Balas: Michigan's 2024 schedule will include USC, UO, UW
Chris Balas of On3 is reporting ($) that Michigan's 2024 schedule will include USC, Oregon, and Washington, alongside Texas and "protected rivals" OSU & MSU. Not sure how that achieves competitive balance among conference members, but Warde's inability to stand up for Michigan is something we've gotten used to.
Damn that is one hell of a tough schedule that Michigan will get. WOW!!!!
— Big Ten information. College football fan (@Genetics56) October 3, 2023
Oregon, USC, Texas at home and Michigan State, and road games with Ohio State and probably Washington.
Thus,
Oregon
USC
Texas
Michigan State
Ohio State
likely Washington
ITF EXTRA: Michigan football…
October 4th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
I think we'd prefer to not play a CCG, than play one and get a bye. Really, the competition will be similar. So unless we get home-field advantage, I don't see the benefit of the CCG.
It seems like it is only for ratings and $-which doesn't help our players rest and prepare for 4 more games against stellar competition.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:20 AM ^
The SEC added Texas and Oklahoma, the only marquee teams the Big 12 had. Texas just beat Alabama and probably should have beaten them last year as well. The SEC and the Big 10 are getting tougher and that's just part of the deal with leagues disappearing.
October 4th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
nobody in their right mind wants to see UM play OSU potentially three times in a season
First of all, TV would be just fine with that.
Second of all, this is still a distinct possibility. We play every regular season, and then could both be in the Big Ten title game, and then the playoffs.
Tiebreakers for getting into the Big Ten title game should be interesting, though.
October 4th, 2023 at 2:39 PM ^
Can the $EC say the same?
Yeah Oklahoma and Texas are pansies.
October 4th, 2023 at 6:49 PM ^
Yes, this is one more reason to have added Stanford and Cal despite the 💰 concerns. It would have allowed for some scheduling balance and buffers. Another upside is that we would have an even 20 members which allow for relegation or some variant to even out scheduling as well as introduce some branding logic to the ever more anachronistic Big Ten branding. The ten relegated team can be the Little Ten or Other Ten and the top division would still make sense for branding as the Big Ten.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:12 AM ^
I don't mind the schedule if Coach Harbaugh is coaching the team. I do mind the schedule if someone else is the coach.
Give Harbaugh a significant raise!
October 4th, 2023 at 11:14 AM ^
I assume that we will be roasted across the college football landscape for continuing to duck UCLA.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:18 AM ^
Going to be really interesting with potentially the loss of Bo Nix, Caleb Williams, Penix Jr and McCarthy to the NFL. Lots of skilled teams replacing some big holes.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:18 AM ^
I don't really get the complaints about Warde not "standing up" for Michigan here. Texas has been on the books for a while and people constantly complain about UM needing to play some big OOC team. As for the new teams, I presume OSU and PSU are also going to wind up playing some combination of USC, Oregon, UCLA, and Washington because those are other marquee matchups the league is going to want to take advantage of. What "gets" Michigan is that OSU and MSU are protected rivalries and those are one really tough opponent from a talent perspective and the other is a program that only cares about 1 game a season. But that's woven into UM's DNA so not much they can do about it.
It's a good thing they're going to a 12-team playoff because I doubt UM goes undefeated with such a stretch. But this is the natural outcome of super-leagues forming and it's weird to see people complain about this while also complaining about playing the likes of Rutgers and Indiana every season.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:24 AM ^
Will that be a good enough schedule to appease Urban?
October 4th, 2023 at 11:25 AM ^
I need to look at the other B1G schedules before I can say how I feel about this.
Because if teams get to Wisconsin their way through a schedule (meaning you play one top team and don’t have to play the other 4 top teams) while we play all the big boys then that’s a load of crap. I don’t care how much ratings Michigan brings in. You have to have balanced schedules.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
This is the right answer. We can't view this in a vacuum (although it's hard to imagine every team having a schedule this difficult because these teams only play so many games).
October 4th, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
Warde just suspended Harbaugh three more games for this schedule.
