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It seems like every year, the Wolverines get no breaks in terms of the schedule.
The past two years, Michigan has had Notre Dame as a non-conference foe. In 2017, the maize and blue opened the season against Florida and in 2016, Colorado — who it played in Week Three — was a surprise team that ended up in the PAC-12 Championship game. Even in 2015, Michigan opened the season at Utah, who was a strong contender all season long.
And that’s not even looking at the Wolverines’ conference foes.
Michigan plays in the Big Ten East, which is, at worst, the second-toughest division in all of college football. While in-state rival MSU has fallen off in recent years, Ohio State is still a powerhouse and Penn State is continuously formidable. But the Wolverines have had no breaks when it comes to West division crossover opponents, having faced Wisconsin each of the last four years, while also facing solid Iowa teams every now and again.
So when it comes to the 2020 schedule, while it doesn’t look quite as daunting in some ways compared to 2018 or 2019, it does present some challenges, including opening the season at Washington, hosting Wisconsin and Penn State and playing on the road in East Lansing, Minneapolis and Columbus.
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Thus, in ESPN preview guru Phil Steele’s estimation, Michigan has one of the toughest schedules in the country, coming in ranked at No. 19, tied with a rebuilding Rutgers team that has some challenges of its own.
T19. Michigan Wolverines
Opponent record: (90-64 58.4%)
The Wolverines play in the same division as Ohio State and Penn State. They pull Wisconsin and Minnesota out of the West and also open on the road at Washington.
While Michigan didn’t have as tough of a schedule as Texas A&M last year — the Aggies had to play the entirety of the SEC West, perhaps the toughest division in college football — but it also had to play Clemson, the defending national champions out of the ACC. But Steele had South Carolina as the team with the toughest schedule a year ago, and they reclaim that top spot again this year, having to also face Clemson as well as the entirety of the SEC East — including Georgia and Florida — while having crossover games against Alabama and national champion LSU.
As far as the Wolverines opponents in 2020 are concerned, Michigan isn’t the team with the worst of it. Maryland comes in ranked at No. 12, but Wisconsin at No. 14 has some tough sledding. It doesn’t face Ohio State or Penn State, but takes on Notre Dame, Appalachian State.
Rival Ohio State is ranked at No. 43 per Steele, despite playing at Oregon in Week Two.