Texas and Michigan have a home and home booked in football. Originally the first game was gonna be in Asstin in 2024 with the Big House in 2027. But Fox needed some incentive to let Texass out of the Little Dozen early, since they lose a year of UT-OU and other games involving the Fallopians.
So they decided to flip the Michigan series so that the Big House game is in 2024. Meaning that as a Big Ten home game, Fox can show it and get some value out of Texas anyway.
(When is Michigan gonna reinstate its home and home with us, which they dropped to play Notre Dame? Don’t hold your breath.)
If the SEC does in fact go to a 9 game schedule, which it sounds like is the strong lean, the incentive to play another P5 team is going to be greatly reduced. I think pretty much every team in the conference is going to be seeking out more Sun Belt, MAC, and CUSA opponents
I don’t think so. We’re still competing for CFP spots, even in the expanded format. If Auburn is competing with, say, a Penn State for a CFP spot in 2025, and Auburn plays at Baylor (which it does) and Penn State doesn’t have a P5 opponent (which it currently doesn’t), advantage Auburn. Even though both schools will play 9 conference games that year, which appears to be the likely outcome.
One more thing about the expanded CFP. Right now, you have to be 11-1 or better to get in. That’s not the case with the 12-team field. You can afford a tough nonconference game which you might lose, especially on the road, and still make the tournament with three losses if they were competitive losses.
Then there’s the economic aspect. It will be a lot easier for Auburn to sell tickets to Baylor’s return visit in 2026, or for us to sell tickets in 2025 when Notre Dame comes to RRS, than it would if those games were replaced by a Middle Tennessee or UAB.
I agree. Greg Sankey would probably prefer that the FCS games go away as well, but the FCS teams need those rent-a-win checks and that would be bad PR to cut them off.
I don’t think a re-schedule is on Michigan’s radar at all. They bought out of it with cash, so they are free and clear of that obligation.
That’s not to say that we will never play the Wolverines in the regular season; just that it is no more likely now than it was, say, 15 years ago. That series we had scheduled with them has disappeared just like the whole season of Dallas did when Bobby Ewing stepped out of the shower. As if it never happened.