With the College Football Playoff selection committee putting some emphasis on strength of schedule, ‘Power 5’ programs around the country have been recommended to add a tougher non-conference opponent if necessary. Michigan has done that in recent years with a number of home-and-home series scheduled well in advance, including one with Virginia Tech.
However, that series with the Hokies that was ticketed for the 2020 and 2021 seasons has reportedly been axed.
Michigan buys out of 2020-21 football series with Virginia Tech for $375,000 https://t.co/Qj8e1k5n6f
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) March 29, 2018
The series between Michigan and Virginia Tech was agreed upon back in May of 2013, more than a year after the Wolverines defeated the Hokies 23-20 in the 2012 Sugar Bowl. In the original agreement, Michigan was to host Virginia Tech in 2020 before traveling to Blacksburg the following year.
The move to remove the series from future scheduling will cost the Wolverines’ athletic department $375K.
Michigan actually has similar plans in place with the University of Washington for the same time span (agreed upon in 2014), with the Wolverines traveling to Seattle to open the year in 2020 before welcoming in the Huskies to the Big House in ’21. Both home-and-home series with the Hokies and Huskies were scheduled before the Big Ten expanded its conference slate to nine games per season back in 2016.
There were even rumors circulating in April of 2017 that Michigan was looking to back out of the series with Washington as well, but that never came about.
The Washington series still remains intact. As far as filling in the void left by Virginia Tech, Michigan has reportedly replaced them with Arkansas State for 2020. As for 2021, there are now two open dates for non-conference foes on the Wolverines’ schedule.
Here is a look at the non-conference portion of games scheduled for Michigan over the next four years:
- 2018
- 09.01 | at Notre Dame
- 09.08 | vs. Western Michigan
- 09.15 | vs. So. Methodist
- 2019
- 08.31 | vs. Middle Tennessee
- 09.07 | vs. Army
- 10.26 | vs. Notre Dame
- 2020
- 09.05 | at Washington
- 09.12 | vs. Ball State
- 09.19 | vs. Arkansas State
- 2021
- 09.04 | TBA
- 09.11 | vs. Washington
- 09.18 | TBA