The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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THE WOLVERINE 2023 FOOTBALL PREVIEW ■ 11 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL M ichigan football's opponents for the 2024 and 2025 seasons are officially set, with the Big Ten announcing on June 8 its new scheduling model for the next two seasons that includes future members UCLA and USC. The Wolverines will play their five conference home games in 2024 against Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, UCLA and Wisconsin. Conversely, Michi- gan will travel to Illinois, Ohio State, Rut- gers and USC for its four conference road games. U-M also will play host to all three of its 2024 nonconference opponents in Fresno State, Texas and Arkansas State, so the 2024 slate will feature eight home games in total. When the UCLA Bruins head to Ann Ar- bor for a tilt with the Wolverines in 2024, it will be the first time the two programs have played since the 2000 season. Michi- gan leads the all-time series 8-3. Michigan will head to USC for its first road game against the Trojans in the LA Memorial Coliseum since 1957. The last seven meetings, and eight of 10 overall in series history, have taken place at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. USC leads the all-time series by a 6-4 margin. In 2025, Michigan's conference sched- ule will flip, with only four Big Ten home games (Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Purdue) and five road contests (at Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State and Nebraska). The Big Ten announced it is doing away with divisions and moving to a "Flex Pro- tect Plus" scheduling model in which each conference team can choose up to three protected rivalries. Michigan has two in Michigan State and Ohio State, which will continue to be featured on the U-M schedule well into the future. It also has a "two-play opponent" in Maryland, mean- ing the Terrapins will be the only unpro- tected team on the schedule that it plays twice in two years. Every team in the conference has at least one protected opponent over the next two seasons except for Penn State, which will see its schedule rotate each season with- out a locked-in rivalry. The Nittany Lions are not on Michigan's 2024 schedule but will return to Ann Arbor for a date in 2025. The top two teams in the conference will meet in Indianapolis on championship weekend. The 2024 season will also be the first for the expanded 12-team format in the College Football Playoff. With the new Big Ten schedule format, the possibility of Michigan and Ohio State playing two weeks in a row is now on the table. Despite that, there appear to be no immediate plans to move when The Game takes place. "While long-standing staples like Ohio State-Michigan and Indiana-Purdue and the now-traditional Iowa-Nebraska Black Friday game will remain on the final week- end, others may shuffle to other weeks," The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach and Scott Dochterman reported. "The league previously cycled Michigan State, Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers on Thanksgiving weekend from 2017-19. It also needs to apply extra scrutiny for the regular season's penultimate week to ensure teams have home and road games over the final two weeks." The conference says that tiebreaker sce- narios for Big Ten Championship Game purposes and dates for the announced slates will be made available at a later time. — Anthony Broome 2024 U-M SCHEDULE Date Opponent Aug. 31 Fresno State Sept. 7 Texas Sept. 21 Arkansas State HOME: Maryland Michigan State Minnesota UCLA Wisconsin AWAY: at Illinois at Ohio State at Rutgers at USC 2025 U-M SCHEDULE Date Opponent Aug. 30 New Mexico Sept. 6 at Oklahoma Sept. 13 Central Michigan HOME: Northwestern Ohio State Penn State Purdue AWAY: at Indiana at Iowa at Maryland at Michigan State at Nebraska FUTURE NONCONFERENCE OPPONENTS Year School Date 2026 Western Michigan Sept. 5 Oklahoma Sept. 12 UTEP Sept. 19 2027 at Texas Sept. 11 2028 at Washington Sept. 9 2029 Western Michigan Sept. 1 2033 Notre Dame Sept. 3 2034 at Notre Dame Sept. 2 Big Ten Drops New Scheduling Model With Conference Opponents For 2024-25 The Wolverines' 2024 home schedule will feature games with Texas and UCLA at Michigan Stadium. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY