Michigan football's 2026 schedule: ESPN names key game

Michigan football's 2026 schedule is a bear -- there are all kinds of difficult games, traps, and potential pitfalls awaiting Kyle Whittingham in his first year leading the program.

Nonconference features a home game against Oklahoma, November features road games against Oregon and Ohio State, and Big Ten play opens up against Iowa. But ESPN sees a different matchup as the game that will be season-defining for the maize and blue.

Midway through the season, the Wolverines will host defending national champion Indiana at The Big House. And as ESPN lists the season-defining game for each Power Four team in college football, that's the one that the worldwide leader has circled for the maize and blue.

Oct. 24 vs. Indiana. Ohio State is always the defining game for the Wolverines. But Michigan can prove it's for real again against the defending national champs after two up-and-down seasons under Sherrone Moore. The Wolverines failed to defeat a ranked team last year and didn't win one in 2024 until the stunning victory over the Buckeyes in the regular-season finale. -- Trotter

While that game will be of critical importance, we beg to differ. Losing to the defending champion at home is an outcome that would sting, but a win over Ohio State would carry precedence. What's more, a win over Oklahoma in Week 2 would set the tone for the season, as would a Week 4 win over Iowa. Beating Oregon in Eugene in mid-November would also indicate that things are different in Ann Arbor compared to previous teams, which have struggled to win on West Coast trips.

Yes, beating the Hoosiers would be a solid foundation within the season, but given that the losing streak to IU currently stands at one game, no matter how Curt Cignetti has turned around his program, it wouldn't necessarily have as much of an impact on the tenor of the year as the aforementioned games.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Michigan football: ESPN names 2026 season's defining game