Michigan Monday: Finally Some Schedule Rumors

We are now in early July and team practices will be starting soon.   Michigan still has a trip to Washington on the schedule for September 5th.  What the hell is going on? 

How is that game and others not being rescheduled?   Finally we are hearing rumors that Michigan and other Big Ten teams could be making some schedule changes very soon.   Michael Spath from SI finally published an article with what he is hearing about the schedule. 

I won't ruin the article if you want to read it but he did have a few shocking things in there.  He does expect Michigan to play football this season if at all possible.  Here are some of his other expectations:

• Some Big Ten Schools won't play football at all 
• Washington and Arkansas State games will be cancelled
• Those games will be replaced by regional MAC schools 
• ND could be a fill in game (due to driving distance)
• Michigan could play a home and home (yes, multiple games against the same team in the same season) against teams like IU, MSU, and OSU 

It seems the Big Ten or NCAA doesn't want to take a leadership role in this and be the first to announce changes, so schools are scrambling.   For example,  Western Michigan just replaced their opening weekend game from Colgate to Stony Brook.  Why wouldn't they travel an hour to the Big House?  Maybe that still can happen?

The States of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana seem to be in the drivers seat for this type of arrangement.  There are so many college programs in these states/region.  Just in state, U of M could play Central, Western, and Eastern.  Not to mention all the schools in Ohio that are very close like Toledo, Akron, and Bowling Green. 

If these massive changes are going to happen, they will have to happen soon, as these schedules have been in place for many years.  If your going to re-engineer your entire schedule, you will need plenty of time to complete that!  

One a side note, no thanks to multiple games against OSU.   Unless its in some Big Ten playoff tournament thing.  Let's play Toledo instead of ND, I like ND living with the outcome of the last game for the next 10 years.   Cincinnati is also 3+ hours from the Big House as well.   Let's relight the Harbaugh - Fickell feud. 

If this regional model does happen, how does that effect a Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska who just top of mind might have a harder time scheduling schools in driving distance.  

• Michigan Basketball landed a commitment at 6:00 AM today from 3 star Will Tschetter who is listed at 6'8" and 225 pounds from Minnesota.   I will update this commitment on Tuesday, as I need the content topics!  :-)

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2020/07/michigan-monday-finally-some-schedule.html