2023 Big Ten Schedule React
The Big Ten finally released its retooled schedule for next year. Here's the whole conference (click to big):
via Big Ten
And here's ours vs the old one:
Date | NEW | WAS |
---|---|---|
September 2 | East Carolina | East Carolina |
September 9 | UNLV | UNLV |
September 16 | Bowling Green | Bowling Green |
September 23 | Rutgers | at Minnesota |
September 30 | at Nebraska | Bye |
October 7 | at Minnesota | (at) Michigan State |
October 14 | Indiana | at Nebraska |
October 21 | at Michigan State | Purdue |
October 28 | Bye | at Maryland |
November 4 | Purdue | at Penn State |
November 11 | at Penn State | Rutgers |
November 18 | at Maryland | (vs) Indiana |
November 25 | Ohio State | Ohio State |
Note that on the old-old schedule MSU was at home and IU on the road, as this was announced before they fixed the home-road deal in 2020. For months before Michigan took the old schedule down I was getting board posts from people who thought they were going back to MSU being at home the same years as OSU.
Discuss. Not much to. Michigan's game at Penn State got pushed back a week while Ohio State gets home games against MSU and Minnesota in the weeks before The Game. MSU got their bye week moved up to two weeks before Michigan, with Rutgers in the way. Michigan's bye got moved to late October, the week after MSU. Getting Rutgers at the top of the year and the late-November version of Maryland is nice.
The opening week Big Ten games are Nebraska at Minnesota (Thursday night), IU-OSU, and Rutgers-Northwestern.
[After the JUMP: weak? why?]
Strong schedule? Weak schedule? Schedule?
Michigan's crossover games remain at Nebraska, at Minnesota, and vs Purdue. OSU's, for the record, are at Purdue, at Wisconsin, and vs Minnesota. Purdue and Minnesota are welcome to lodge their complaints with any Big Ten East team. With that Purdue game, a trip to Penn State, and Ohio State in November they get another good ramp-up, but once again might not be able to make the playoffs with one loss, pending a few teams along the way getting themselves ranked.
The one thing this schedule still lacks is a marquee non-conference opponent. A list of Power 5 matchups around the league:
- Ohio State at Notre Dame (9/23)
- Illinois at Kansas (9/9)
- El-Assico: Iowa at Iowa State (9/9)
- Minnesota at North Carolina (9/16)
- Nebraska at Colorado (9/9)
- Northwestern at Duke (9/16)
- Purdue at Virginia Tech (9/9)
- Purdue vs Syracuse (9/16 and holy hell Purdue)
- Wisconsin at Washington State (9/9)<---error in the graphic.
- Indiana vs Louisville at Lucas Oil Stadium (9/16)
- Maryland vs Virginia (9/16)
- Michigan State vs Washington (9/16)
- Penn State vs West Virginia (9/2)
- Rutgers vs Virginia Tech (9/16)
Michigan is the only Big Ten that doesn't play a Power 5 opponent outside the conference. The game at UCLA was scheduled for 9/2 but that was canceled and replaced with ECU.
Big Noon November?
A lot could change but at first glance all of Michigan's November games are likely to get the most ratings (Maryland performs well). It's possible that Illinois vs Minnesota is for the Big Ten West lead when Michigan plays Purdue, but with Michigan's home slate up to that point you'd imagine Fox would be itching to get to Ann Arbor. The one at Penn State is up against OSU at MSU. The Game is a gimme.
Is this because we're adding UCLA and USC?
No, this is a continuation of the fussing they did last year. They're still trying to figure out how to put the 2024+ seasons together.
Why are we doing this then?
The simple version is State screwed themselves when they screwed Michigan in 2014, and the Big Ten used the 2020 season to un-screw the situation but needed to reconfigure dates to deal with the fallout.
The mess was created in 2014, when Maryland and Rutgers joined. Michigan State used the opportunity to request the UM-MSU home-road years be flipped, giving State two home games in a row in 2013 and 2014. This accomplished a secondary goal of unbalancing Michigan's even/odd year home schedules, as MSU joined Ohio State (and at the time Notre Dame) on Michigan's odd year home slate. Indiana's series with both Michigan schools was swapped to make this happen. Via John U. Bacon in his book Endzone, the unpopularity of Dave Brandon among his fellow ADs was a contributing factor to the rest of the Big Ten going along with the plan. Only Indiana, who would now be getting Michigan and Ohio State at home on the same years, stood with Michigan against the plan.
This created the same problem for Michigan State, however. The Spartans were keen on moving it back but not if it meant Michigan got to host the extra home game. That changed with COVID, since State would be set to blow its hosting year on an empty stadium in 2020. MSU was down since it rescued a home game for them. Michigan was down because it cleaned up the scheduling imbalance.
This however had some cascading issues—like Michigan getting just one home game from 9/16 to 11/11—in future schedules, so the conference had to start moving things around, and that led to other schools requesting changes. The retooled 2021 and 2022 schedules were both announced late (if you have a 2021 edition of Hail to the Victors you may notice the opponents are out of order), and the Big Ten intended to settle long-term matters starting in 2023.
