The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1523593
14 ■ THE WOLVERINE 2024 FOOTBALL PREVIEW MICHIGAN FOOTBALL T he Big Ten Conference announced its football schedules for the 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 seasons last fall. With the additions of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Oregon, Southern California (USC) and Washing- ton, 2024 will be the first season with 18 teams and no divisional format. Thus, the top two teams with the best conference record will meet in the con- ference championship game in India- napolis on Dec. 7. The 2024 season will also be the first for the expanded 12-team format in the College Football Playoff. Game dates and times for Big Ten Con- ference games in 2025 and beyond are still to be determined. Only the home and away locations have been released for 2025-28. The 2024 Big Ten football season will debut the "Flex Protect XVIII" schedul- ing model, which features a combination of protected opponents and rotating op- ponents. Each member institution will continue to play nine intraconference games per season, and squads will play every other conference opponent at least twice — once home and once away — and will take on rotating opponents no more than three times in a five-year period. In Michigan's case, Michigan State and Ohio State are the two annual "pro- tected" rivalry games that will remain on U-M's schedule year in and year out. The Big Ten's other guaranteed annual pro- tected matchups are Illinois-Northwest- ern, Illinois-Purdue, Indiana-Purdue, Iowa-Minnesota, Iowa-Nebraska, Iowa- Wisconsin, Maryland-Rutgers, Minne- sota-Wisconsin, Oregon-Washington and UCLA-USC. As the schedule is currently con- structed, Michigan will have five Big Ten home games (and four away) in 2024, 2026 and 2028, and five conference away games (and four home) in 2025 and 2027. From a nonconference perspective, Michigan has a strong lineup of marquee teams scheduled, beginning with Texas on Sept. 7 this season. The Wolverines will return the favor and play at Texas in 2027. The Longhorns, which will begin play in the SEC along with Oklahoma this fall, made the College Football Playoff a year ago and will be strong contenders to do so again in 2024. The Wolverines travel to Norman, Okla., to face the Sooners in 2025 and then host them in a return game in 2026. The other big-name nonconference opponent on the docket, although well into the future, is Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish are scheduled for a home- and-home series with Michigan, and the games will be played in Ann Arbor in 2033 and in South Bend in 2034. Michigan's known nonconference op- ponents in the future are mostly regional matchups with Mid-American Confer- ence (MAC) schools but also include a Mountain West team in New Mexico (2025) and a Conference USA foe in UTEP (2026). The MAC opponents Michigan will host in The Big House are: Cen- tral Michigan (2025 and 2030), Western Michigan (2026 and 2029), Buffalo (2027) and Eastern Michigan (2027). U-M has not yet announced any nonconference opponents for the 2028 season. — Mark Panus Future Big Ten Football Schedules Set Through 2028 2025 Date Opponent Aug. 30 NEW MEXICO Sept. 6 at Oklahoma Sept. 13 CENTRAL MICHIGAN TBA OHIO STATE TBA PURDUE TBA WASHINGTON TBA WISCONSIN TBA at Maryland TBA at Michigan State TBA at Nebraska TBA at Northwestern TBA at USC 2026 Date Opponent Sept. 5 WESTERN MICHIGAN Sept. 12 OKLAHOMA Sept. 19 UTEP TBA INDIANA TBA IOWA TBA MICHIGAN STATE TBA PENN STATE TBA UCLA TBA at Minnesota TBA at Ohio State TBA at Oregon TBA at Rutgers 2027 Date Opponent Sept. 4 BUFFALO Sept. 11 at Texas Sept. 18 EASTERN MICHIGAN TBA ILLINOIS TBA OHIO STATE TBA OREGON TBA RUTGERS TBA at Indiana TBA at Iowa TBA at Michigan State TBA at Penn State TBA at UCLA 2028 Date Opponent TBA MARYLAND TBA MICHIGAN STATE TBA NEBRASKA TBA NORTHWESTERN TBA USC TBA at Ohio State TBA at Purdue TBA at Washington TBA at Wisconsin Future Nonconference Opponents Year Opponent 2029 WESTERN MICHIGAN 2030 EASTERN MICHIGAN 2033 NOTRE DAME 2034 at Notre Dame Michigan's Future Football Schedules Note: Home games denoted in CAPS; Schedules subject to change The Wolverines will welcome new Big Ten Conference members USC (Sept. 21) and Oregon (Nov. 2) to Michigan Stadium in 2024, Washington in 2025 and UCLA in 2026. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY