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Michigan sets 2015-2016 football schedule

  • Here is the statement from Michigan.

    ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan Athletics Department announced today (Tuesday, Nov. 6) its complete 2015 and '16 football schedules, adding contests with Brigham Young in 2015 and Hawaii, Miami (Ohio) and Ball State in 2016 to its previously announced games.

    U-M also announced a home-and-home series with Arkansas to open the 2018 and '19 seasons. The Wolverines will host Arkansas at the Big House in the season opener on Sept. 1, 2018, with a return trip to Fayetteville, Ark., scheduled for Aug. 31, 2019. The lone meeting between the Wolverines and Razorbacks came on Jan. 1, 1998, in the CompUSA Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., a 45-31 U-M victory.

    Michigan added BYU to its 2015 schedule and will close the non-conference schedule against the Cougars on Sept. 26. To accommodate the BYU date, the Wolverines shifted dates of two home games, moving Oregon State to Sept. 12 (from Sept. 19) and UNLV to Sept. 19 (from Sept. 26). U-M will open the 2015 college football schedule on Thursday, Sept. 3, at Utah in Salt Lake City.

    With its rivalry series with Notre Dame cancelled following the 2014 season, the Wolverines now will host eight home games in 2016, including all four of their non-conference opponents at the Big House. U-M will play Hawaii on Sept. 3 to open the season at Michigan Stadium, then play host to Miami (Ohio) in the second week on Sept. 10. Michigan will play Colorado in Ann Arbor on Sept. 17 before closing the non-conference schedule with Ball State on Sept. 24. The Wolverines will play a fifth consecutive home game on Oct. 1 by opening the Big Ten schedule with Michigan State.

    Michigan is expected to announce its 2017-18 non-conference schedules in the near future.

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    Twitter: ClintBrew247 E-Mail: Clint.Brewster@yahoo.com

    Clint Brewster ●

  • Here is how the schedules will look.

    2015 schedule

    Date Opponent
    Sept. 3 at Utah
    Sept. 12 OREGON STATE
    Sept. 19 UNLV
    Sept. 26 BRIGHAM YOUNG
    Oct. 3 at Michigan State*
    Oct. 10 WISCONSIN*
    Oct. 17 MINNESOTA*
    Oct. 24 at Illinois*
    Oct. 31 Open
    Nov. 7 NEBRASKA*
    Nov. 14 at Northwestern*
    Nov. 21 at Iowa*
    Nov. 28 OHIO STATE*
    Dec. 5 Big Ten Championship Game

    2016

    Date Opponent
    Sept. 3 HAWAII
    Sept. 10 MIAMI (Ohio)
    Sept. 17 COLORADO
    Sept. 24 BALL STATE
    Oct. 1 MICHIGAN STATE*
    Oct. 8 at Minnesota*
    Oct. 15 NORTHWESTERN*
    Oct. 22 Open
    Oct. 29 at Wisconsin*
    Nov. 5 ILLINOIS*
    Nov. 12 at Nebraska*
    Nov. 19 IOWA*
    Nov. 26 at Ohio State*
    Dec. 3 Big Ten Championship Game

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    Twitter: ClintBrew247 E-Mail: Clint.Brewster@yahoo.com

    Clint Brewster ●

  • I really like the 2015 Out of conference schedule compared to 2016. More challenging.

    HelloHeisman 21 ●

  • Wow Hawaii gets to play Michigan, UH is going to get smashed, as usual...wish it was here at home though!

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    wolverineblue

  • Clint Brewster said...

    Here is how the schedules will look.

    2015 schedule

    Date Opponent
    Sept. 3 at Utah
    Sept. 12 OREGON STATE
    Sept. 19 UNLV
    Sept. 26 BRIGHAM YOUNG
    Oct. 3 at Michigan State*
    Oct. 10 WISCONSIN*
    Oct. 17 MINNESOTA*
    Oct. 24 at Illinois*
    Oct. 31 Open
    Nov. 7 NEBRASKA*
    Nov. 14 at Northwestern*
    Nov. 21 at Iowa*
    Nov. 28 OHIO STATE*
    Dec. 5 Big Ten Championship Game

    2016

    Date Opponent
    Sept. 3 HAWAII
    Sept. 10 MIAMI (Ohio)
    Sept. 17 COLORADO
    Sept. 24 BALL STATE
    Oct. 1 MICHIGAN STATE*
    Oct. 8 at Minnesota*
    Oct. 15 NORTHWESTERN*
    Oct. 22 Open
    Oct. 29 at Wisconsin*
    Nov. 5 ILLINOIS*
    Nov. 12 at Nebraska*
    Nov. 19 IOWA*
    Nov. 26 at Ohio State*
    Dec. 3 Big Ten Championship Game

    Ironically, having ND drop us from their schedule in 2015 and 2016 might be the best thing that could have happened in terms of us making the new playoff in those years. Looking at our 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes (and with Shane Morris expected to be a RS SO by 2015), we have a good shot at running the table in both 2015 and 2016 if we can beat OSU. Other games will be challenges (e.g. UNL and UW), but we should have superior talent than those other teams. And in 2015, all three of OSU, UNL and UW are home games.

