Of the teams Michigan football lost to last season, U-M will only play one of those teams in 2025. The Wolverines had a brutal 2024 schedule that included four playoff teams and a much improved Illinois team that was in the top 25. Their schedule is much more favorable this year, but what games should we have scheduled on the calendar?
at USC
Michigan football beat USC 27-24 in a narrow battle last season in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines will travel to the Coliseum for the first time since 2007 as Michigan hopes to win and tie the record between these two programs.
Lincoln Riley has struggled to replicate the success he found at Oklahoma while at USC. However, their transition to transfer quarterback Jayden Maiava paid off down the stretch.
While Maiava did have five turnovers in their last two games against Notre Dame and Texas A&M, he also had nine touchdowns and over 600 passing yards. USC will also get a bye-week to prepare for Michigan football in this revenge game.
At Ohio State
This is obvious, but Ohio State is always considered the most important game on the Michigan football schedule.
That won't change this year, but the expanded playoff means the game is less likely to be a deal-breaker for the postseason. As we saw with the Buckeye championship, they lost to #1 Oregon and the Wolverines before winning it all.
While those losses kept Ohio State out of the Big Ten title game, they are more than content with winning a championship. Ohio State has lost four in a row to Michigan football and is replacing almost their entire starting lineup. Despite that, they are a threat any given year with how they reload their roster. Their most substantial loss could be defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. His side of the ball did all they could to beat Michigan last season while struggling in that matchup the two years prior.