Why is Michigan football’s nonconference schedule so bad (again)?

ANN ARBOR -- Michigan will be without its head coach for the entirety of the nonconference and most people don’t think it will make any difference whatsoever. That’s not an indictment of Jim Harbaugh but on the Wolverines’ cotton-soft schedule. For the second year in a row, Michigan won’t face a power-conference program outside of Big Ten play.

The Wolverines open on Saturday against East Carolina before facing UNLV and Bowling Green, all at home. Those three programs have a combined one bowl win over the past eight years. The reason for the uninspiring slate is money.

(Isn’t it always?) Michigan is set on playing at least seven home games every year to reap the massive ticket revenue that comes with a packed Michigan Stadium. This season has seven, but that’s only because a previously agreed-upon series with UCLA was canceled. Michigan would have hosted UCLA last year and traveled to Los Angeles this season but paid its way out of the deal.

(It ended up making sense, since UCLA will leave the Pac-12 for the Big Ten next year, but neither school knew that at the time. ) Instead of a home-and-home with the Bruins, Michigan hosted Hawaii last year and East Carolina this year. National media ridiculed Michigan’s nonconference schedule this time last year -- which also included Colorado State and Connecticut -- and saved some jokes for this season.

ESPN’s Chris Low dubbed Michigan’s out-of-league schedule the easiest among power-five programs. “For the second season in a row, Michigan has earned the ‘honor’ of playing the nation’s cushiest nonconference schedule,” Lowe wrote. “The two-time defending Big Ten champion doesn’t face a single Power 5 opponent.

This was also the case a year ago, marking the first time in 78 years the Wolverines didn’t play a nonconference game against a current Power 5 member or Notre Dame. ” Jerry Palm of CBS Sports said Michigan has the weakest schedule in the Big Ten. “The No.

2 Wolverines are not just champions of the Big Ten on the field, they’re also champions of soft nonconference scheduling,” Palm wrote. “Michigan is the only Big Ten team without a Power Five opponent on its nonconference schedule. ” At Sports Illustrated, Pat Forde wrote that Michigan has the “easiest September,” a month that wraps with Big Ten games against Rutgers (home) and Nebraska (away).

“All things considered, a fine month to be suspended,” Forde wrote, referencing head coach Jim Harbaugh’s three-game absence. Harbaugh -- just last like summer -- was asked about Michigan’s schedule at Big Ten media days. He once again said he doesn’t have a say in the matter.

That would fall to athletic director Warde Manuel. (Manuel’s spokesperson did not reply to MLive’s request for comment; last year, the spokesperson noted the preference for seven home games, among other factors. ) “It don’t matter who we’re playing,” star quarterback J.

J. McCarthy said earlier this month when asked about the soft slate of games to start the season. “It could be out in the parking lot right there.

It could be at Yost (the ice hockey arena). We’re going to bring our all. Day by day, game by game, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re going to give it our all.

” Michigan is expected to beat East Carolina by five touchdowns, and will likely be an even bigger favorite the next two games. As McCarthy said, it doesn’t matter who Michigan is playing -- unless you’re interested in competitive football. .