The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NOVEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANTHONY BROOME T he 2024 season marks the arrival of four new schools to the Big Ten in USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon, which threw the scheduling matrix into a state of flux. The conference finally made its long-awaited announcement of matchups for the next five years on Oct. 5, with dates and times to come later. Next season, Michigan will face Oregon and USC at home while heading to Wash- ington. The Wolverines and Huskies were previously set to play in Seattle in a re- turn date of a home-and-home series in 2028. The rest of the home slate in 2024 includes Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern, while other road trips in- clude Illinois, Indiana and Ohio State. In addition, Michigan is still set to host Texas in a nonconference tilt on Sept. 7, 2024, from the Big House, giving the U-M one of the toughest schedules in the country on paper next year. In 2025, Michigan will host Ohio State, Purdue, Washington and Wisconsin while making trips to Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern and USC. The 2026 schedule includes home dates with Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State and UCLA and road outings at Min- nesota, Ohio State, Oregon and Rutgers. In 2027, Michigan hosts Illinois, Ohio State, Oregon and Rutgers, while heading to Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State and UCLA. The 2028 designations include home games with Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern and USC, and road trips to Ohio State, Purdue, Wash- ington and Wisconsin. Under the new scheduling format, Michigan has retained Ohio State and Michigan State as its protected rivals and will rotate playing everyone else in the Big Ten between 2024-26. After this sea- son, the Wolverines will have a two-year hiatus from playing Penn State, resuming that series in 2026. Likewise, U-M will not face new conference member UCLA in the rotation until 2026. "The real art was the fact that they were able to salute competitive balance and tradition at the same time," Big Ten com- missioner Tony Petitti told The Athletic in October. "The way they did that was by doing something that probably wasn't the first place you would go. We're having not every school with the same number of protected matchups. Your first instinct in scheduling based on my experience would have been to try the same structure all the way across, but that's not what hap- pened. That was incredibly smart because it allows you to get to the competitive bal- ance. And then it has a third thing that's really important, which is that it allows you to see everybody more frequently. So, to me, it's really well done." When the Big Ten expanded, it was with the idea that it would boost the brand's national profile and exposure. The new matchups, combined with the preexisting legacy games, should give the conference plenty of eyeballs with all of its media partners in Fox, NBC, CBS and the Big Ten Network. "The future schedule shows you just how effectively we're going to be able to program all that exposure," Petitti said. "We've got the windows and the reach. But the second part of that is making sure that we're putting great matchups every- where we can, and I think we're doing that now. It's going to another level next year. "We look at the depth of the games that we're talking about, like it's just going to make each of those telecasts even stron- ger. We're off to a good start. It's the right pattern. I think it's unprecedented." Games streaming exclusively on Pea- cock will continue to be a trademark un- der the Big Ten's media deal with NBC, and Fox is planning on expanding to nine or more conference games on its Friday night slate moving forward. Michigan will continue to uphold its stance on not playing on Friday nights, while schools like Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa have logistical issues that could prevent hosting on Fridays. Petitti says the Big Ten will also have Saturday prime- time kickoffs for the West Coast schools. "I think what we can do is express the fact that we always want it to be as sim- ple as possible for our fans," Petitti said. "Promote it properly and tell them how to find it. Make it as easy as possible." ❑ ❱ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Big Ten Football Slates Announced For 2024-28, Commissioner Addresses Future FUTURE BIG TEN OPPONENTS FOR MICHIGAN FOOTBALL 2024 Home: Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwest- ern, Oregon, USC Away: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Washington 2025 Home: Ohio State, Purdue, Washington, Wisconsin Away: Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, USC 2026 Home: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, UCLA Away: Minnesota, Ohio State, Oregon, Rutgers 2027 Home: Illinois, Ohio State, Oregon, Rutgers Away: Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Penn State, UCLA 2028 Home: Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska, Northwestern, USC Away: Ohio State, Purdue, Washington, Wis- consin