Game time set for Michigan vs. Texas in Week 2

The much-anticipated clash between Michigan and Texas in Week 2 now officially has a game time.

The two programs announced Saturday morning that the game will kick off at 12 p.m. ET from Ann Arbor, Mich. The game will be featured on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff program, which is a rival to ESPN’s College GameDay.

The stakes will be enormous, though perhaps not quite as big as in years past given the expanded size of the College Football Playoff field. But both teams are looking to make a return to the playoffs.

Michigan is the defending national champion after knocking off Alabama and then Washington en route to a perfect 15-0 season.

Of course, that was with former coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh left this offseason to take a job in the NFL, as the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. So the Wolverines will have to adjust.

The good news is that new coach Sherrone Moore served as the team’s interim coach last year when Harbaugh missed games for various reasons, so he’s not a complete wild card. The bad news is Moore will no longer have starting quarterback JJ McCarthy to lean on. He opted to head to the NFL Draft following the 2023 campaign.

Texas will have no such issues on the other side, returning veteran starter Quinn Ewers fresh off its own playoff run. The Longhorns were beaten by the Huskies in the semifinals last year.

Ewers offers a lot of reason for optimism heading into the year.

He’s coming off a season in which he threw for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns, against just six interceptions. He also ran for five scores.

One question mark the Longhorns will have to answer is who catches passes for Ewers following the departures of receivers Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell, as well as tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders.

To that end, the Longhorns brought in ample help from the transfer portal, landing Alabama’s Isaiah Bond and Amari Niblack, as well as Oregon State‘s Silas Bolden. All three should immediately step into major contributing roles.

But the bottom line is that this early season contest between Michigan and Texas, two college football powerhouses, should help set the tone for the early season.

Noon. Sept. 7.