Michigan Football: No 2015 Prime-Time Home Games for Wolverines, No Problem

The defending national champions, Ohio State, will be a cornerstone of the Big Ten's prime-time coverage on ESPN in 2015. The conference's other biggest blue-blood program, Michigan, is hardly found on the prime-time schedule, however. 

The conference announced seven games would be viewed in prime time on ESPN this year, the dates and times of which can be viewed below, per Kevin McGuire at CollegeFootballTalk.com: 

"

September 3 (Thursday): Minnesota vs. TCU, 9 p.m., ESPN

September 12: Michigan State vs. Oregon, 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

October 17: Ohio State vs. Penn State, 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

October 24: Rutgers vs. Ohio State, 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

October 31: Minnesota vs. Michigan, 7 or 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

November 7: Ohio State vs. Minnesota, 7 or 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

November 7: Nebraska vs. Michigan State, 7 or 8 p.m., ABC, ESPN or ESPN2

"

Michigan heads to Minnesota for a prime-time game on Halloween night, but other than that, the Wolverines will play all their televised games on ESPN during the day. In comparison, Ohio State has three prime-time games, two of which are at home. 

Is it a big deal that one of the Big Ten's best brands isn't getting the premier slots on a regular basis? Hardly. 

First-year Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh is the attraction. That's Michigan's ace of spades. 

Whether the kickoff is at noon or 8 p.m., Harbaugh will be the storyline of the game. That won't change next season or the season after that, or even the season after that. 

As long as Harbaugh is in Ann Arbor, there's going to be an extra bright spotlight on the program. College football is more interesting when Michigan is better. Harbaugh is polarizing, and so, too, are the Wolverines. The better they are, the more interest there's going to be in them. 

Yes, there are benefits to night games. It garners more eyeballs on television and the atmosphere can be electric. Day games have been a Big Ten thing for decades. The Wolverines began introducing home night games over the past few seasons, the most successful of which was probably the 2011 thriller against Notre Dame. 

There were few things Michigan fans enjoyed about the Brady Hoke/Dave Brandon era, but the prime-time home slates were good enough to make one wonder what took so long to introduce them. Not having them for 2015 is a disappointment, sure. 

Considering Harbaugh has the task of rebuilding the program, you'd think Michigan would want as much exposure as possible. But it's certainly not going to make or break the season. Harbaugh is marching to the beat of his own drum, and so far it's working. There's been more attention on him than perhaps any coach in college football—even Urban Meyer at Ohio State. 

Earlier this month, Michigan announced the coaching staff would travel to nine camps across the country in the so-called "Summer Swarm Tour," which falls under the satellite camps description.

“We are excited to go across the country and teach youth football in these communities,” Harbaugh said in an email statement from the school. “This is a great way for us to continue to be ambassadors for the great game of football.”

When that was met with opposition from fellow coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban, Harbaugh responded in the best way possible: by inviting every coach to come up to Ann Arbor for a satellite camp. 

Harbaugh operates on his own terms, and it's working for Michigan. The attention is there. Now, the recruits have to follow. 

And they will, night games or not. 

Ben Kercheval is a lead writer for college football.