The Michigan football program had a bit of a non-conventional year in 2024. Its head coach, Jim Harbaugh, was suspended for half of the season, the team received probation for recruiting violations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then the news broke about an alleged sign-stealing scandal. Still, the Wolverines were able to brush it all aside and win a national championship, its first since a shared national title in 1997.
Michigan lost a lot of talent off that roster, with a ton of it playing on Sundays, so it's not a slam dunk that all of it can be rinsed and repeated to win another College Football Playoff national title, let alone earn a chance to win its fourth-straight Big Ten championship.
The schedule is a different animal than it was in 2023, and there are several games the Wolverines will have to navigate to have a chance to even come close to what we witnessed last fall. Here are the three toughest games on the 2024 schedule for the Michigan Wolverines.
3. vs. Texas | Saturday, Sept. 7
For all the cupcakes Michigan had in the nonconference last season, give the program credit for scheduling this one. Texas has a deep and talented roster with one of the best quarterbacks in the country slinging the rock, Quinn Ewers. This feels like a toss-up game but the Longhorns will be the more veteran team, and that might be the difference early in the season. It'll be an early litmus test for both, and an extremely tough out for Michigan.
2. vs. Oregon | Saturday, Nov. 2
You could really flip the Texas and Oregon games here. Both have a chance to be Donnybrooks. However, the Ducks might have a little more firepower and overall talent. If transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel is as good as we think he is, the Ducks could be the team to beat in the Big Ten and will most assuredly make the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff.
1. at Ohio State | Saturday, Nov. 30
Yes, "The Game." Here we go again. Michigan may have the edge psychologically after winning the last three, but the Ohio State roster is absolutely loaded and motivated in 2024. The Wolverines may have won in Columbus in 2022, but repeating that in 2024 is going to be a major, uphill climb if the Buckeyes are anywhere near as good as we think they'll be.