David Hookstead
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The Michigan Wolverines won’t face much non-conference competition this upcoming season.
The Wolverines are fresh off the program’s second straight Big Ten title and second straight appearance in the CFP.
Jim Harbaugh has the program flying high, but that doesn’t mean the Wolverines will attempt to hunt any big game in the non-conference.
Michigan’s non-conference slate is a joke.
The 2023 non-conference slate includes East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green. It’ll be the second straight year of awful non-conference opponents.
This past season, Michigan’s non-conference opponents were Colorado State, Hawaii and UConn. The Wolverines scored at least 51 points in every one of those games.
It’s worth noting the Wolverines originally had a home-and-home series with UCLA for 2022 and 2023, but canceled it back in 2019.
Apparently, Michigan is simply allergic to playing high-level teams in the non-conference these days.
The Wolverines should be embarrassed.
We all understand you need some cupcake games in the non-conference to get players reps, practice newly installed plays and knock the rust off.
Having one or two games against G5 teams is more than understandable. Not having any games against a really good P5 opponent when you’re a program like Michigan is simply not acceptable.
Does anyone really think UM fans are excited to watch the team play UNLV? Of course not. Not at all. It’s a complete joke.
Wisconsin plays Alabama twice in a couple years (2024 and 2025), Penn State plays West Virginia in 2022, Michigan State plays Washington next season and Ohio State, which did cancel a Washington series, plays at Notre Dame in 2022. Michigan’s next big non-conference game isn’t until the Wolverines play Texas in 2024. That’s just not good enough. Fans deserve much better than three cupcake games for two straight seasons.
Really, “Michigan’s next big non-conference game isn’t until the Wolverines play Michigan in 2024.”
Actually, Michigan fans love playing cupcakes. They love the BIG scores their team can run up in those games. They feel so sure their team is among the best after playing cupcakes all season, with maybe 1-2 serious games in the formerly BIG 10. Then the playoffs happen and…
And this is the only reason Michigan makes the playoffs every year and then immediately get their asses kicked.
Michigan plays Michigan in 2024?
OSU plays at ND in 2023
I know you are rushed to get content out, but if it’s full of obvious errors, what’s the point?
If Michigan keeps scheduling like, they’ll be mistaken for an SEC school.
Take a look at some of those $EC schedules