August 26, 2018
By Mark Blanton
With less than a week out before the regular season kicks off for many and after Hawaii’s big win in Colorado, the time has come to preview Michigan’s fourth season under Jim Harbaugh.
Schedule:
@ Notre Dame
v. Western Michigan
v. SMU
v. Nebraska
@ Northwestern
v. Maryland
v. Wisconsin
@ Michigan State
v. Penn State
@ Rutgers
v. Indiana
@ Ohio State
This schedule is one of the most difficult in the country. Michigan must travel on the road to no less than 3 top 15 teams and must host 2. Notre Dame will pose a large challenge in week 1; it looked like it was heading to the CFP before the Turnover Chain Hurricanes derailed the Irish in Miami. Western Michigan and SMU serve as schedule padding before the conference season starts; Nebraska will likely be a multi-year project with Scott Frost but could pose a challenge. Northwestern is always a tricky game, with the Wildcats claiming a top 15 victory at home in each of the past few seasons. Maryland should not pose much of a challenge for the Wolverines. The real difficulty for Michigan comes on the back 9; Jonathan Taylor and the Wisconsin Badgers come into town after that and arguably pose the biggest challenge to the Wolverines this season. If that wasn’t enough, the Wolverines must travel to East Lansing to face a talented Spartans team and come home to welcome Penn State in back-to-back weeks. After facing Rutgers and Indiana (neither of which should pose a challenge), the Wolverines travel to Columbus to face Ohio State in the Game. More detail will come in the next few weeks about these opponents. Overall, Michigan has very little room for error if it wants to win the Big Ten, reach a New Year Six game or reach the playoff.
Storylines
Much improvement on the offensive side
It was very hard to imagine a worse offense among the major programs than Michigan’s last season. Michigan was able to run the ball at times but unable to do much else. The offense was good in bursts but really could not keep up with high-scoring opponents like Penn State or put away good opponents like Ohio State when it had a two-score lead.
However, the offense is slated for a lot of improvement last year. Ole Miss transfer Shea Patterson comes from a high-flying Rebel offense under Matt Luke; it remains to be seen how he adjusts from a spread offense to a professional-style offense, but I anticipate little difficulty for him to do so. Donovan Peoples-Jones, Karan Higdon, and other skills players should have a better year with experience and a better quarterback. The offensive line was simply horrible last season; it looks to be a lot better this season. Overall, look for Michigan to score more points and sustain more drives than last season.
Same old, same old on the defensive side
Michigan’s real strength over the past few years has been with its defense. Last year, the defense was exceptional, allowing around 18 points per game with an incredibly difficult in-conference schedule. The defense could have done even better if the offense had been able to move the ball consistently. Returning stars like Rashan Gary, Chase Winovich and Devin Bush anchor an exceptional unit that kept Michigan in some and won Michigan several games throughout last season. Don Brown has been one of the best coordinator hires of the past several years in all of college football.
Recommended Viewing: Michigan Football over the past two years. There have been a few hiccups such as the Penn State game, but everything else has been exceptional. Much of the team’s struggles have come from the offensive end.
Verdict: Overall, this is a team that compares very favorably to many of the other top-15 teams. It remains to be seen if the offense will be good enough for Michigan to win enough games to make the CFP (although it is highly likely that the offense will be better). This schedule is a real bear; Michigan ultimately has too little room for error. Expect the Wolverines to make a really good bowl game but not the playoff.
Total Football 