New Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel has only been on the job for just under two weeks, but he’s already weighed in on a popular topic — football scheduling.
One major opponent that is missing from Michigan’s future football schedules is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Back in 2012, Notre Dame canceled three remaining football games against Michigan that were scheduled for 2015 through 2017.
That cancellation, which left the Wolverines with no future games against the Irish, was primarily due to Notre Dame partnering with the ACC and agreeing to schedule five games against their conference members each season.
Today after a press conference to announce a soccer game between Chelsea and Real Madrid at Michigan Stadium, Warde Manuel was asked about the possibility of getting Notre Dame back on the Wolverines’ schedule.
Michigan and Notre Dame last met in 2014 at Notre Dame Stadium where the Fighting Irish rolled to a 31-0 win. The two schools first met on the gridiron in 1887 and Michigan leads the overall series 24-17-1.
Warde Manuel also noted today that it’s “not ideal” for Michigan to play on the road at Michigan State and Ohio State in the same season. This began in 2014 after the Big Ten expanded to 14 teams and realigned their divisions.
Michigan has played Ohio State on the road in even years since 1904. The Wolverines had played at Michigan State in odd years since 1969, but that was changed due to the Big Ten expansion and resulted in Michigan visiting East Lansing in consecutive seasons (2013 and 2014).
It will be interesting to see if Michigan can get that scheduling imbalance changed. The current Big Ten scheduling format is set through the 2019 season.
Football Schedules