October 4th, 2023 at 6:10 PM ^
shouldn't it be the other way round?
October 4th, 2023 at 11:34 AM ^
Win this year. Please. The rest. Don't care
October 4th, 2023 at 11:41 AM ^
just going to have to win them all
October 4th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
Seems like we would find a way to drop the Texas game.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
And the "still haven't played anybody" myopic, mouth breathing crowd slithers back to their fetid lair.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
PSU, don't forget PSU.
OTOH, some of these teams could take a nose-dive and people would again complain that Michigan does not play anybody!
October 4th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
I don't think UM will be playing Penn State. We weren't on the pre-UW/UO 2024 schedule
October 4th, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
right. Realized that after reading the other comments.
So this year's match-up takes on a different meaning.
October 4th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
Best/most competitive home schedule ... ever?
At least USC, Oregon, and UW will all have new QBs.
October 4th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
No UCLA or Penn State? Eff that. I want 'em all!
October 4th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
Too much rain yesterday. I guess I'll blame Warde...
October 4th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
We open with Fresno St too. Not easy at all. Maybe we get IU, NW, Purdue, etc. as the in conference cupcakes (Purdue may be down for a few years).
October 4th, 2023 at 12:38 PM ^
So we go from a terrible schedule in 2023 and a ridiculously difficult one in 2024. Can't we just land somewhere in the comfortable middle?
October 4th, 2023 at 12:44 PM ^
With a 12 team playoff...I kind of like it! Makes you wonder if they will try to scrap the texas game? I know it's late for that but it wouldn't shock me.
In this scenario you better keep playing soft teams in weeks 1-4 (or 4 games whenever they are). You are going to need to have games like that.
Essentially it shakes out on average like this:
- 3-5 really tough, ball buster games
- 3-4 "average" games that a michigan team should win
- 3-4 games that are slam dunk / for sure wins
Sort of reminds me of old school big 10 play when you know you'd get all you could handle from psu/uw/osu/nd and either purdue or min or msu and you'd have 4-5 legit games where you really could lose.
October 4th, 2023 at 12:58 PM ^
They can't scrap the Texas game. Swapping it to Ann Arbor was part of the sweetener for Fox to move some TV rights around to let all of the realignment stuff go ahead next year.
October 4th, 2023 at 12:56 PM ^
Why not another road game Penn State too? This conference is ridiculous. They can't make us play every good team possible just for the TV people. Meanwhile, Sparty will probably play a rotation of Nwestern, Rutgers, Maryland, Nebraska, Illinois......and then brag about their resurgence under their new coach.
October 4th, 2023 at 1:11 PM ^
I will try to focus on 2023 for now, enjoy this season which I hope will be special for the program and all its fans
October 4th, 2023 at 1:12 PM ^
On the upside, every one of USC, Oregon and Washington will be breaking in new QBs instead of the death machines they currently have. Could be worse!
October 4th, 2023 at 1:12 PM ^
It's not terrible that Michigan will have a tough schedule like in 1997.
What is bad is that the B10 Championship and playoff spot will be determined by record and Michigan beating Oregon or OSU will count the same as Iowa beating Indiana or Northwestern.
If the B10 doesn't balance the difficulty of every B10 team's schedule than the record needs to be weighted based on opponent quality. I don't think they will do this so I think we are going to see some bullshit results starting next year.
October 4th, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
on the plus side, then maybe there is value to being "2nd best B1G team in the polls" that is left out of the B10 championship game due to unbalanced records.
In a 12 team playoff a loss in the B10 championship prob is a much greater possible minus than a win in the championship could be a plus.
October 4th, 2023 at 7:33 PM ^
Here’s a better idea. Ditch the championship game. It was always a stupid idea that invites the possibility of an undeserving team to make the game because of unequal scheduling. Instead play a conference showcase that adds one extra game for every team based on standings and teams that have not played during the season. If there shared championships, so what? That happened for a century and was fine. It probably would even help getting more teams into the expanded Play-off and leave teams that won a piece of the title feeling good and motivated to improve their odds of success in the postseason.
