Revamped Michigan 2020 Schedule Released
The Big Ten officially released its modified conference-only schedule on Wednesday morning, and this year's slate of games features several quirks that are exclusive to the 2020 season.
Most notably, Michigan and Ohio State will not meet for the final regular season game of the year. Instead, Michigan is set to travel to Columbus on Oct. 24 to take on the Buckeyes this Fall and will play three more games after that matchup. Moving the UM-OSU game earlier in the schedule has not occurred since 1998 when Michigan played Hawaii one week after taking on the Buckeyes but yet before its bowl game appearance that season.
Another intriguing consequence of the COVID-19 impacted season the location of the Michigan State contest. A couple seasons ago, Michigan was forced to play consecutive road games at East Lansing due to a shakeup in the conference alignment, but Michigan's Oct. 3 home game against Michigan State will redistribute that balance. Last season when Michigan and MSU played in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines logged a 44-10 victory, and U-M will have a chance to double up on the Spartans at home in consecutive seasons.
Here is the full lineup of conference games for Michigan in 2020:
Sept. 5 – vs. Purdue
Sept. 12 – at Minnesota
Sept 19. – vs. Penn State
Sept. 26 – at Rutgers
Oct. 3 – vs. Michigan State
Oct. 17 – at Indiana
Oct. 24 – at Ohio State
Oct. 31 – vs. Wisconsin
Nov. 7 – vs. Maryland
Nov. 21 – at Northwestern
With this format, U-M will have two bye weeks built into its schedule, first coming the week after hosting Michigan State and the second bye is located between games against Maryland and Northwestern later in the season.
Prior to this point, the Big Ten discussed plugging three bye weeks into the schedule in order to provide more flexibility if games need to be canceled and rescheduled due to positive COVID-19 tests. By canceling the non-conference schedule earlier, the Big Ten accrued three extra weeks to utilize, and this is the result of that decision.
Based on this schedule, Michigan is set to take on every team in the Big Ten except for Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois.
The Big Ten also made a point that the conference's championship game remains tentatively scheduled for Dec. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium, but that contest could be bumped back as late as Dec. 19 if need be.
What is your initial reaction to Michigan's revamped 2020 schedule? Is this a favorable draw for the Wolverines? Let us know!