However with USC and UCLA joining the conference in 2024, the 2023 season is now just a one-off, and new considerations came into play, mostly due to the curtailing of the Big Ten's locked rivals series. You will note Michigan was locked in with Wisconsin every year from 2016 to 2021. Starting with the 2022 rotation Ohio State was supposed to take their turn playing Wisconsin every season while Illinois rotated off their radars (great timing). The guess is they're going to blow the whole thing up again in 2024.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:41 PM ^
There's a lot to discuss. Most notably that in the old schedule my kids had off school the Friday before the Maryland game so I was going to head over the DC and take them. Now that game is moved so we're screwed. Why can't the big ten consult me before making scheduling changes like that? Fuck them.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
Me too. Originally they had the game at Minnesota the weekend of Sept 22-24 when the Twins are in town, so I was planning on seeing their new stadium and the Michigan game in one trip. Now they moved it to during the World Series, which is probably not going to have the Twins in it.
October 27th, 2022 at 12:13 AM ^
As a Twins fan, this is both true and hurtful.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
Right? And here I am trying to make the rounds of all the B1G stadia, and what do they do, schedule two of our most infrequent away games on back to back weekends! Annoying, to say the least.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
It may be heresy—probably is heresy—but the complications of fair / balanced scheduling make me open to the idea of dropping Staee as an annual game.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:53 PM ^
WTF? Playing rivals is the best part of college football. I'd much rather play MSU (and Notre Dame, as long as we're talking) than play more games against random teams like Maryland/Rutgers/Nebraska/Purdue.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:14 PM ^
This. Of course drop them if needed. Make them get in line to play like UM like everyone else. OSU gets the position of having a protected game every year with us.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
Surprised this is getting downvoted so much (and especially surprised at the reply above calling Purdue (a Big Ten founding member) a "random" school getting upvoted). The fact is sparty has way more to gain playing us than we do them and we are their super bowl while they are decidedly not ours. If we instead played sparty in even years and Minnesota in odd years that'd be great. Also wouldn't mind them being in the opposite division and potentially meeting them in the title game in years we didn't play them.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
Also wouldn't mind them being in the opposite division
Hard pass. I don't want to give MSU an easier schedule than us.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:33 PM ^
I mean it's not like they'd move into the current form of the Big Ten West. If they've got USC and UCLA in their division then I'm not too worried.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:28 PM ^
I included Purdue only to indicate that I'm not just talking about the new B1G arrivals, although they are of course at the priority chain. For me, gametime excitement goes OSU > MSU, ND > PSU or any nonconference contender > traditional B1G teams like Purdue > Maryland, Rutger, Nebraska > G5 fodder.
October 26th, 2022 at 4:02 PM ^
Little Brown Jug > Paul Bunyan Trophy
October 27th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
one hundred percent.
i still say that most people had no idea that the paul bunyan trophy even existed until sparty started winning it more than once every few years...and also started yapping about it.
winning the paul bunyan trophy is the least important thing about the rivalry.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:44 PM ^
Saw the new post and momentarily thought it was MSU related…
October 26th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
Really have to hope UNLV and ECU complete the process and make bowls this season, heck the Lloyd staff reunion down 75 might do the same.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:14 PM ^
ECU is generally frisky. That will be a good opener.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
I like the bye week being later in the season. Otherwise, the changes don't seem too consequential. Another run of soft opponents to start the season.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
I agree and it helps that OSU has their bye so early in the season (I think, maybe).
October 26th, 2022 at 1:43 PM ^
ECU is actually decent this year. The other two are decidedly not.
October 26th, 2022 at 12:51 PM ^
These are not the posts we are looking for *waves hand slowly*
October 26th, 2022 at 1:11 PM ^
UFR and FFFF are both like 95% done last I checked in.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
Why is that Italian man wearing a feather and animal bones?!
October 26th, 2022 at 1:52 PM ^
Shh...you're not supposed to know that.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Hey, don't believe everything Paulie Walnuts tells you.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:21 PM ^
There's about a quarter of a second where this guy looks identical to Bruce Willis.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:22 PM ^
Maybe I'm in the minority, but I like having the content backloaded this week. I was able to get my major work done early in the week, and am set up to veg out on content the rest of the week.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
I am merely a beggar but thank you for the update!!
October 26th, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
And Opponent Watch?? I know it come either late Wednesday of early Thursday, but I waiting...
Im waiting...
Im waiting...
October 26th, 2022 at 2:12 PM ^
9am tomorrow
October 26th, 2022 at 12:56 PM ^
Siri set timer to ask Seth about MSU and IU game locations every month beginning in January.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
I'm curious about the locations of the Minnesota and Purdue games on the "old" schedule The original 2020 schedule was supposed to be at Minnesota and home for Purdue before all of the COVID changes, so those should have been flipped in 2023. If I'm remembering correctly, all of these were announced in 2018. I guess long way of saying, I think the location of Minnesota and Purdue in the "new" schedule is a change from the original 2023 schedule to account for the fact that Purdue hasn't been to Ann Arbor since 2011.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:22 PM ^
The "old" 2023 schedule, released in 2018, had U-M hosting Purdue and at Minnesota. So the Purdue/Minnesota sites being the same in 2020 & 2023 was planned even before COVID.
