LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kirby Smart, Nick Saban and Brian Kelly will snicker at this sentence, but Michigan expects to win a national championship in college football this season.
The Wolverines have resolved their quarterback issues. They have packed their defense with speed and physicality. They start the season ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25.
Ohio State must come to Ann Arbor. The only other team ranked in the AP preseason Top 25 on the Michigan schedule is Penn State.
These are the three teams that Jim Harbaugh’s formidable program will play in its three non-Big Ten games:
East Carolina
UNLV
Bowling Green
All in Ann Arbor.
Maryland and Rutgers are two programs scrambling to survive at the bottom of the Big Ten East Division.
The Terps and the Scarlet Knights both play all three of their non-conference games at home. Maryland opens against the tough Towson Tigers, an FCS program that lost 5 of 11 games and was outscored by 71 points in 2022.
Rutgers has a late September home game against Wagner, which went 1-10 against while finishing last in the Northeast Conference while being outscored 463-151.
Keep scrolling through the highlights of Big Ten non-conference schedules. You’ll uncover Northwestern plays Howard and mighty Penn State scheduled dangerous Delaware.
I’m not auditioning for a job to read the ESPN score ticker. I’m filing a supporting brief that Indiana should not be scheduling Louisville or any program from another Power 5 conference until the Hoosiers have their sagging football program locked onto the path of annual bowl eligibility.
The Hoosiers and Cardinals will play for the first time since 1986 when they meet at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Sept. 16.
But IU and U of L have already agreed to cancel the 2025 game in Bloomington and will also scratch the 2024 game in Louisville if administrators from both programs can agree on terms of the cancellation.
I’ve heard the charge that this is a bad look by Indiana as well as a show of no-confidence in coach Tom Allen and the direction of his program.
Point granted.
Cincinnati wide receiver Tyler Scott, left, carries the ball as he is tackled by Indiana defensive back Devon Matthews during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Aaron Doster)
But for Indiana, that point is not as critical as this one:
The Hoosiers are straining for relevance and they have to position the football team to stack wins by any means necessary.
As long as the Big Ten demands that its 18 (starting next season when UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington arrive) teams play nine conference games, the Hoosiers need to schedule Moe, Larry and Curly outside the league.
It’s a philosophy Bill Snyder used to make Kansas State relevant — and others have copied.
Playing Louisville, even a U of L program that Jeff Brohm is rebuilding and rebranding, is not worth the reasonable risk of taking a defeat.
The Hoosiers should have understood this when they agreed to the 3-year deal with Louisville in August 2015.
Indiana was already more than 20 years past its latest bowl victory when the series was announced. The Hoosiers were dreaming big while coming off a 4-8 season under Kevin Wilson, who would coach the Hoosiers into a bowl loss in 2015 and then get fired before Indiana lost its bowl game at the end of the 2016 season.
"This is a great regional matchup against a tremendous program in Louisville," Wilson said in a press release.
"It is awesome for both fan bases and we expect huge crowds. We also look forward to playing in Lucas Oil Stadium again. It is a win across the board.”
Ooops. Wilson has not been the Indiana coach for nearly seven years. Athletic director Fred Glass has been replaced by Scott Dolson.
On Monday, in another sign Indiana has belatedly recognized it has substantial work to do to become football relevant, Dolson announced IU has partnered with Nations Group for a comprehensive study about options to modernize Memorial Stadium.
Season ticket holders, donors and business leaders will be sent a secure survey to share their opinions about what IU can do to improve the game-day experience.
It’s an encouraging sign that Dolson understands Indiana has to be better in everything it does in football.
The first thing that can improve the game-day experience is winning more games. And until Indiana figures out that part of the equation, any improvement will require mapping out more wins on the schedule.
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