Ranking Michigan football 2024 schedule opponents by difficulty

General convention, plus offseason hype, would place Ohio State at No. 1, and we wouldn’t begrudge that opinion. This is a road game at the end of the season at a place Michigan has only won once since 2000 (the last time they played, 2022) against a team that many have pegged as the national championship favorites. However, that’s not unusual for the Buckeyes — and it gets memory-holed when OSU eventually loses that it was the national championship favorite of many.

Here’s why we have this one at No. 3: we’re not sure that Ohio State fixed its actual problems. OK, it’s nice that it got Quinshon Judkins at running back to pair with TreVeyon Henderson. But the line play, particularly on offense, has been subpar. Also, Ryan Day has a tendency to get away from the run in favor of the passing game — understandably, given the stable of receivers. Will Howard may not be an upgrade on Kyle McCord at quarterback, and it doesn’t appear that Day fixed the line issues (the defensive line is elite, but Michigan has managed fine against it the past few years).

So, until further notice, Ohio State is third in terms of difficulty.