FWIW, none of the "new" 21 cross-divisional games are different (in terms of opponent and/or site) versus the "old" 2023 schedule.
https://bigten.org/documents/2018/8/29//FUTURE_FOOTBALL_SCHEDULES_2022_…
October 26th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
Thanks, that's interesting. I assume that was an effect of the change in "permanent" cross over opponents between '21 and '22. It probably doesn't make sense to look for consistency between six year periods, only within.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:03 PM ^
First four weeks at home, then only two home games in the following eight weeks. It seems....unbalanced.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
Price of the 9-game conference schedule. We have to get 5 road games in somewhere. Michigan dropped the UCLA game so they could get a 7th home game in.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
Do you think this is a temporary thing for 2022 & 2023 to make sure they had 7 home games based on the original known schedule at the time? With a 12 team playoff on the horizon (which allows you 1-2 losses) and ticket prices continuing to rise, scheduling all cupcakes is no longer acceptable. We’ve got marquee games scheduled from 2024-2028 but we’re @UT in 2024 and @OU in 2025 before getting both teams at home in 2026 & 2027 and then heading to Seattle in 2028 to make up the 2020 cancellation; I’m worried about one of those series getting cancelled because there’s a chance you only have 6 home games in either 2024, 2025, and/or 2028.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
For the record, here's where I got MSU's old schedule: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/big-ten/2018/08/29/mic…
And OSU's: https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/ohio-states-2022-through-2025-big-ten-sch…
October 26th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
Nebraska was the fixed crossover for OSU prior to Wisconsin...they swapped with us, basically.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
Penn St. getting pushed back a week removes any chance of it being a night game. Had it stayed on 11/4 it could have been (like the Rutgers game is next week).
October 26th, 2022 at 2:27 PM ^
I'm not sure this is true. Remember Michigan went @Iowa on November 12th in Week 11 of the 2016 season (2 weeks prior to the OSU game). I still think this game is potentially in play for a night game.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:10 PM ^
What? Am I reading this correctly? Does Indiana get a "bye" before playing M?
My anger knows no bounds. I guess it's nice that no one else does. Of course, a Penn State bye would have been advantageous, based on past practice...
October 26th, 2022 at 2:29 PM ^
So? Someone was going to. Better it be the division doormat.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:15 PM ^
Poor Minnesota.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
I realllyyy hate that we dropped UCLA this year and next year. I feel like when this was announced people celebrated it, because the easiest path to the playoff was not losing an OOC game, just simply scheduling a cupcake.
Maybe I am wrong, but it feels like the the conventional thought on this with regards to the committee has swung back the other direction, where playing a tough OOC is rewarded and a loss to a good team in that scenario being overlooked. (I guess I am basing this off of scenarios I have seen pitting a hypothetical 11-1 Michigan (with a loss to OSU) against other 11-1 teams with a similarly "good" loss, and the needle going to those teams because of good OOC scheduling.
It would have been nice to replace the UCLA game with someone like a BYU or something, just to provide a little more oomph to the schedule. Oh well.
October 26th, 2022 at 2:25 PM ^
I think all those 1-loss comparisons are to Conference Champions [Oregon/USC, TCU, Clemson]. Michigan would not be a conference champ (unless we lose to Illinois and beat OSU) and would miss the playoff because of that. Really we are only talking about a 1-loss Tennessee or Alabama --which has more to do with "is Alabama" or "beat Alabama" than any SOS argument.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:18 PM ^
Already planning to make the Nebraska trip. It’ll still be summer weather there in late September and in looking at the schedule, probably a night game.
October 26th, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
same and would love a night game as it will mean I can drive there the morning of the game
October 26th, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
Dave Revsine mentioned (on the Big Ten Today show) that one of today's announced 25 Nov 2023 games will be moved to Friday 24 Nov to join Iowa@Neb. .....Maybe Wis@Minn?
October 26th, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
I'd like UM to play a better OOC team because those are generally more interesting than beating up on G5 teams (even good G5 teams like ECU) but it also feels like people are overrating the chances of a 1-loss Michigan being kept out of the playoffs. What's hurting UM right now is that teams like Iowa and MSU went from preseason ranked squads to hot garbage, which drags down the conference and UM's overall strength of schedule.
Hell, this year Tennessee needed OT to beat 4-3, 49th-to-SP+ Pitt. OSU struggled to beat 4-3, 46th-to-SP+ ND at home. Coming into the year UCLA was 36th to SP+ and are mostly pulling off this early-season run because they are really old (they have a ton of seniors+ in their starting lineup) and based on recruiting and transfers my guess is next year they're going to be bad. Is that still a "P5 win"? Sure, but Michigan not getting into the playoff with a loss this year or next will rely way more on the overall quality of the Big 10 than who they played in September.
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