Minnesota Football: Big Ten releases conference schedules for 2020 and 2021

The Big Ten announced the conference football schedules for 2020 and 2021 (click the links to view the schedules for every Big Ten team) earlier this afternoon. Some quick observations related to Minnesota:

• Axe Week will no longer mark the end of the season for the Gophers. Their game with the Wisconsin Badgers has been moved up to October in both 2020 and 2021, with Minnesota closing out both years against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. This will also signal the end of the Huskers’ Black Friday game with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
• Minnesota will open the season — the season, not the conference schedule — with a Week 1 matchup against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
• Crossover games in 2020: at Maryland, Michigan, and at Michigan State.
• Crossover games in 2021: Ohio State, Maryland, and at Indiana.

Here are the complete schedules for both seasons (with at least one non-conference opponent included in each year):

2020 Schedule:

Sept. 5 - TBD
Sept. 12 - TBD
Sept. 19 - Iowa Hawkeyes
Sept. 26 - BYU Cougars
Oct. 3 - @ Maryland Terrapins
Oct. 10 - @ Wisconsin Badgers
Oct. 17 - Michigan Wolverines
Oct. 24 - @ Illinois Fighting Illini
Oct. 31 - @ Michigan State Spartans
Nov. 7 - Purdue Boilermakers
Nov. 14 - BYE
Nov. 21 - Northwestern Wildcats
Nov. 28 - @ Nebraska Cornhuskers

2021 Schedule:

Sept. 4 - Ohio State Buckeyes
Sept. 11 - TBD
Sept. 17 - @ Colorado Buffaloes
Sept. 25 - TBD
Oct. 2 - @ Purdue Boilermakers
Oct. 9 - Wisconsin Badgers
Oct. 16 - BYE
Oct. 23 - @ Northwestern Wildcats
Oct. 30 - Maryland Terrapins
Nov. 6 - Illinois Fighting Illini
Nov. 13 - @ Iowa Hawkeyes
Nov. 20 - @ Indiana Hoosiers
Nov. 27 - Nebraska Cornhuskers

One potential upside to the Rivalry Week change:

What are you thoughts on the schedules?