Michigan And Ohio State Could Clash Multiple Times In 2024

With the Big Ten conference set to eliminate divisions in 2024, the stage is set for the Wolverines and the Buckeyes to faceoff multiple times each season.

The Big Ten conference made several big announcements this week, most notably doing away with the East and West divisions in 2024. Since the conference moved to the two divisions in 2014, the East division has won every single Big Ten championship game - and has typically done so in convincing fashion. 

In order to ensure that the best teams compete in Indianapolis for the conference championship, the Big Ten will eliminate the two divisions in 2024 and the top-two teams with the best overall conference record will compete for the title. 

Without divisions, there's a strong likelihood that Michigan and Ohio State could end up playing in back-to-back weekends - once for the annual matchup in the final week of the regular season, and then again in Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game. The possibility of back-to-back meetings was recently discussed by Ohio State athletic director, Gene Smith.

Michigan vs. @OhioStateFB in consecutive weeks?

We know you've thought about it, and @MikeHallHere asked @OSU_AD Gene Smith about it. 👇 pic.twitter.com/uQZyI6etoM

— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) June 9, 2023

"That is a possibility, so we talked about that - Warde and I talked about that, the athletic director at Michigan - and we agreed to that for the betterment of the whole, the betterment of the league relative to our overall scheduling format, and our television partners. At the end of the day, we needed to accept that as a possibility." 

Not only is it possible that Michigan and Ohio State could play in back-to-back weeks in 2024, it's also possible that the two programs could actually end up playing three times with the new expanded playoff format. Unlike the current playoff format that only takes the top four teams in college football, the new format in 2024 will see 12 teams taking part in the college football playoff. This means that the Wolverines and the Buckeyes could meet in the regular season, the conference championship, and the college football playoff all in the same season.