    This post was edited by MrWoodson on 11/6/2012 at 9:19 PM

    MrWoodson ●

  • I'm interested to see how we fill the 2014 schedule. But I really like the schedules. Very favorable matchups. @Utah is odd.

    I'm sure Arky should be back to being respectable when we play them so that will be a fun series.

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    Ducksworth ●

  • Excellent schedules

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    "Those Who Stay...Will be Champions"

    Moon

  • Ducksworth said...

    I'm interested to see how we fill the 2014 schedule. But I really like the schedules. Very favorable matchups. @Utah is odd.

    I'm sure Arky should be back to being respectable when we play them so that will be a fun series.

    What's open in 2014 still

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    victorsclub ●

  • Hopefully the BIG won't be as weak in 2016 as we are this year....if it is weak, that OOC schedule may hurt in making the 4 team playoff...Like the 2015 OOC schedule though...but then again, who knows how good or bad teams will be then...Oregon St looks like a good opponent now, but if coach gets another offer at a better program who knows...

    I think the BIG needs to get away from scheduling the MAC altogether...does us no good...even when they have good teams that are ranked, it's still perception of a "little" brother beating a big time school...If we win, so what, we're supposed to, but if we're played close or happen to lose then it kills us... Would be better to schedule Big East, probably easier game and against a BCS conference opponent....

    This post was edited by RoboBuckeye on 11/6/2012 at 11:15 PM

    RoboBuckeye

  • victorsclub said...

    What's open in 2014 still

    Nothing, I'm an idiot.

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    Ducksworth ●

  • RoboBuckeye said...

    Hopefully the BIG won't be as weak in 2016 as we are this year....if it is weak, that OOC schedule may hurt in making the 4 team playoff...Like the 2015 OOC schedule though...but then again, who knows how good or bad teams will be then...Oregon St looks like a good opponent now, but if coach gets another offer at a better program who knows...

    I think the BIG needs to get away from scheduling the MAC altogether...does us no good...even when they have good teams that are ranked, it's still perception of a "little" brother beating a big time school...If we win, so what, we're supposed to, but if we're played close or happen to lose then it kills us... Would be better to schedule Big East, probably easier game and against a BCS conference opponent....

    Scheduling the MAC isn't the problem, it's the failure of some Big Ten teams to put them away as they should that's the problem.

    I think it's a good thing to schedule the MAC because you help out other Midwestern schools, create connections there etc., I think the local high school coaches like it as well. Don't forget that a lot of Big Ten coaches come up from the MAC, a lot of Big Ten fans go to these schools as well.

    And let's face it, for a good Big Ten team a MAC team is about as easy a win as you'll get vs. a FBS school. I know I'd rather play Ball State or Bowling Green than Syracuse or Pitt.

    UMSkeletor

  • UMSkeletor said...

    Scheduling the MAC isn't the problem, it's the failure of some Big Ten teams to put them away as they should that's the problem.

    I think it's a good thing to schedule the MAC because you help out other Midwestern schools, create connections there etc., I think the local high school coaches like it as well. Don't forget that a lot of Big Ten coaches come up from the MAC, a lot of Big Ten fans go to these schools as well.

    And let's face it, for a good Big Ten team a MAC team is about as easy a win as you'll get vs. a FBS school. I know I'd rather play Ball State or Bowling Green than Syracuse or Pitt.

    I think what "Robo" was getting at was once the 4 team playoff kicks in, a schedule with all OOC games against other BCS auto qualifying conferences will look better on resume than MAC would....I know Gene Smith at OSU is working away from scheduling MAC schools in future for that exact reason...If the BIG is "weak" in a given year, we'll all need a hefty OOC schedule to help make up for it....

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    BestoftheBig

  • I like the addition of BYU, and Arkansas in 18-19. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens with OOC scheduling in the future. Ideally I would like UM to play 4 teams from “power 5 conferences” (the Big East is basically a souped up Conference USA now) a year. There are enough KU’s, UK’s, Iowa State’s, and Vandy’s etc to go around.

