On Tuesday, the Big Ten announced the conference home and road matchups for each league team for the 2026-27 season.
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The Michigan Wolverines beat every Big Ten team at least once en route to being crowned national champions. As they look to repeat, here are three takeaways from the Wolverines’ draw, first taking a look at the schedule.
Home-and-HomeMichigan State, Ohio State, Minnesota
HomeIllinois, Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Oregon, Purdue, Washington
AwayIndiana, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers, UCLA, USC, Wisconsin
A tough West Coast tripThe top thing that pops out to me looking at this will be one of the most difficult road stretches anyone in the country sees in 2026-27. UCLA will consistently have a solid program under Mick Cronin, and the Bruins are even tougher as the home team. They lost only one home game all season and had upset wins over No. 5 Illinois, No. 6 Purdue and No. 15 Nebraska.
Likely in the same week, Michigan will be at USC, which is expected to be much improved from its 18-14 record last season. That’s thanks to commitments from three top-25 big men in the 2026 recruiting class, while also bringing in 7-foot-1 UConn transfer Eric Reibe. Head coach Eric Mussleman will surely have this team in position to make some noise.
Being multiple time zones away and facing big, physical teams with experienced head coaches will pose a serious threat to the Wolverines.
A favorable home scheduleDespite that West Coast trip, Michigan really lucked out with its home schedule. Illinois is anticipated to be an elite team next season, and the Wolverines only have to play them once at home. The same is true with perennial powerhouse Purdue. The fact Dusty May and company only see those teams once — and both are in Ann Arbor — has to make them feel great about their chances of victory.
Sneaky important is also Northwestern, Oregon and Iowa coming to town. Chris Collins and the Wildcats have pulled off some big upsets the last few seasons in Evanston, so getting them in Ann Arbor could be crucial.
Arguably more important is Iowa and Oregon. The Ducks were riddled with injuries last season, contributing to their first losing record in Dana Altman’s 16-year career in Eugene. They will very likely bounce back and be a tough out. Meanwhile, Iowa will be riding a ton of momentum from its Elite Eight run in the NCAA Tournament and should be good once again.
The home-and-home vs MinnesotaLast but not least is Michigan’s home-and-home series. In 2025-26, Michigan had Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State as Big Ten opponents it faced twice in the regular season.
This year, the Wolverines draw their two rivals, as well as Minnesota, which is likely to be middle of the pack again. All things considered of who the third home-and-home opponent could have been, facing the Gophers is better than most. To add to the intrigue, they also added two former Wolverines this offseason — forward Winters Grady and big man Malick Kordel.
In no way will this series be easy, especially with Minnesota’s 13-4 home record last season, but the Wolverines should be favored in both games.