Michigan football's top hurdle in 2026? An incredibly difficult schedule

Kyle Whittingham's squad will play the Sooners in Week 2 once again, this time in Ann Arbor. Brent Venables' team comes off a CFP appearance in 2025 and returns Heisman trophy candidate John Mateer as its quarterback.

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But the real trouble lies in the league schedule. Michigan appears to ease into the season with six of its first seven games at home. Not only does it include Oklahoma, but also a consistent Iowa program as well as a rebuilt Penn State squad.

That's when the schedule really ramps up. Michigan's seventh game of the year is against defending national champion Indiana. Then after perhaps the two easiest league games of the schedule − at Rutgers and home against Michigan State − Michigan ends with a gauntlet in November.

November 14 marks the Wolverines' first trip to Autzen Stadium to take on Oregon as a league foe, then there's a slight reprieve when UCLA comes to town, though that's expected to be an improved team with a talented quarterback in Nico Iamaleava. Then, of course, the season wraps up with a road game at Ohio State.

Michigan running back Jordan Marshall (23) is pushed out of bound by Ohio State safety Jaylen McClain (18) during the first half at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025.

One year after avoiding four of the other top six teams in the league, Michigan is scheduled to face the three favorites to go to the CFP (IU, OSU, Oregon), two teams that have been consistent for decades (Iowa, Penn State) and an SEC team that comes off a postseason appearance (Oklahoma) in its own right.

Add it all up, and it's why Vegas does not expect Michigan to even match its win total from a season ago. Per FanDuel, the Wolverines' over/under on projected wins in the regular season is 8½, with the under (-148) seen as the notably more likely outcome than the over (+120).

The silver lining is that unlike last season, when Michigan didn't have consecutive home games at any point in the season, U-M does have eight home games in total − which includes the first four of the year − and it leaves the state just once before Halloween.

Still, in a year in which Michigan could be an improved football team − based on an expected leap from the quarterback, a deep offensive line unit, a standout running back room, more talent in the wide receiver corps than in recent seasons and a defensive line that was the talk of spring ball − it might not be reflected in the final record.

Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Wolverines football faces a daunting opponent: the schedule