    It’s a lot easier to run the table with the way the schedule stacks up now, but with the perception of the B1G there is no way a 1 loss team is getting into that playoff, with a meh OOC schedule, especially if the conference becomes the Big 2, little 10 like most see it becoming. I’m expecting to see a lot of OSU, UM rematches in the future with most year’s ending in splits.

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    CWEBB

  • Very good schedules. Ball State seems to be on the rise. Quality opponents, but all very winnable games.

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    psubills62 ●

  • RoboBuckeye said...

    Hopefully the BIG won't be as weak in 2016 as we are this year....if it is weak, that OOC schedule may hurt in making the 4 team playoff...Like the 2015 OOC schedule though...but then again, who knows how good or bad teams will be then...Oregon St looks like a good opponent now, but if coach gets another offer at a better program who knows...

    I think the BIG needs to get away from scheduling the MAC altogether...does us no good...even when they have good teams that are ranked, it's still perception of a "little" brother beating a big time school...If we win, so what, we're supposed to, but if we're played close or happen to lose then it kills us... Would be better to schedule Big East, probably easier game and against a BCS conference opponent....

    People constantly talk about wanting better OOC schedules but then punish teams who actually schedule those games. Look at us this year. We scheduled Alabama and ND on the road and lost both games and have been unranked nearly every week since. And teams like OSU, which schedule UCF and Cal, are ranked in the top 10. Even schools like Stanford with 2 losses and La Tech with 1 loss are ranked far ahead of us. Why? Did they schedule tough OOC games and win them? No. They simply have a better W-L record because they have played much easier schedules.

    If you go back and look at all the week 16 BCS and AP rankings over the past decade, you will find that an undefeated team from a power conference - SEC, B10, P12, B12, ACC/ND - has never been left outside the top 4. IMO that means for teams from power conferences the key to making the new 4-team playoff is going undefeated. One loss throws you into a pile with 12-15 other 1 and 2 loss teams and undefeated teams from non-power conferences and it's a crap shoot as to whether or not you will make "top 4" cut. Not only that, but for the forseeable future, 1-loss SEC teams will tend to get the benefit of the doubt over everyone else. If I were Dave Brandon, I would dumb down our OOC schedule just like Wisconsin has done for years and just like OSU did this year. That will mean we just need to beat OSU and the one or two other competitive B10 teams on our schedule to go undefeated. No Alabama's or ND's or Oregon's or USC's. Too risky.

    This post has been edited 4 times, most recently by MrWoodson on 11/7/2012 at 10:41 AM

    MrWoodson ●

  • Ducksworth said...

    I'm interested to see how we fill the 2014 schedule. But I really like the schedules. Very favorable matchups. @Utah is odd.

    I'm sure Arky should be back to being respectable when we play them so that will be a fun series.

    Doesn't at Utah open the CFB season? I thought I read that somewhere.

    xxmgobluexx ●

  • MrWoodson said...

    People constantly talk about wanting better OOC schedules but then punish teams who actually schedule those games. Look at us this year. We scheduled Alabama and ND on the road and lost both games and have been unranked nearly every week since. And teams like OSU, which schedule UCF and Cal, are ranked in the top 10. Even schools like Stanford with 2 losses and La Tech, each with one loss, are ranked far ahead of us. Why? Did they schedule tough OOC games and win them? No. They simply have a better W-L record because they have played much easier schedules.

    If you go back and look at all the week 16 BCS and AP rankings over the past decade, you will find that an undefeated team from a power conference - SEC, B10, P12, B12, ACC/ND - has never been left outside the top 4. IMO that means for teams from power conferences the key to making the new 4-team playoff is going undefeated. One loss throws you into a pile with 12-15 other 1 and 2 loss teams and undefeated teams from non-power conferences and it's a crap shoot as to whether or not you will make "top 4" cut. Not only that, but for the forseeable future, 1-loss SEC teams will tend to get the benefit of the doubt over everyone else. If I were Dave Brandon, I would dumb down our OOC schedule just like Wisconsin has done for years and just like OSU did this year. That will mean we just need to beat OSU and the one or two other competitive B10 teams on our schedule to go undefeated. No Alabama's or ND's or Oregon's or USC's. Too risky.

