The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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SEPTEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 19 prepared to make additions at this time." As expected, Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh remains fully fo- cused on the task at hand — winning at the highest level possible with the 2023 team. He didn't exactly jump at the op- portunity at a recent media availability session to weigh in on the coming new era for the Big Ten. "I really don't have any thoughts to share," Harbaugh said at Schembechler Hall on Aug. 15. "I've very much been fo- cused on one thing — that's getting our team ready for our first game." MAINTAINING THE MODEL The Big Ten fashioned a "Flex Pro- tect Plus" model when USC and UCLA were added to the conference, featuring 11 protected matchups in the 2024 and 2025 schedules revealed in June. Pro- tected rivalry games featured Michigan- Ohio State, Michigan-Michigan State, USC-UCLA, Minnesota-Wisconsin, Indiana-Purdue, Iowa-Minnesota, Il- linois-Northwestern, Iowa-Nebraska, Maryland-Rutgers and Illinois-Purdue. The schedules also featured "two-plays" — teams not in protected rivalries that would be coupled to play in each of the two announced seasons. At the time, Big Ten Chief Operating Officer Kerry Kenny noted: "It's done in two-year increments, so that allows you to be a little bit more responsive to com- petitive trends, responsive to changes in the postseason model. Look, we don't know how the [College Football Playoff] committee is going to evaluate teams in this expanded playoff, but we're pretty darn sure that this model that we're put- ting forward and the depth of the games and the quality of games — that's going to send a pretty strong and significant message." The depth and quality of Big Ten games will grow with Washington and Oregon. There has been no indication the league will junk the Flex Protect Plus model. It will still seek to safeguard tra- ditional rivalries, which will now need to include Washington and Oregon. Michigan's two protected rivalry games — Ohio State and Michigan State — are unlikely to change. But for now, U-M's athletics website shows only the nonconference games for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, indicating that it's back to the drawing board for the conference schedule makers. Whether the Wolverines will land an encounter with the Huskies or Ducks amid already formidable slates in those two seasons remains to be seen. Imagine wedging a showdown with Washington or Oregon into a 2024 schedule already featuring Texas, Wisconsin and UCLA, along with road games at USC and Ohio State, or a 2025 lineup featuring Okla- homa, Penn State, Ohio State and road games at Iowa and Nebraska. Of course, the Big Ten might not be finished growing. A recent ESPN piece on conference expansion contained the following: "North Carolina and Virginia would be primary targets, sources told ESPN. Both are premier public schools and would excite a group of Big Ten presi- dents and chancellors that still places a premium on 'cultural fit.' Florida State would be more of a stretch, and league sources cautioned against an immediate push. But FSU would give the Big Ten a presence in the Southeast, which former Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany said would be valuable way back in 2010. "The Big Ten's expansion prize remains Notre Dame, and efforts will continue to lure the school into the league. Could longtime ND rival Stanford be dangled as an enticement? Perhaps. The Big Ten will need some patience as Notre Dame doesn't want to relinquish its indepen- dence in football." Regardless, more changes are com- ing, from revamped Big Ten schedules in '24 and '25 to some of the traditionally toughest Pac-12 schools trying to carve out a coveted spot at the top of the Big Ten standings. ❑ The upheaval certainly hasn't been limited to the Big Ten. Almost everywhere you look in college football, there are seismic shifts taking place, as major conferences either bulk up or find themselves ruthlessly raided. Here's an at-a-glance chart as to where things stand at the midpoint of August: BIG TEN Recent Gains: USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon Recent Losses: None Status: 18 teams and counting Outlook: The granddaddy of college football conferences has beefed itself up yet again, to the point that it could supply a quarter to a third of College Football Playoff squads in any given season going forward. And as noted, the Big Ten may not be finished growing. Questions heading into 2024 largely involve whether or not the con- ference gets to 20 teams, essentially a double Big Ten, and whether it splits into nine- or 10- team divisions. The Big Ten will also retain a for- mat involving nine conference games annually. PAC-12 Recent Gains: None Recent Losses: USC, UCLA, Washington, Or- egon, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado Status: Only four schools — Cal, Oregon State, Washington State and Stanford — remain after this season. Outlook: It's obviously grim. Either the left- overs agree to be swallowed up by another con- ference, or they try to lure others to join and bulk the league back up. But the impending Pac-Four has lost all of its luster. BIG 12 Recent Gains: Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Colorado, Cincinnati, Houston, Central Florida Recent Losses: Texas, Oklahoma (in 2024) Status: 16 teams, provided nothing falls through with the newcomers, particularly Arizona Outlook: In Oklahoma and Texas, the Big 12 will soon be losing a lot, but certainly the con- ference is positioning itself as one of the largest in the nation. SEC Recent Gains: Texas, Oklahoma Recent Losses: None Status: The SEC figures it has a Sweet 16 with the addition of the Longhorns and Sooners in 2024, and it has said publicly it doesn't feel a need to expand further at this time. Outlook: The conference may stand pat at 16, given heavyweights like Georgia, Alabama, LSU and Oklahoma measuring up against most year after year. ACC Recent Gains: None Recent Losses: None Status: The ACC consists of 15 schools for now, including non-football member Notre Dame, which competes as an independent. Outlook: Much is being made about whether or not Florida State will bolt for greener pas- tures. But a $120 million exit fee and figuring a way around a "grant of rights," tying the schools together until the end of their ESPN TV con- tract in 2036, are obvious sticking points for the Seminoles. — John Borton Realignment Almost Everywhere