more Ls while we are struggling.
Honestly, a lot of this has to do with the 9-game conference schedule. Prior to that change we had an agreement with the PAC12 in which we were doing home and homes but now with 5 conference road games every other year you must have all 3 of your non-conference games be at home every other year to make the money work and only cup cakes will play a road game without getting a return trip.
When I was younger (like kid age) I preferred tomato cans but at some point over the years I've changed my mind.
I'd gladly take an NFL model schedule where finishing 8-4 would be a very good year and 10-2 or 11-1 is something only one or two teams in the country manage. I'd rather watch good football teams play each other.
I just posted this above and am the same. I went to KSU in the late 90's and Bill Snyder basically invented this model and got killed for it every year. KSU would be up 4 TD's by the end of the first. I thought it was great back then because KSU needed more wins than say UM to move up in the rankings. Now that i'm older, I just want to watch good/big games. I don't have the time to watch every second of every game and I def don't want to watch a blowout or, even worse, see the team struggle with a clearly over matched team. I'd much rather look forward to and watch an early "big" game or at the very least, a game against an interesting "mid tier" team. There should be at minimum one decent OOC opponent every year IMO.
see the team struggle with a clearly over matched team
But wouldn't this then be considered a good scheduling job? If we are struggling with a team, then the game is probably more of a competition than everyone expected, right? And, if we are struggling with a clearly overmatched team, doesn't that suggest that you might be watching Michigan get blown out when playing tougher teams? Maybe I'm wrong, but I just feel like the scheduling thing is a combination of balancing a schedule that is built years in advance with the trajectory of your program; you want to have enough balance between winnable and tough games as you can, and the beginning of the year (in addition to being the only OOC time for most of the B1G) is a great time to have a few softies and then work out your personnel issues and scheming issues while you roll into the tougher part of the season.
FWIW I completely understand where people are coming from; half the time I only watch bits of the first game or games of the season (especially when we were more or less supposed to win) and start to pay more attention when the conference schedule opens up
At this point, I’m just happy we’ll apparently be able to be there in person.
It’s one thing to not put yourself through a crucible of tests, it’s quite another to choose this route on the OOC schedule. It really shows a lack of confidence. This is part of the culture problem.
I think ‘22 and ‘23 are more out of the norm if you give it more context.
2017-Florida
2018-ND
2019-ND
2020- Would’ve been UW
2021-UW
2022- Tomato Cans
2023- Tomato Cans
2024- Texas
2025- Oklahoma
Extending it even further, you get Oklahoma again and Texas again the following two years.
Shut up nerd. A lot of big schools do this and it has 0 effect on their ranking. It actually makes more sense to not schedule a tough opponent ooc.
Sorry about calling you a nerd.
Go with "Poindexter" next time.
I mean the 2023 schedule is embarrassing! No one is saying schedule Clemson or Georgia, but at least one decent G5 school like Cincinnati would be cool. I mean hell they could’ve played the directional schools in the state instead of the garbage they are going to charge fans top dollar to see.
I’d note that the ugliest looking OOC schedule can change based on the results in a given year. 2016 looked really weak (Hawaii, UCF, Colorado). All three teams went to bowls, and Colorado won its division.
And UCF outhit everyone.