October 4th, 2023 at 1:13 PM ^
A lot of people on here saying Caleb Williams won't be USC's QB next year, but he's already made it clear he'll go back to USC if he can't go to one of his preferred NFL teams.
October 4th, 2023 at 1:23 PM ^
He keeps saying that but that's just not how the NFL or any of the Major Sports leagues work. If you're the best player in college that year, you are going to the worst team, that's why they have drafts.
Hell, 2 of the supposed teams he wants to play for could never get him (Dallas and San Fran) because they aren't going to be anywhere near the top of the draft order, nor do they even have the capital to make a trade of that magnitude. The Chicago Bears, who will most likely pick at #1, would ask for at a minimum 4 years of #1 picks + from those 2 teams because their 1st round picks aren't as valuable because they usually drafter later in the first round.
He can puff his chest all he wants, he isn't turning down $40M+ guaranteed to go #1. NIL money aint NFL and NFL endorsement money...
October 4th, 2023 at 1:17 PM ^
On paper, its a hell of a schedule but if you take a step back, as some others have pointed out:
- USC loses Caleb Williams
- Washington loses Michael Penix
- Oregon loses Bo Nix
- Michigan State is pure trash right now
- Texas may or may not have Ewers as QB and if he does go, then its Arch Manning in what would be is 2 or 3 start ever as a College QB
So, by no means am I thinking this is an easy slate of games, but 4 out of the 5 lose their star QB for next season. Granted, so do we (most likely) BUT of all the top QB's that could come back, JJ strikes me as one that would.
October 4th, 2023 at 1:30 PM ^
Whooo Boy!!!
October 4th, 2023 at 1:37 PM ^
This will be an unpopular opinion but I wish we didn't have Texas and Oklahoma on the schedule the next couple seasons. The Big 10 schedule is going to be plenty difficult without having to play them.
October 4th, 2023 at 2:09 PM ^
That is an insane schedule. I love it. I wish everyone had a schedule like that. Can you imagine watching top 25 match ups every week?
Who is OSU playing? Ind, Ill, NW, Wis, Mn, Purdue and Iowa?
October 4th, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
Why do you think it is up to Warde?
October 4th, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^
If our schedule really is going to include USC, Oregon, and Washington, I won't be surprised if Texas gets moved or canceled. When that home-and-home with the Longhorns was scheduled, nobody in the world thought that the four best programs in the PAC 12 would be absorbed by the Big Ten.
October 4th, 2023 at 3:46 PM ^
I'd like to play Texas. Maybe JJ and Edwards come back and we go down as the greatest team in college football history. Seriously if teams are similar rankings to this year Oregon, USC, Washington, OSU and Texas would have to be one of the toughest schedules ever especially if you add in [PSU] in the B1G championship and then 3 ranked teams in the CFP. (Is it 12 teams next year?) Add in an always disrespekted MSU and no one has ever played a gauntlet like that.
October 4th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^
This schedule is brutal along with majority of starters leaving next year, it could be rough.
October 4th, 2023 at 5:22 PM ^
Wow, quite a schedule. Will likely travel to Seattle to see Michigan play at UW if that happens. Oldest daughter lives there & was properly raised to be a big Michigan fan Would love to see USC in Ann Arbor for historic visit though I imagine that would be an incredibly tough ticket.
October 4th, 2023 at 6:07 PM ^
I mean, I've watched like five minutes of michigan football live this year. It'll be nice to give a shit about football throughout the season.
October 4th, 2023 at 6:18 PM ^
Let's get JJ and Donovan back for that schedule. That would make for some exciting games!
October 4th, 2023 at 6:59 PM ^
We will need all the core guys to return to have a punchers chance at this schedule.
October 4th, 2023 at 8:30 PM ^
might be unpopular but with the conf. realignments I'm kind of surprised both Texas and Michigan didn't end their home and home series. Both are going to be playing incredible hard conf schedules