    I don't disagree with this, but I thought I read somewhere that when the 4 team playoff kicks in, there would be a lot more emphasis put on schedule strength when choosing the 4....In my opinion, this is the "SEC" sugar coat...it will allow them to put 2 SEC teams in because of SOS...but hey, that's just me, I think there was a 2nd shooter and the first Walk on the Moon was filmed in a movie set....haha..

    RoboBuckeye

  • RoboBuckeye said...

    I don't disagree with this, but I thought I read somewhere that when the 4 team playoff kicks in, there would be a lot more emphasis put on schedule strength when choosing the 4....In my opinion, this is the "SEC" sugar coat...it will allow them to put 2 SEC teams in because of SOS...but hey, that's just me, I think there was a 2nd shooter and the first Walk on the Moon was filmed in a movie set....haha..

    They say a lot of things, but I will believe it when I see it. To be politically correct, they don't even currently allow the computers to factor in margin of victory and you think they will correctly factor in SOS when selecting teams for the new 4-team playoff? Sorry, but if people think SOS is suddenly going to have some magical power because those words were inserted into the press release announcing the new playoff system, they are living in la la land. In most years, the 4-team playoff will consist of 2 undefeated teams from power conferences and 2 other teams (most likely an undefeated team from a crap conference, i.e. BSU or Louisville or Rutgers, and some randomly chosen 1-loss team ... most likely from the SEC). If UM wants to make the playoff, we need to go undefeated and the best way to do that is to have an easy OOC schedule. Give me a bottom dweller P12 team like Colorado, a BE team like UConn and two MAC teams and I have a much better chance of making the playoff than if I schedule someone with a pulse.

    This post was edited by MrWoodson on 11/7/2012 at 11:04 AM

    MrWoodson ●

  • MrWoodson said...

    They say a lot of things, but I will believe it when I see it. To be politically correct, they don't even currently allow the computers to factor in margin of victory and you think they will correctly factor in SOS when selecting teams for the new 4-team playoff? Sorry, but if people think SOS is suddenly going to have some magical power because those words were inserted into the press release announcing the new playoff system, they are living in la la land. In most years, the 4-team playoff will consist of 2 undefeated teams from power conferences and 2 other teams (most likely an undefeated team from a crap conference, i.e. BSU or Louisville or Rutgers, and some randomly chosen 1-loss team ... most likely from the SEC). If UM wants to make the playoff, we need to go undefeated and the best way to do that is to have an easy OOC schedule. Give me a bottom dweller P12 team like Colorado, a BE team like UConn and two MAC teams and I have a much better chance of making the playoff than if I schedule someone with a pulse.

    There again, I don't disagree with your theory...I'm just thinking scheduling all 4 OOC games against auto qualify conferences will help "perception" come selection time as opposed to MAC schools...

    and yeah, I'd go Colorado, BC, Wash St., Syracuse etc.... Get the wins, but get them over BCS conferences...

    RoboBuckeye

  • MrWoodson said...

    People constantly talk about wanting better OOC schedules but then punish teams who actually schedule those games. Look at us this year. We scheduled Alabama and ND on the road and lost both games and have been unranked nearly every week since. And teams like OSU, which schedule UCF and Cal, are ranked in the top 10. Even schools like Stanford with 2 losses and La Tech with 1 loss are ranked far ahead of us. Why? Did they schedule tough OOC games and win them? No. They simply have a better W-L record because they have played much easier schedules.

    If you go back and look at all the week 16 BCS and AP rankings over the past decade, you will find that an undefeated team from a power conference - SEC, B10, P12, B12, ACC/ND - has never been left outside the top 4. IMO that means for teams from power conferences the key to making the new 4-team playoff is going undefeated. One loss throws you into a pile with 12-15 other 1 and 2 loss teams and undefeated teams from non-power conferences and it's a crap shoot as to whether or not you will make "top 4" cut. Not only that, but for the forseeable future, 1-loss SEC teams will tend to get the benefit of the doubt over everyone else. If I were Dave Brandon, I would dumb down our OOC schedule just like Wisconsin has done for years and just like OSU did this year. That will mean we just need to beat OSU and the one or two other competitive B10 teams on our schedule to go undefeated. No Alabama's or ND's or Oregon's or USC's. Too risky.

    Exactly, the strength of schedule is only a tie breaker in that unlikely scenario where you have the same amount of loses as other teams looking for the #4 seed in the playoff. That undefeated team who didnt play the powerhouse SEC team OOC is already seeded in the playoff.

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    Awink2

  • RoboBuckeye said...

    the first Walk on the Moon was filmed in a movie set....haha..

    agreed

    Wolverines89

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