After perusing through some preseason college football guides, I was kind of shocked at how well the pundits think Michigan will perform this season considering they lost their entire offense essentially and their defense will probably undergo the same growing pains as the offense under a new system. Anyway, here is my game by game analysis and predictions of Michigan's season.
Utah-Let's think about what happened the last few times Michigan has played a team with a mobile QB: they lost to Applachian State, they got shredded apart by Oregon, struggled to slow down the Juice, got stymied by the Wisky, and allowed 35 points to UF while lucking out with superb offensive production. Brian Johnson is a winner and Utah is a solid football team with him in the lineup winning 8 of their last 9 games of last season including an impressive Poinsettia Bowl comeback against the pesky Midshipmen. Utah will come in confident, experienced, and loose while Michigan will come in timid, nervous, and inexperienced. It is not like playing in the Big House on a hot August afternoon has the mystique it once boasted of. Just ask Appy State and Oregon!!!!
Prediction: Utah baffles Michigan to a 34-24 victory as it will probably be the story of the day as there will probably be few upsets in that first weekend of college football. Expect Brian Johnson to shred that laggard defense apart even more than Armante Edwards did last season.
Miami(Ohio)- Okay, Michigan might be going thru some excruciating growing pains, but nothing is too painful for them to falther against a MAC team. Coach Rod will have them motivated in this one.
Prediction- Michigan wins 52-17
at Notre Dame- Both teams will come in with heavy youth, but Notre Dame will boast of a more experienced and seasoned offense as they will be facing a team that may resemble an enantiomeric version of themselves a year ago. Notre Dame will also have home field advantage and this typically helps the Irish against MU as it did in 00,02, and 04.
Prediction: Notre Dame wins in a tightly contested battle 24-17.
Wisconsin: Wisconsin opened Michigan's pandora box late in the season as Michigan clearly did not match up with a more physical and athletic Wisconsin squad as Wisconsin rode to a 10 point victory in Madison. Wisconsin will be a much better and experienced team coming into Ann Arbor while Michigan only digresses from their last meeting.
Prediction: Wisconsin makes a statement with a 41-10 whipping of Michigan as PJ Hill has another field day against a porous Michigan defense.
Illinois- Michigan was real lucky to win at Champagne last season and some key contributors to that victory such as Manningham, Arrington, Mallett, Henne, Long, Crable, and Adams will not be present to bail Michigan out this time around. Illinois does lose some key players,but they will still have good team speed and I expect this team to make more leaps and bounds this season under Zook.
Prediction: Illinois 27- 10.
Toledo- I always wondered why the MAC exists and now I have a better grasp of the answer seeing Michigan schedule two MAC squads in one season. Maybe they want an easier way to bowl eligibility against a lowly Rockets team that might as well be named Russian warheads since they are so antiquated of a football program.
Prediction: Michigan 41-14.
Prediction
at Penn State: Does Michigan ever lose to Penn State? I sure hope this is the year,but Penn State always seems overrated,right?
Prediction: Michigan wins 20-17 and extends the streak to 10 million straight victories against Penn State.
Michigan State: Never underestimate a team coached by Dantonio as he knows a thing or two about slowing down Michigan. Michigan got lucky pulling out a thriller in East Lansing and I have a feeling Michigan will repeat their luck because it just defies logic for them to ever lose at home to Michigan State even if they are down by 21 points with 7 minutes to go.
Prediction: Michigan 35-34 in a game that comes down to the final seconds.
at Purdue: Michigan always seems to have an answer to the Purdue spread and this year will be no different against a growingly stale Purdue program that cannot seem to compete with the big boys in the Big 10
Prediction: Michigan wins 31-20
at Minnesota: Wake me up when Brewster learns how to coach and when Minnesota ever becomes competitive in a sport that matters. Michigan will have no trouble dispatching of the worst in the Big 10 and this game will further solidify Coach Rod's prospects of building a good foundation heading into next season.
Prediction: Michigan wins 38-10.
Northwestern- If Northwestern beats Michigan at this juncture of the season, Coach Rod deserves to get fired because Michigan will always have enough talent to handedly defeat a downtrodden Northwestern program at home.
Prediction: Michigan wins 49-31.
Ohio State: I guess some things will not change at Michigan if the Pryor fiasco continues to linger in the mind of Coach Rod. One thing is clear: Ohio State will dominate this football game just like they have dominated the previous 4 games between these teams. Ohio State has better athletes and they are better coached than Michigan. Most of all, Ohio State is built to play for championships while Michigan is built to play in the Alamo Bowl or the Capital One Bowl every year. Once again, Michigan's unfortunate defense will have no answer for Beanie and they will fall deep down the wells of Ohio Stadium.
Prediction- Ohio State wins 48-14.
Bowl game: Probably the Alamo Bowl where they will lose to a Big 12 team with speed. probably Oklahoma State or maybe even Nebraska like a few seasons ago.
Overall record: 7-6(at least they will make a bowl game)
