And nothing suggests that Michigan can beat anybody in conference by 10+ points. They have not been good this year so far.
Expect a very volatile early line. I have seen this as a pick em in some books. It will likely settle as Michigan as slight favorites, but anticipate a much different game than yesterday. Now if Illinois did not comeback yesterday, this line would be much, much different.
These two teams are so difficult to predict right now.
My issue is that looking at our strengths and weaknesses vs theirs.
Their run game against our Defense… this is what separates us.
I believe our O vs their D will be the breaking point. Can we score 21 points against their D?
Can we limit their explosive run plays against our D
And then… I think about the injuries we have in the secondary right now.
If Purdue can run our Defense off the field at will like they did in the secondary half, what will Michigan be able to do?
Over all analysis when I step back. If our O clicks against a better defense in Michigan like it did against Purdue, then we have a chance. But if we get stuck calling run plays up the middle on 1st and 2nd downs consistently allowing Michigan to blitz us on 3rd downs effectively we are going to be in trouble.
Barry earned his money against Purdue, now he can earn his raise against Michigan if O puts up 28 plus points against that D.
Back to the strength vs weakness to close it out.
Our strength is our passing game and their biggest weakness is their pass defense coming in at 107th and our pass offense ranking 64th. The biggest glare, their rush D is 3rd and our rushing attack is 87th.
The straight up stats… are not titled in our favor at all…unless you look at the what matters stat.
We are better per game in both points scored and points allowed. In the end… isn’t that what only matters.. the final score?