A soft, out-of-conference schedule is the way to go for major college football programs

The oddsmakers got it right with Washington on Monday night. The underdog Huskies ran out of magic wishes in the National Championship Game and for once did not beat the point spread against them. Their lack of girth was exposed all night on Monday in a 34-13 loss to Michigan. Neither team faced strong out-of-conference opposition on their way to it until the College Football Playoff, but at least Washington played against Michigan State.

Michael Penix Jr. had been unflappable against some of the very best teams in the country throughout the 2023 college football season. Michigan had him seeing ghosts in the backfield. He transferred to Washington from Indiana before the 2022 season. Since he moved to the West Coast, Penix had never thrown more touchdowns than interceptions in a game.

Against Michigan, Penix completed 52.9 percent of his passes for 255 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. That second interception in the fourth quarter was irrelevant. He threw it with four and a half minutes remaining in the final quarter. His most significant shortcoming in the National Championship Game was that he led arguably the best offense in the country to only three points after halftime.

Michigan is the outright national champion in college football for the first time since 1948. Personally, I feel that Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson’s Wolverines were the best team in the country during their split national title season in 1997. Nebraska needed the Flea Kicker game that year to preserve an undefeated season. Rich Eisen, Adam Schefter, and the ghost of former United States President Gerald Ford can all celebrate that there is no debate on the 2023 champion.

However, Michigan was never challenged until their rivalry game against Ohio State. A few weeks after that game, starting Buckeye quarterback Kyle McCord transferred to Syracuse. While Michigan cannot control the lack of top-tier college football talent in the 2023 Big Ten, its non-conference schedule that included no Power 5 teams was as soft as drenched tissue paper.

Defending national champion Georgia had a similar cakewalk of a non-conference schedule but at least they ended the regular season with a rivalry game against Georgia Tech. In 2023 the Bulldogs were supposed to play Oklahoma in Norman, but with the Sooners on their way to the SEC, the conference requested an end to that agreement. Also, Michigan was supposed to have a home-and-home with UCLA in 2022 and 2023. In 2019, that was canceled and in summer 2022 it was announced that the Bruins and USC Trojans will be moving to the Big Ten. The previous summer, the plans of Texas and Oklahoma to join the SEC became public.

There have been criticisms of the 2023 schedules for both Michigan and Georgia. With the Yellow Jackets as its only non-conference Power 5 opponent, and only four road games while playing in the weaker of the two SEC divisions, there was no way for UGA to make up for its SEC Championship Game loss to Alabama. Michigan did not have to worry about that type of early December slip-up because its conference championship game opponent — Iowa — had a feckless offense.

The Wolverines are the champs and the Dawgs came within a few plays of the top seed in the playoff. That should send a message to the rest of the top college football programs in America. None of them should care about the sports fans who are aching and yearning for football by Labor Day Weekend.

Nothing good can come from an early-season loss. While the College Football Playoff will be expanded to 12 teams next season, there will be bye weeks for the top four teams. With the Big Ten and SEC turning into super conferences, those schools can only hurt themselves with a Power 5 non-conference game. Better to be like Michigan and start the season with East Carolina, UNLV, and Bowling Green.

Forget entertaining the customers; the regular-season television money is guaranteed. Michigan and Georgia have illuminated the path that all college football teams should follow going forward. An out-of-conference schedule the strength of a napkin is the best way to start a season.